SPRINGFIELD – The Western New England University football team used a strong second-half to whip visiting Westfield State, 35-10, on Saturday at Golden Bear Stadium, giving Western New England its third President’s Trophy in a row. Both New England Football Conference teams are now 1-1 on the season after this non-conference contest of cross-divisional opponents.
The game time weather was more exciting than a first half that featured only one score, a 21-yard Kennan Startzell Westfield field goal as the first half expired and stalled drives by both offenses. The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for western Mass before the 1 p.m. kickoff, as University athletic officials eyed the skies all afternoon for dangerous weather.
The second half was another story.
In the game’s key play, Western New England got on the scoreboard with 10 minutes and 38 seconds left in the third quarter when Dave Micu recovered a fumble following a sack at his own 16-yard line and returned it for an 84-yard touchdown.
Another one of Westfield’s six turnovers (three fumbles, three interceptions) also thwarted a scoring driving in the first half when the Owls lost a fumble on a first-and-goal from the WNE 1-yard line.
At the 6:52 mark of the third period, a John Krafick 9-yard pass to Andrew Walz helped the Golden Bears extend the lead to 14-3.
The Owls offense was led by Michael Mercadante who rushed for 82 yards on 23 carries, including a 1-yard plunge into the end zone with 1:48 remaining in the third quarter for their only touchdown of the day that made the score 14-10.
Krafick finished throwing for 230 yards on 19 of 34 pass attempts against no interceptions. His second TD pass was a 76-yard strike to Tucker Schumitz to open the scoring in the fourth, putting the Golden Bears up 21 to 10.
Western New England blew the game wide open by scoring its last two touchdowns thanks to excellent field position and the strong wind to its back. Westfield punter Dan Dowling had back-to-back punts of 6 and zero yards against the wind deep in Owls territory and the Golden Bears capitalized. Kevin Cook and Alan Alvarez had scoring runs of 9 and 19 yards, respectively, as the two drives combined for only 11 plays for 27 yards.
Defensively, Alex Miller had three interceptions and five tackles to help Western New England limit Westfield State to 283 yards of total offense. Nathan Fleming added nine tackles, Nicholas Silvester and Greg Hanson had eight apiece, while Kevin Soule (8 tackles) and Alex Treschitta (7 tackles) combined for five sacks and 35 yards lost.
Mike Szydlowski and Dowling led the Owls with eight stops each, as Szydlowski led all players with seven solo tackles.
Courtesy of Westfield State University
