Huge Offensive Day Leads Football Past Nichols College

DUDLEY, Mass. (October 1, 2022) – The Western New England football team opened conference play with a win on Saturday afternoon, picking up a 47-14 win over the Bison of Nichols College. Western New England's offense erupted for 535 yards, 286 through the air and 249 on the ground in the win. 

Records:

• Western New England: 2-3, 1-0 CCC
• Nichols College: 3-2, 0-1 CCC

How it Happened:

The Golden Bears used their second drive of the game to open the scoring after an 18-play, 67-yard drive resulted in a successful field goal from Matt Gilbert to give WNE the early 3-0 lead. The drive would be highlighted by a 17-yard catch from AJ Hall, as well as a nine yard catch from De'Andre Harris. Ian Britt would be strong during the Golden Bears drive as well, collecting 44 of Western New England's 67 yards. Western New England would stop Nichols College on the first play of the next drive after a fumble recovery was taken in by WNE's Cayden Porter to begin a drive with good field position for the Golden Bears. Both Nathan Clarke and AJ Hall would pick up ten-yard passes each, though Western New England would be unsuccessful in scoring on the drive, handing the ball back to Nichols College at their own 15-yard line. Western New England defense, led by Joe McNamara and Jameson Gill, would send the Bison to a three and out on the ensuing drive. WNE would get the ball back and begin play at their own 48-yard line, which began with 1:06 to play in the quarter. 

Western New England would need two plays in the second quarter to get their first touchdown of the game when QB Bryce Karstetter found AJ Hall in the back of the endzone on a pass from 13-yards out to give WNE a 9-0 lead. Matt Gilbert's extra point would send the Golden Bears ahead 10-0. After the Golden Bears forced another Nichols punt, Western New England would dial up a 14-play 86-yard drive and pile drive into the back of the endzone when Ian Britt rushed from a yard out to give WNE a 16-0 lead with six minutes to play in the second quarter. The drive would be highlighted by a 22-yard catch from Greg Perry and two catches from Nathan Clarke to give the Golden Bears good field position. The Bison would be stuffed from the scoreboard until the ending seconds of the half when a 17-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Keckler to River Jackson would get the Bison on the board. In the quarter, WNE would collect seven first downs, collecting 49 yards on the ground and 72 yard through the air. 

The Bison would receive the ball to start the second half, though on the first play of the half, QB Kyle Keckler would throw an INT to Zayd Sadiq at the Nichols 18-yard line to give Western New England good field position to start the half. WNE collected a 34-yard field goal on the next drive to go ahead 20-7. The Western New England defense would be too much for the Bison on the afternoon, led by Bryan Kane, Jake Chiasson, and Joe McNamara. 

Nichols College would be the next to score in the contest after a fumble recovery would go the Bisons way and Nichols would march 76-yards down the field on the recovery to move within six points of a tie, with the score 20-14 with still 8:45 to play in the third quarter. Western New England would not let the touchdown come back to bite them, as on the next drive WNE's Tucker McCann would punch the ball into the endzone from 13-yards out to give the Golden Bears their 13-point lead back. On the Nichols College next drive, QB Kyle Keckler would be sacked by Joe McNamara, who also forced a fumble on the play. The ball was scooped and scored by Ippokratis Georgiadis, giving the Golden Bears a 33-14 lead. From there, it would be all Golden Bears as Western New England would continue to force the Bison to punt while WNE would chew the clock and score 14 fourth quarter points. 

Ian Britt would score his second touchdown of the game on the ground after a six-yard rush would go into the endzone. WNE's scoring drive would see a 19-yard completion to AJ Hall, while Nate Rosa would collect a 12-yard catch before Britt's score. Western New England's final score came on their biggest scoring play of the afternoon when Conrad Swanson took the ball 37 yards to the endzone on the ground to give Western New England a 47-14 lead. WNE made one final stop at the end of the contest to hold off the Bison, taking the 33-point win by a final score of 47-14. 

Through the Uprights:

• Western New England collected 31 first downs in the contest and was 8/19 on third down conversions. The WNE offense collected 535 yards on the day, a season high. 
• QB Bryce Karstetter threw 25 completions on 38 passes, good for 283 yards while throwing one touchdown. 
• RB Ian Britt attempted 35 rushes, while collecting 156 yards on the ground and punched in two touchdowns. WNE collected four rushing touchdowns on the afternoon, with Tucker McCann and Conrad Swanson picking up the other two. 
• AJ Hall caught 11 passes for 119 yards and picked up a touchdown, the first of the afternoon for WNE. Both Nate Rosa and De'Andre Harris caught four passes each, combining for 93 yards in the win. 
• Matt Gilbert made two of his three field goals and striped all five extra point attempts through the uprights. Trent D'Aniello punted just twice for WNE on the afternoon. 
• Omari Lewis and Zayd Sadiq came away with interceptions for the Golden Bears while Ippokratis Georgiadis, Dalton Franco, and Cayden Porter scooped three fumbles from Nichols. 
• Joe McNamara collected 2.5 sacks on the day with Cayden Porter collected one. Bryan Kane led WNE with four solo tackles, while Jake Chiasson had five total tackles on the afternoon.  The WNE defense held Nichols to just 14 points on the afternoon, a season low for the Bison who came into the afternoon averaging just under 30 points per game. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England enters their bye week and will return to action on Saturday, October 15 when they travel to Salve Regina University for a 12:00 pm kickoff. 
• Nichols College travels to Endicott College next week, Saturday, October 8 at 12:00 pm.