Salve Regina Squeaks by Football 28-25

NEWPORT, R.I. (October 15, 2022) – The Western New England football team fell in conference play on the road at Salve Regina University on Saturday afternoon, dropping a close 28-25 contest. The Golden Bears never led in the contest and fall to the Seahawks for the first time after beating Salve right consecutive times.  

Records:

• Western New England: 2-4, 1-1 CCC
• Salve Regina: 4-2, 1-1 CCC

How it Happened:

Western New England received the ball first and came away with negative yardage on their opening drive and were forced to quickly punt on a three-and-out. Trent D'Aniello's punt would go 39 yards, forcing Salve Regina to start at their own 42 yard-line. The Seahawks would put together a seven play, 58-yard drive that was capped off in the endzone as Justan Luzzi would rush 19-yards to the right side of the field to open the scoring for the Seahawks, giving Salve Regina the opening 7-0 lead following a successful extra point kick. Western New England would come back and take off 5:16 of the clock on their next drive though came away without any points after a missed field goal opportunity would leave the Golden Bears without any points through one quarter of play. The Golden Bears would let the ball slip to end the first quarter after a fumble was caused by Salve's Joseph Saccone giving the Seahawks prime field position to open the second quarter. 

The Seahawks took advantage of the field position and scored within their first five plays of the drive as Jake Stack would complete a 28-yard touchdown pass to Max DeVito to give the Seahawks a 14-0 lead. The Golden Bears got the ball back and came away with their first score of the game on a drive that was highlighted by Dillion Kohl, who took the ball five times and rushed for 21 yards, including a 2-yard touchdown run to give WNE seven points. Ryan Larson was able to also come down with an 18-yard catch on a toss from Bryce Karstetter to get WNE down the field. From there, the Western New England defense would force a quick stop and get the ball right back of the offensive end of the field. Ryan Larson would catch another deep ball on the ensuing drive, this time a 25-yard catch bringing WNE down to the Salve 10-yard line, needing just ten yards for a score. On first down and goal, WNE would be picked off in the endzone, seeing their chance of another score go by the waste side. Western New England would make a defensive stop and end the quarter with a 45-yard field goal that sailed up and through the uprights from Matt Gilbert to give WNE a 14-10 deficit at the half. 

After deferring to receive until the second half, Salve Regina got the ball to open the final 30 minutes of play and needed eight plays and 65-yards to march down the field to score their third touchdown of the afternoon after Joey Mauriello took a 13-yard rush to the house to give Salve Regina a 21-10 lead. The Seahawks would continue to take it to WNE, picking up the next score of the game as well when Hayden Hulme caught a 14-yard touchdown pass to give Salve Regina a 28-10 lead. 

Western New England would make a comeback from there, picking up a five yard touchdown run from Dillon Kohl to get the Golden Bears right back into the contest with just under four minutes to play in the third quarter. The Western New England defense would come away with multiple stops to keep the chances of a win alive. Leandro DePina, Brandon Myers, Jason Shumilla, Brine Wotherspoon, and Jake Chiasson would all contribute heavily on the defensive end for WNE. 

Western New England needed just one yard on a fourth and one to open the fourth quarter though could not come away with the first down, being just eight yards away from the endzone after another forced fumble would cost the Golden Bears. 

Neither team could score the football until late in the contest when Western New England drove down the field in 3:09 on nine plays, gaining 80 yards to score another touchdown. De'Andre Harris would catch a 23-yard pass from Bryce Karstetter to put WNE behind by five points. A two-point conversion by Western New England would be successful after another Harris to Karstetter pass would help the Golden Bears get within three points of a tie with under a minute to play. Western New England would need an onside kick miracle to get the ball back. The onside kick for WNE would be unsuccessful, giving the ball back to Salve Regina which capped the game off with a 28-25 score in favor of the Seahawks. 

Through the Uprights:

• Bryce Karstetter threw for 238 yards, completing 19 passes on 28 attempts. Karstetter threw one touchdown and one interception. Jake Stack completed nine passed on 15 attempts for SRU, throwing two touchdowns and one INT for 128 yards. 
• WNE's ground game was led by Dillon Kohl, who took the ball 24 times for 71 yards, scoring two WNE touchdowns. Ian Britt ran 15 times for 59 yards. Joey Mauriello rushed 15 times for 76 yards and scored a TD for Salve. 
• De'Andre Harris led all receivers on the afternoon with five catches for 101 yards while also grabbing a touchdown. Ryan Larson caught four passes for 75 yards, being the second leading receiver in the contest. Salve was led by Max DiVito, who caught three passes for 51 yards. 
• Matt Gilbert connected on one of two field goals and collected two of two extra point attempts. Trent D'Aniello punted three times for 94 yards on the day. 
• Leandro DePina led WNE with 11 tackles, six solo and five assisted. Garrett McCarthy and Dylan Hodge collected double digit tackles for the Seahawks. The Seahawks defense sacked Karstetter four times on the day while WNE failed to record a sack for just the second time this season. 
• WNE possessed the ball for 28:29 in the contest, their second most of the season. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• WNE returns home after nearly a month heiatus from Golden Bear Stadium as they welcome Curry College on Saturday, October 22 at 1:00 pm for Homecoming Weekend. 
• Salve Regina meets Nichols College on the same date at 12:00 pm from Toppa Field.