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Saturday's Game: Maine Maritime Academy (1-5, 0-4 NEFC) at Western New England University (7-0, 4-0 NEFC), 1:00 p.m., Golden Bear Stadium, Springfield, Massachusetts.
Series History: Saturday's game marks the 15th meeting between Maine Maritime Academy and Western New England University. The Golden Bears hold a 9-5 all-time record over the Mariners, in a rivalry that dates back to 1981. The Golden Bears have picked up victories in the last three matchups, but before that the Mariners claimed two-straight. On the road the Mariners are 2-4 against Western New England.
Last Meeting: Maine Maritime Academy forced a fumble on Western New England's first possession and answered with a 5-play 54 yard drive to start the game, but the Golden Bears scored 30 points in the third quarter to take a 58-35 New England Football Conference victory over the Mariners on October 17.
Offensively the Mariners amassed 361 rushing yards and 146 passing yards for 507 yards of offense, and the defense grabbed a sack, a fumble recovery and an interception in the effort.
James Ferrar led the Mariners with 133 rushing yards on 11 carries, and senior quarterback Michael Fahey amassed 84 yards on 15 carries and two touchdowns on land and 77 yards and a touchdown in the air.
Terrence N'Dabian fumbled on the first play of the opening drive for the Golden Bears and Justin Lovely recovered, giving the Mariners excellent field position at their own 46. Fahey led the Mariners to a 5-play 54-yard drive highlighted by a 28-yard pass to Jacob Doolan and an 18-yard touchdown pass to Derek Breunig . Chad Martin's extra-point attempt was good, giving the Mariners a 7-0 lead.
The Golden Bears responded with a 6-play 48-yard drive capped off by a 12-yard Tyler Ward touchdown pass to Mohamed Camara. Kevin Patterson's extra-point kick was good, tying things up at 7-7.
On Maine Maritime's next possession the Mariners used a 20-yard run by Doolan and a Western New England personal foul, to set up a 32-yard field goal attempt for Martin. Martin's kick went just wide right, keeping things tied up.
The Mariner defense forced a three-and-out on Western New England's next drive, taking over on their own 44. Fahey ran the ball in for a touchdown from the 1-yard line, following a 11 play, 56 yard drive. Martin's kick was good to give the Mariners a 14-7 lead.
Matt Clifford picked Ward's pass off on the next drive, giving the Mariners the ball on the Golden Bears 40-yard line. Unfortunately, Maine Maritime could not capitalize on Western New England's turnover.
Western New England scored on their next two possessions to take a 21-14 into the intermission.
The Golden bears scored on their first five possessions in the second half, after forcing a Mariner fumble on the opening kickoff, to jump out to a 51-14 lead.
Maine Maritime scored to open up the fourth quarter on a 6-yard rush by Fahey, and a Martin extra-point to close the gap to 51-21. The Mariners forced the Golden Bears to punt on their next drive, and Kaleb Brown grabbed his first career rushing touchdown with 9:02 remaining in the game to make it 51-28.
Kevin Degnan rushed for a 1-yard touchdown to make it 58-28, but the Mariners kept fighting as Corey Creeger found Breunig for a back-to-back completions, the first for 37 yards and then a 32-yard touchdown toss to make it 51-35. The score was good for Creeger's first-career touchdown toss. The Golden Bears got the ball back with 21 seconds left, and took a knee to seal the victory.
Sam Olsson led the Golden Bears defensively with 13 total tackles (12 solo), while Kevin McLaughlin added 10 stops (4 solo) and a forced fumble.
Cody Chapman led the Mariner defense with 12 tackles (6 solo), while Jeddy Doyon added 10 tackles (5 solo) and a pass breakup that was almost an interception. Clifford forced a fumble, and grabbed and interception returned for 20 yards, and Lovely recovered a fumble.
Maine Maritime Academy's Last Game: Maine Maritime Academy football amassed 260 yards of total offense and scored two defensive touchdowns in a heartbreaking 42-41 loss to Curry College last Saturday afternoon, in New England Football Conference action.
Junior quarterback Corey Creeger tallied 70 passing yards, 50 rushing yards and four touchdowns to lead the Mariner offense, while Cody O'Brien recovered a fumble for a touchdown and Trenton J. Bouchard an interception for a touchdown to lead Maine Maritime's defense.
