By Zack Downing, Staff Writer
Playing on the road presents a tough challenge to any football team, no matter how skilled, and Bridgewater State showed UMass Dartmouth that challenge on the Bears’ home turf.
This match wasn’t the scoring frenzy that other games this season have been, but Bridgewater did score a touchdown right away on the opening drive.
Later that quarter, senior Scott Tupper intercepted a pass for the Corsairs, leading them to a touchdown and tying the game at 7-7.
In the second quarter, senior John Beardsley caught a 34 yard touchdown pass for the Corsairs to tie the game at 13.
When halftime arrived, the score was 20-13 in favor of Bridgewater. It wasn’t the best situation for UMass Dartmouth, but a 7 point deficit is no big deal for an offense that routinely chalks up 500 yards.
It was actually the defenses that shined in the 3rd quarter, with no one scoring any points. At the start of the 4th quarter, Beardsley caught his second touchdown pass to approach the Bears’ score. However, the extra point was a miss, so the score was now 20-19.
As the game neared a close, Bridgewater scored another touchdown to make the score 27-19. The Corsairs got the ball back with 2:06 left in the game, and a touchdown with a 2 point conversion standing between them and overtime.
The Corsairs’ final drive looked promising, but right as they began to gain steam a pass was intercepted by the Bears’ Juan Gonzalez, ending the game at 27-19.
UMass Dartmouth would look to bounce back at Worcester State, and show off their powerful offense.
In the first quarter it looked as though neither offense was showing off at all, since the first 7 drives of the game resulted in no scores.
Worcester scored first following a Corsairs fumble, but that was when the Corsairs started to charge.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the Corsairs rolled through a 95 yard drive to end with a touchdown pass to Kevin Wadsworth. The UMass Dartmouth defense then shut down the opponent’s following drive, and responded with another long Corsairs drive ending in a touchdown.
The half ended with a Corsairs lead of 14-6, but their offense was just getting started.
Their next two drives of the game were touchdowns, one rushing by Eddie Sheridan and the other a 22 yard pass by Cory Burnham.
Worcester State kept alive the following drive by scoring another touchdown, bringing the score to 28-13. After UMass Dartmouth failed to score on their next drive, the Lancers saw a bit of hope when they got the ball back.
However, junior Marvey Mathurin intercepted a Lancers pass on that drive and turned the momentum of the game around, leading to another Corsairs rushing touchdown by Johnny Mims.
The next touchdown was also by Mims in the 4th, marking his 3rd touchdown of the game. The Lancers scored a couple more times in that last quarter, but it was too late for them, especially following a late fumble.
The final score was 42-26, with the Corsairs again showing their 40-point offense. They racked up 307 rushing yards on the game, another huge number by the duo of Eddie Sheridan and Johnny Mims.
The Corsairs face Mass Maritime in their next match, on Saturday the 22. It’s a home game, so go down to Cressy Field to support our football team!