WESTFIELD – The Westfield State University football team hosts UMass Dartmouth on Saturday, Sept. 21. The Family Weekend game kicks off at 1:00 p.m.
MASCAC KICKOFF: This is Westfield’s first conference game in the inaugural season of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletics Conference. Westfield and UMass Dartmouth had been members of the 16-team New England Football Conference but played in different divisions in the NEFC. The MASCAC is a nine-team conference comprised of Bridgewater State, Fitchburg State, Framingham State, Mass. Maritime Academy, Westfield State, and Worcester State, along with affiliate members UMass Dartmouth, Plymouth State and Western Connecticut State of the Little East Conference.
WEB TV: The UMass Dartmouth-Westfield game is being video streamed live. There is no fee to watch the game. Westfield State students Matt Stover and Mike Drew will provide the play-by-play and color commentary. In addition, there will be Live Stats for the game. Go to www.WestfieldStateOwls.com to access the video stream and Live Stats links.
THE SERIES: Westfield and UMass Dartmouth have played 11 games, including 10 consecutive years from 1988-1997. The series ended following the 1997 season when the NEFC expanded from nine to 14 teams and split into two divisions. UMass Dartmouth leads the all-time series, 6-5. The teams last played in 2003 when the Corsairs blanked the Owls, 16-0, in the NEFC championship game. Three of the 10 regular season games went to triple overtime. Westfield won a triple overtime game in 1989 by a 3-0 score. UMass Dartmouth claimed triple OT victories by identical scores of 21-14 in 1992 and 1994.
THE RECORDS: Westfield evened its 2013 record at 1-1 with a stunning 33-7 victory over local rival Western New England University in the Owls’ home opener on Friday, Sept. 13. Westfield sustained a disappointing 28-27 overtime setback at Nichols in the season opener. UMass Dartmouth was idle last week and opened its season with a 21-20 loss to Mount Ida. The Corsairs registered a safety and missed all three extra point attempts in the one-point loss.
SCOUTING THE CORSAIRS: “That was a very experienced team that we played, and I like the way we fought,” said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach Mark Robichaud after the 21-20 loss to Mount Ida. “As I said, we’re a young team, and we have to avoid mental mistakes. We have a week off, so it’s back to camp. We are going to get better everywhere.” In the season opener, freshman quarterback Trent Barneys led UMD with 41 yards rushing. He shared the quarterback duties with freshman Cullen Hanna, who completed five of 12 passes for 58 yards. Linebacker Joe Teixera, lineman Jordan McDonald, linebacker Derek Tarpey, and senior linebacker Jordan Guyton each had eight tackles for the Corsairs.
SCOUTING THE OWLS: The Owls were brilliant defensively last week. Furthermore, they kept the ball away from Western New England with their ball control offense in the second half. WNE ran an amazing 56 plays in the first half and racked up 16 first downs but still trailed, 9-0, at halftime. In the second half, WNE only managed 14 plays and turned the ball over on four of them. Senior linebacker Nick Adams had the game’s big play, an 89-yard interception return to stake the Owls to a 6-0 lead. His exciting pick six was four yards shy of the school record set by Robert Ogden in 1985. Rugged junior running back Michael Mercadante has rushed for 234 yards on 62 carries in the first two games, including 140 yards on 34 carries vs. Western New England. Sophomore quarterback Erik Washburn is looking to boost his passing completion percentage (17 for 40, 239 yards, 3 TDs) but he has thrown no interceptions. The leading receivers thru two games are Kevin Nicol (7-93) and tight end Jeff Winchell (4-89). Free safety Greg Sheridan leads the Owls’ balanced defense with 15 tackles and end Marcus Pettigrew, a transfer from Mount Ida, has 13 stops. Senior strong safety Gregg Jackson has 11 tackles and three interceptions, including two big picks vs. Western New England. The Owls’ other top tacklers are cornerback Breno Pessanha (10 tackles), linebacker Troy Cutter (9), tackle Jonathan Lytle (9), and cornerback Joey Shisler (8). Westfield is receiving solid special teams play from freshman punter Evan Hopson (14 punts, 37.0 yard average). Opponents have only returned two of his punts for zero net yards. Mike Bortolussi has converted six of seven extra point attempts, and sophomore Michael Orellana – a former soccer player – booted two field goals vs. WNE.
LOOKING AHEAD: Westfield is idle Saturday, Sept. 28, and returns to action on Oct. 5 at Plymouth State. UMass Dartmouth hosts Plymouth State on Saturday, Sept. 28.