Western New England University's Last Game: Western New England University scored 20 unanswered points and shut out Endicott College over the second half on its way to a 20-7, NEFC victory last Saturday.
Nick Connell rushed for a season-high 132 yards on 22 carries (6.0 avg.), his second straight 100-yard performance. Dante Aiken added 64 yards and one touchdown on 11 carries (5.8 avg.).
The Mariners: Corey Creeger leads the Mariners with 769 passing yards on 36 completions. Creeger averages 128.2 passing yards per game and 8.8 yards per completion. In the air Creeger has tosses six touchdowns, and on the ground Creeger is responsible for 307 yards and a team-high 12 touchdowns. James Ferrar leads the Mariners' rushing attack with 507 yards on 102 carries, for an average of five yards per carry and two touchdowns. Jacob Doolan has 447 rushing yards on 56 carries, for an average of eight yards per rush and two touchdowns.
Jordan Susi leads the receivers with 15 receptions totaling 399 yards, averaging 26.6 yards per catch and five touchdowns. Susi also leads the Mariners on returns, amassing 241 yards on nine kick returns.
Cody Chapman leads the Mariner defense with 58 tackles, including 30 solo, 12 tackles for a loss, three broken up passes, two forced fumbles, 1.5 sacks and a fumble recovery. Christopher Ford has 37 tackles, 23 solo, 10 for a loss, a team-leading two sacks and a forced fumble.
Maine Maritime is averaging 373 total yards per game, including 235.8 rushing yards and 137.2 passing yards per game. The Mariners average 28 points per game, while allowing opponents to score 35.5 points per game. Against the Mariners, teams are averaging 390.2 yards of total offense, including 266 passing yards and 124.2 rushing yards.
The Golden Bears: Anthony Service leads the Golden Bears with 1,513 passing yards, averaging 216.1 yards per game and 9.2 yards per completion. In the air, Service has 18 touchdowns, and just two interceptions and on the ground Service leads the team with five rushing touchdowns on 80 carries totaling 290 yards.
Nick Connell leads the team with 627 rushing yards on 115 carries and four touchdowns. Mark Dietrich leads the receivers with 426 receiving yards on 30 catches and six touchdowns.
On 13 returns, Dante Aiken averages 18.9 yards per kick return totaling 246 yards. Defensively, Kurtis Jolicoeur leads the Golden Bears with 43 tackles, 20 solo, seven for a loss and 1.5 sacks. Blair Cook leads the team with 7.5 tackles for a loss, totaling 16 yards and both Sean Stergas and Robert Sihlanick lead the team with a pair of sacks. Obi Etuka leads the Golden Bears with three interceptions.
Western New England is averaging 461.1 yards of total offense per game, including 233.6 rushing yards and 227.6 passing yards. The Golden Bears average 40.7 points per game, while allowing opponents to score 13.6 points per game. Against the Golden Bears, opponents are averaging 229.9 yards of total offense, including 144.4 passing yards and 85.4 rushing yards.
NEFC Rankings: Last week Corey Creeger accounted for 26 of Maine Maritime's point, tallying a league-leading individual points scored performance. Creeger also rushed for four touchdowns, tying for the league leading performance in a single game.
Against Curry, Jordan Susi returned two kicks for 84 yards. Susi's average of 42 yards per return, leads the NEFC for a single-game performance.
Cody Chapman is tied for first place in the NEFC for tackles for a loss, averaging two tackles for a loss per game. Chapman is also ranked second in the NEFC for total tackles, averaging 9.7 tackles per game.
Trenton J. Bouchard leads the NEFC in passes defended, with eight broken up passes and two interceptions.
The Mariners still sit atop the NEFC in third down conversions, converting on the third down 41.2 percent of the time.
NEFC Honors: Maine Maritime Academy's Trenton J. Bouchard was named the NEFC Defensive Rookie of the Week following his performance against Curry College. Teammate Cody O'Brien was named to the Weekly Defensive Honor Roll.
Western New England's Nick Connell was named to the NEFC Offensive Honor Roll and teammate, Sam Olsson and Chris Quarles were named to the Defensive H
