Kings Point, N.Y. - October 29, 2022 - The Springfield College football team pulled away with a strong second-half effort to defeat Merchant Marine, 27-13, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Saturday.
Winners of its last five games, Springfield is now 6-2, 4-0 in conference play while the Marineers dipped 5-3, 3-2.
The Pride finished the day with 321 yards of total offense, including 213 on the ground, while all three of its touchdowns in the game came through the air. The Pride forced a pair of fumbles in the contest and held the ball for 34:12. David Wells (Huntington, Conn.) was 8-for-12 as he threw three touchdowns and also ran for a team-best 61 yards. It marked the most completions for the triple-option offense since since it connected on eight passes against Utica on October 4, 2008. Noah Wagnblas (Ansonia, Conn.) hauled six catches for 88 yards and two scores and Christian Hutra (Holmes, N.Y.) delivered a pair of field goals en route to nine points in the day for the Pride. Defensively, Tyler Pohlman (St. James, N.Y.) notched 10 tackles and DJ Brown (Wading River, N.Y.) added eight stops for the Pride.
Springfield had the opening possession of the game and was able to put together an 11-play drive that culminated with a 34-yard field goal by Hutra at the 10:27 mark. Merchant Marine answered back with a 10-play drive of their own, as Jeremiah Wang connected with Talsen Smith for a 43-yard strike through the air to give the Mariners their only lead of the game with 6:41 left in the first. The Pride punted on its next drive, only to have Will McKay (Tewksbury, Mass.) force his third fumble of the year to give Springfield the ball back on their own 46 yard line. Five plays later, Wagnblas made a sensational one-handed grab in the back of the end zone for the score to make it a 10-7 contest with 39 seconds remaining in the first.
Brown and Bryan Feliciano (Clifton, N.J.) came up with a huge stop on fourth down to snuff out the Mariners next drive, but Springfield was unable to get anything going as it was forced to punt. Merchant Marine would benefit from a 63-yard run by Wang to set up a 26-yard field goal with 7:48 on the clock for what would prove to be the final score of the half.
On the opening kickoff of the second half, Springfield's special teams came up in a big way as Bradley Barcello (Weston, Conn.) popped the ball free right into Tyler Paladino's (Cross River, N.Y.) hands to give the visitors the ball on Merchant Marine's 10 yard line. Wells would again connect with Wagnblas, this time from eight yards out, as he elevated over his defender for what would prove to be the go-ahead score.
The teams traded punts before Merchant Marine had a 14-play drive conclude with a 29-yard field goal with 3:23 left in the third. Springfield's next drive chewed up nearly seven minutes off the clock and featured three third-down conversions, including a pass interference flag on the hosts on the goal line. On third-and-goal, Wells delivered a strike to Jacob Silvester (Lancaster, Mass.) to make it a two-score game with 11:45 left in regulation. Springfield's defense would then force another punt and the Pride sealed the game with a nine-play drive that lasted nearly five minutes as Hutra converted an 18-yard field goal with under five to play to conclude the scoring. Springfield's defense would turn the Mariners over on downs to wrap up the game as Springfield earned its fifth-consecutive victory.
Next Saturday, Springfield will play its regular-season home finale when it hosts MIT at 12 pm.
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