SPRINGFIELD GRINDS OUT FOUR POINT VICTORY OVER UTICA
Springfield, Mass. (10/16/10) – The Utica College football
team suffered a setback Saturday, falling to host Springfield
20-16, in Empire 8 Conference play at Stagg Field. The Pioneers
(5-2, 0-2 E8), who scored all 16 of their points in the second
half, held the Pride's second highest rushing attack in the
country to 105 yards below their season average. Senior middle
linebacker Travis
Ladd led the Pioneer defense with a game-high 16
tackles.
"We proved once again that we can play with anyone in the
conference," said third year Head Coach Blaise
Faggiano. "Springfield is very talented and I
thought our kids did a nice job today. It took some time to get the
offense going but that's going to happen
sometimes."
Springfield (5-1, 1-1 E8) scored on its first drive of the contest
and the Pioneers fell behind 7-0 midway through the first quarter.
Joe Myhren's seven yard touchdown plunge would be the lone
score of the first half. Myhren finished the day with 71 yards
rushing on just nine carries.
After being held scoreless over the course of the first 42:18 of
the contest the Pioneers' high-powered offense finally got on
the board when senior fullback Tim
Millerick caught his first touchdown of the season to
knot the score at 7-7 with 2:42 to go in the third quarter.
Sophomore quarterback Andrew
Benkwitt finished the day with 18 completions for 201
yards passing to go along with two touchdowns.
"Every time we put points on the board Springfield responded
on the next possession," said Faggiano. "We had a
couple miscues on special teams that hurt us in the end and good
teams are going to take advantage of those mistakes."
Springfield seemed to have an immediate answer for every UC
touchdown and the Pride took just 1:33 to take the lead right back
when Josh Carter scored on a six yard touchdown run with 1:09 to go
in the third. Utica blocked the ensuing extra point and the Pride
held a six point lead, 13-7, headed into the fourth and final
quarter of play.
The Pioneers tied the game up early in the fourth when junior
receiver Jeremy
Meier caught a 24 yard touchdown from Benkwitt. Utica
missed the extra point attempt and the score was tied,13-13, with
13:03 remaining.
4:03 later Springfield took the lead back for good when Alex
Mendez punched in a two yard rushing touchdown to cap a 10 play, 64
yard scoring drive with nine minutes to go in the contest.
"This is a tough loss for us but now we get a little rest
with a bye next weekend and we have two weeks to prepare for
Ithaca," said Faggiano.
Sophomore kicker Seth
Mitchell closed out the scoring on the day when he
drilled his first collegiate field goal, a 28 yarder, to cut the
Pride's lead to just four points, 30-16, with less than four
minutes to go in the game.
Sophomore running back Jake
Scott rushed the ball 22 times for 78 yards to lead the
Pioneers' rushing attack. Utica racked up 308 total yards on
the day but the Pioneers had trouble converting on third down
(3-for-10).
Sophomores Omari
Byfield and James
Brain each posted a career-high 14 tackles. Byfield
blocked an extra point and Brain also forced a fumble. Senior
safety Terrell
Cunningham totaled nine tackles, while sophomore
linebacker Genaro
Scampone added seven stops.
It was a tight contest the entire day and it showed up in the box
score. There was only five yards difference in total offense -- 313
yards for Springfield, 308 yards for Utica. Each team had 20 first
downs. Time of possession went Utica's way by 26 seconds -- 30:13
to 29:47. Number of plays went SC's way -- 70-62 (Courtesy of
Springfield Sports Information).
UC returns after a bye week next Saturday to take on conference
rival Ithaca College at Butterfield Stadium on Oct. 30th. The
contest is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast
on WIBX 950 AM. Check www.ucpioneers.com for links to live video,
audio and stats.
--- www.ucpioneers.com ---
