Maritime Falls At Home To Norwich, 16-9, As Cadets Clinch ECFC Title
THROGGS NECK, N.Y. (Nov. 5, 2011) – The Maritime football team lost, 16-9, to the Norwich University Cadets on Saturday afternoon at Reinhart Field. The loss was the Privateers first at home since the 2009 regular-season finale. Maritime falls to 7-2 overall (5-1 ECFC), while the Cadets finish the regular season with a 7-3 record and a perfect 7-0 mark in ECFC action to clinch their second conference championship and, with it, an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Prior to the game, Maritime paid tribute to its largest and most impactful class of seniors to date in the program history with a Senior Day Ceremony that saw 17 seniors recognized and thanked for all of the hard work that they brought to the team.
On the field, senior Madison Leary (Tavares, Fla./Tavares) converted three field goals on the day, accounting for all nine of the Privateers points. He opened the scoring in the first quarter with a 30-yard FG at 12:26. Norwich responded with the only touchdown of the day later in the quarter on a 55-yard run by junior quarterback Kris Sabourin to take a 7-3 lead.
In the second quarter, the Cadets' senior kicker Long Ding made a 51-yard field goal to put his team up 10-3 with 11:12 to go in the half. Leary would respond with a 35-yard FG later in the quarter to cut the deficit to 10-6, however another field goal by Ding with just two seconds remaining gave Norwich a 13-6 lead that they would take into the locker rooms.
There were only two scores in the second half, a 38-yard field goal by Ding at 6:02 of the third quarter and a 23-yard field goal by Leary with just 9:25 to go in the fourth quarter that brought the score to 16-9 in favor of the Cadets. After a five-play drive by Norwich, they were forced to punt the ball away and the Privateers would get possession starting at their own nine-yard line with 6:01 left in the fourth quarter.
A 13-play, 71-yard drive ended when the Privateers failed to get a first down from the Norwich 20-yard line on a 4th-and-7 play. A pass by sophomore Tyler Trodden (Putnam Valley, N.Y./JFK Catholic) just missed the hands of sophomore Frank Laino (Rockaway, N.Y./Fort Hamilton) on the near sideline. Norwich took over on downs and two first downs later, the Cadets were able to kneel on the ball and earn the victory.
Senior Jamie Spanopoulos (Franklin Square, N.Y./H. Frank Carey) was the team's leading rusher with 119 yards on the day. Trodden was 11-for-25 in completions for 92 yards in the air, hooking up with juniors Xavier Torres (Orlando, Fla./Colonial) and Anthony Patti (Merrick, N.Y./Calhoun) four times each for 45 yards and 33 yards, respectively.
On defense, junior Keith Barnes (Westbury, N.Y.Westbury) had a team-high 13 tackles, including two for losses of three yards, while classmate Ricky McClain (Wantagh, N.Y./St. Anthony's) recorded a career-high 10 tackles.
For the Cadets, Sabourin finished the day with 113 yards on the ground with the one score and was 3-for-6 in completions for seven yards. Senior running back Andrew Fulford had 25 carries for 119 yards. Ding tallied 10 points for Norwich on three field goals and an extra point and averaged 47.6 yards on five kickoffs. Defensively, junior Matt Simonelli had a game-high 15 tackles to lead the way.
Up next, Maritime will travel to Washington, D.C., this coming Friday, Nov. 11, for the final game of the 2011 season at ECFC-opponent Gallaudet. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Bison's Hotchkiss Field.
