DUDLEY, Mass. — The Maine Maritime Academy football team rallied with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns but fell to Nichols College, 38-20, in Conference of New England football action Saturday afternoon.
The Mariners showed offensive explosiveness despite the setback, finishing with 290 yards of total offense behind freshman quarterback
Harris Stone, who completed 19 of 33 passes for 228 yards and three touchdowns.
Trailing 14-0 in the second quarter, Maine Maritime got on the board when Stone connected with junior Aiden Sullivan on a six-yard touchdown pass with 12:21 remaining before halftime.
After Nichols built a 31-6 advantage through three quarters, the Mariners mounted a comeback effort in the fourth. Stone found freshman
Evan Flowers for a 43-yard touchdown strike on fourth-and-17 with 10:29 remaining, and a successful two-point conversion pass to
Ty Regis cut the deficit to 31-14.
Flowers added another touchdown reception with 21 seconds remaining, hauling in a 14-yard scoring pass from Stone to complete the scoring. The freshman wide receiver finished with five catches for 67 yards and two touchdowns.
Junior
Auston Harris paced the Mariners offensively with 63 rushing yards on 12 carries while also adding six receptions for a team-high 91 receiving yards. His 154 all-purpose yards accounted for more than half of Maine Maritime's offensive production.
Defensively, junior
Lucas Houghton led the Mariners with a game-high 12 tackles, while junior
Matt Gagin recorded nine stops. Junior
James Boyer-Russell added six tackles and a sack, and freshman
Karmanii Williams also contributed a sack for the Mariners.
Maine Maritime accumulated 15 first downs and converted both of its fourth-down attempts. The Mariners also received strong special teams play from Stone, who averaged 47.0 yards on five punts, placing three inside the 20-yard line.
The Mariners return to action on Saturday at home against Norwich University with kickoff scheduled for 11 a.m.
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