Springfield, Mass. — October 17, 2026 — The Springfield College football team beat WPI, 19-13, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) matchup on Stagg Field.
The Pride improve to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference while WPI drops to 4-2, 2-1. Springfield entered today's contest receiving votes in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division III national poll.
Offensively, Drew Heenan (Londonderry, N.H.) led the Pride with 93 yards on the ground and threw for 77 yards which included a passing touchdown while Bode Dunn (Stockton, N.J.) had 42 receiving yards and a touchdown. As a team, Springfield produced 333 yards of total offense with 256 yards coming on the ground as the Pride also held the ball for over just over 33 minutes.
Mike Mendicino (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) continued to dominate as the linebacker totaled 10 tackles with a break up and quarterback hurry while fellow linebacker Nick Peterson (Kingston, Mass.) had nine total tackles — seven of which were solo. JT Kinsey (Savannah, Ga.) had six tackles, two hurries, a sack and a break up.
Springfield had the ball to start the game and marched down the field, taking over five minutes before Zach Oliveira intercepted a pass in the end zone for a Springfield turnover which allowed WPI to possess the ball. The Engineers got the scoring started in their first drive as they went on a six play, 61-yard drive that allowed Nathan Napier to kick a 36-yard field goal to give them the lead, 3-0, for the only scoring drive of the first quarter.
James Campbell (Oxford, Pa.) punted to start the second quarter as his punt stuck the Engineers within their own 20-yard line. After going three-and-out the ball was snapped over the punter from WPI and Springfield got on the board with a safety. It was then a strong drive for the Pride as Heenan started it off with a 42-yard run to get to the Engineers 15 before Desmond Perezcastaneda (Brockton, Mass.) rushed for 12 yards to put them on the three-yard line. Jayden Aziz (Washington, N.J.) then ran it in and Ian Wernik's (Plymouth, Mass.) kick was good to take a 9-3 lead. The Pride got the ball back after forcing the Engineers to put and Heenan connected with Dunn for a 36-yard touchdown to extend the lead 16-3.
After going three-and-out twice at the beginning of the third quarter, Dylan Dipietro completed a deep pass to Garrett Ranieri in the first play of the drive for a 40-yard touchdown to shorten Springfield's lead. Later, the Engineers went on a 12 play, 69-yard drive that took them into the fourth quarter for Napier to kick a 30-yard field goal and came within three of the Pride.
Springfield had an answer for WPI, going on a ten play, 70-yard drive as Wernik pinned a 22-yard field goal right through the uprights to lead 19-13. With WPI in Springfield territory, Tyler Sordillo (Hull, Mass.) and Nick Gonzalez (Parsippany, N.J.) notched back-to-back breakups to force a turnover on downs. On third down with 1:15 to go, James Green (Gales Ferry, Conn.) rushed five yards to give Springfield the first down and then get into victory formation for the win, 19-13.
The Pride will head to unbeaten Merchant Marine on Saturday for a 12:00 pm matchup.
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