Springfield, Mass. – September 6, 2025 – A touchdown with five seconds remaining in regulation gave Western New England University a 23-22 win over the No. 13/13 Springfield College football team on Saturday afternoon in the 12th annual Pynchon SAW Trophy Game at Golden Bear Stadium.

Western New England, which won its first SAW Trophy since 2021, starts its season at 1-0, while Springfield begins its 2025 slate at 0-1. The Pride entered today's game ranked 13th nationally in both the D3football.com national poll and the AFCA Division III national coaches poll.

The contest was the 12th time that these two rivals met in the Pynchon SAW Game, which is derived from city founder William Pynchon and the acronym of "SAW" is for the first initial of both schools, Springfield And Western New England. The all-time series is now even at 6-6 with the Golden Bears winning their first SAW Trophy since 2021. Springfield is also now 3-4 in games held at Golden Bear Stadium.

TJ Welch (Shrewsbury, Mass.) rushed for 70 yards and a touchdown and added 49 passing yards to his stat line. The Pride combined for 240 total yards on the ground including 59 yards from Jayden Aziz (Washington, N.J.), 58 from Stanford Davis (Montague, N.J.), 26 and a touchdown from Cam Pedro (Cumberland, R.I.), 20 and a touchdown from James Green (Gales Ferry, Conn.) and seven from Luke Zoller (Burnt Hills, N.Y.). Green also caught one of Welch's passes for 41 yards – the longest pass for the Pride since Jacob Silvester '25 tossed one 59 yards against Norwich in November of last season.

Defensively, Tyler Pohlman (St. James, N.Y.) and Aaziah Scott (Savannah, Ga.) led the Pride with seven tackles as Scott also notched 3.5 tackles for a loss. Nick Gonzalez (Parsippany, N.J.), Bryan Feliciano (Clifton, N.J.), Will Aviles (Bethlehem, Pa.), Nick Peterson (Kingston, Mass.) and Christian Johnson-Hall (Savannah, Ga.) all recorded five tackles on the day.

After both teams stalled on their first two drives of the game, the hosts scored the first points of the day capping a ten play, 49-yard drive with a field goal for the 3-0 edge. Springfield took over possession early in the second quarter following a Western New England punt that landed at the Golden Bears 34-yard line leaving a short field for the Pride. After eight plays highlighted by a 15-yard run by Aziz, Green punched the ball into the end zone for a 7-3 lead.

The lead for Springfield was short lived, however, as on the ensuing drive the Golden Bears drove 75 yards highlighted by a 35-yard rush by Jova'n Hill, a 15-yard catch by John De Camps and a six-yard touchdown run by Matt LaMontagne. With 41 seconds remaining in the half, Welch ran a 14 yard quarterback keeper into the end zone as the Pride regained the lead and took a 14-10 edge into the break.

After receiving the ball to start the third, Springfield's near eight minute drive stalled with a missed 35-yard field goal, which led to an eventual touchdown by Western New England as a 25-yard catch by Kevin Acosta Jr. pushed the hosts back in front 16-14 through 45 minutes of play.

With the score the same and under seven minutes to play, the Springfield defense forced a three and out and regained possession of the ball at its own 46. The Pride were faced with a 3rd and 23 when Welch ripped a 41 yard pass down the right sideline to Green for a first down at the Western New England 26. On the very next play, Pedro got to the outside and put Springfield ahead 22-16 with his first collegiate touchdown leaving Western New England just 2:26 to spark a comeback one final time.

The game winning drive by the Golden Bears began at their own 35 and after three incomplete passes were faced with a fourth down with the game on the line. The fourth and ten play was called dead, despite the pass being incomplete, with a flag for holding as Western New England was given a fresh set of downs. Brady Lafferty marched the hosts down the field, which included two successful third down conversions and a fourth and one conversion setting up the game winning pass to Christian Delgado that went for 13 yards into the end zone, ending the game 23-22.

As a team, Springfield converted for 14 first downs, produced 289 yards of total offense and held the ball for nearly 36 minutes of the game. The Pride also went 7-for-15 on third downs and 2-for-3 on fourth downs.

Springfield will welcome Husson University to Alden Street for a non-conference tilt beginning at 12:00 pm next Saturday.

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