MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME FOOTBALL
Saturday, October 14, 2017
Westside Athletic Complex, Danbury, Conn.
FINAL: WESTERN CONNECTICUT 28, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME 21
DANBURY, Conn. -- Senior quarterback Quinn Fleeting (Windsor, Conn.) threw for 208 yards and three touchdowns as Western Connecticut used a pair of fourth quarter defensive stands to post a 28-21 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference football victory over Massachusetts Maritime Saturday afternoon at the Westside Athletic Complex.
Fleeting staked the host Colonials (5-1, 3-1 MASCAC) to a 14-0 lead midway through the opening quarter on a pair of scoring strikes of 16 yards to senior Jawad Chisholm (Bridgeport, Conn.) and 37 yards to junior Austin Calamita (North Branford, Conn.), the latter which was set up by on an interception by junior Richard Washington (New Haven, Conn.). Senior Richie Phillips (Onset, Mass.) sliced the visiting Buccaneers' (1-5, 0-4 MASCAC) deficit in half on the ensuing possession with a 39-yard touchdown run (his eighth overall visit to the end zone of the season), and Massachusetts Maritime took advantage of good field position early in the second stanza to even matters on senior quarterback Chris Haggerty's (Cohasset, Mass.) two-yard run 3:52 into the frame.
That score held up until the final 2:20 of the half when junior Khalil Patterson (Hartford, Conn.) plunged in from a yard out to give Western Connecticut the lead back at 21-14, and after a Buccaneer punt, Fleeting connected with Chisholm on the second play of the ensuing drive for a 66-yard touchdown pass that came with 49 seconds remaining until intermission for a 28-14 Colonial advantage at the break. Sophomore Matt Long's (Weymouth, Mass.) first career touchdown run of 51 yards with 3:21 remaining in the third quarter again sliced the visitors' deficit to seven, and Massachusetts Maritime used a 17-play, 84 yard drive that consumed nearly nine minutes in the fourth quarter in driving to the hosts' 2-yard line before being ultimately being denied the potential tying score on downs. The Buccaneers forced another punt to get the ball back one final time with 3:07 remaining in the game, but Western Connecticut once again came up with a defensive stop on the visitors' 32-yard line to take over on downs and run out the clock to post its triumph.
Chisholm hauled in four catches for 95 yards in the win for the Colonials, who received 80 yards on 22 carries from Patterson in amassing 357 yards of total offense. Phillips rushed for a career-high 212 yards (the 12th 200-yard performance in school history) on 32 carries to go with his touchdown in the setback for Massachusetts Maritime, as he has rushed for 406 yards over the last two contests and enters next week just 33 yards shy of the 2,000 yard career mark. Long added a career-best 93 yards on 10 carries to go with his score for the Buccaneers, who collected all but 23 of their 337 yards of total offense on the ground while holding the ball for nearly 32 minutes on the afternoon.
Senior Douglas Katz (Monroe, Conn.) led the way defensively with nine total tackles for Western Connecticut, which also received seven stops from senior Dominique Carr (Hartford, Conn.) as well as a sack from senior Stephan Walker (New Canaan, Conn.). Sophomore Kyle Johnston (Raynham, Mass.) recorded six solo stops, a sack and a pass break-up on the defensive side for Massachusetts Maritime, which also received six tackles each from seniors Bobby Gross (Tampa, Fla.) and Tim Churchill (Scituate, Mass.) as well as sophomore Kamil Bak (Southampton, Mass.). Sophomore Erik Marchant (East Bridgewater, Mass.) and freshman Colin McCabe (Dartmouth, Mass.) also recorded sacks for the Buccaneers, who have suffered a trio of seven point setbacks to go with a five-point season opening defeat in playing four of their first six contests on the road.
Western Connecticut and Massachusetts Maritime have now combined to score 362 points in their five meetings since the formation of the MASCAC in 2013, as all five contests have come down to a final game-winning offensive play or defensive stop in the final two minutes of action. With the win, the Colonials are in a three-way tie for the top spot in the league standings with Plymouth State and Framingham State.
Massachusetts Maritime hosts Plymouth State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference outing next Saturday afternoon at Clean Harbors Stadium that kicks off at 1:00 p.m., while Western Connecticut heads to Bridgewater, Mass. next Saturday afternoon for a MASCAC clash with Bridgewater State that kicks off at 4:00 p.m.