Salve Regina 35, Nichols 6
Dudley, Mass. – Vendetti Field
Saturday, October 24, 2015
All-Time Series & Streaks
The Bison saw their losing streak against the Seahawks stretched to six games. Nichols trails the all-time series, 13-9.
Three Stars of the Game
1 – Salve Regina junior Sam Pascale (Cheshire, Conn.) – rushed for a school-record 265 yards on 33 carries (8.0 ypc) and scored a pair of rushing touchdowns (11, 1)
2 – Salve Regina sophomore James Dawson (Oradell, N.J.) – carried the ball 12 times for 143 yards (11.9 ypc) and two touchdowns (54, 6)
3 – Salve Regina senior Alex Hulme (Hopkinton, Mass.) – caught a 62 yard touchdown pass; finished the afternoon with six receptions for 128 yards
Quick Synopsis
The Seahawks rushed for 392 yards and compiled 569 yards of total offense to improve to 5-1 on the season. Salve Regina broke the game open in the fourth with a pair of touchdowns in the opening 2:40, highlighted by a 54-yard touchdown run by Dawson that pushed its lead to 28-6.
Key Stat of the Game
Salve Regina averaged 8.0 yards per rush, which is the fourth-highest single-game mark in program history.
Turning Point
Dawson capped a five-play, 90-yard drive with his second touchdown of the afternoon, a 54-yard scamper from midfield on the first play of the fourth quarter that extended the Seahawks lead to 28-6 with 19:49 remaining in the stanza.
Quick Hits
-Nichols sophomore signal caller Michael McCourt (New Fairfield, Conn.) rushed for a team-high 68 yards and also threw for 112 and one touchdown.
-On the Bison's first quarter touchdown drive, they executed a fake punt on fourth-and-two to keep the drive alive. Senior captain Lucien Cance (Windsor, Conn.) completed a pass to sophomore Scott Dargan (Middletown, Conn.) that went for 12 yards. Five plays later, freshman Brenden Massey (Attleboro, Mass.) caught his first collegiate TD pass, a 17-yard strike from McCourt.
-Sophomore Derrick Warren (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) caught a 44-yard pass from McCourt on the team's first play on offense, and it proved to be the longest play of the day for Nichols.
-SRU sophomore Francisco Hardacker (Minneapolis, Minn.) accounted for the lone turnover on either side today when he intercepted a pass from McCourt and returned it 39 yards to set up Pascale's second TD of the day. He also finished with three pass breakups.
-The Seahawks were flagged for 12 penalties for a total of 110 yards, compared to eight for 64 yards for Nichols.
-Nichols was 2-of-15 on third down conversion attempts but was 3-of-4 on fourth down.
-Sophomore TJ Ellison (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) led Nichols with 14 tackles (three solo) while junior captain Matthew McEvilly (Clinton, Mass.) notched 12. Senior Danny Ives (Madison, Conn.) paced the Seahawks with 11 (five solo).
Quotes
"Salve is in first place for a reason. They're a really good football team and are very well coached. We had some opportunities on the first series of the game, but some penalties really killed us. Our first scoop-and-score was called back on an off-sides, but you get that with a young team. We're going through some growing pains right now. We have to keep fighting. The kids played hard. We have to clean it up and play sounder football." – Nichols head coach Dale Olmsted
"When we punted the first time, I wanted to take a look to see if we had something there. We knew we were going to have to reach into the bag because we couldn't play this game straight-up. We were a little bit overmatched. I asked one of our coaches after our first punt if it was there, and he said 'Yes.' We tried it and executed. I thought that was a big play that kept us going." – Olmsted, on the fake punt on the team's touchdown drive
Next up
Nichols (1-6, 0-4 NEFC) – Saturday, October 31 @ Coast Guard, 1:00 p.m.
Salve Regina (5-1, 3-1 NEFC) – Saturday, October 31 @ MIT, 12:00 p.m.