Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mass. â€" Coming into Saturday’s game, Western New England College was among the league leaders in turnover margin in the New England Football Conference (NEFC).
The Golden Bears, however, lost five of eight fumbles and saw a big lead disappear in the second half as MIT rallied for a 31-27 victory in a NEFC Boyd Division game before 510 rain-soaked fans at Steinbrenner Stadium.
Western New England College led 7-3 after the opening quarter and 27-3 at half-time following three touchdown runs (1, 7, 41 yards) by freshman running back Jordan Capitanio (Torrington, CT) and a 75-yard interception return by junior strong safety Alex Barwikowski (Berlin, CT).
MIT (2-3, 1-1) answered by scoring 21 straight points to start the third quarter without WNEC running a play. The Engineers took the second-half kickoff and went 65 yards on 10 plays, then recovered the ensuing on-side kick to go 39 yards on eight plays. The Golden Bears fumbled the next kickoff that David Blau returned 30 yards for a touchdown that pulled MIT within 27-24 with 7:28 remaining in the period.Â
Western New England College (1-4, 1-2)Â then punted and on its next possession of the third quarter lost another fumble that MIT quickly turned into a 44-yard scoring drive capped by a one-yard run by Chris Ruggiero at 12:50 of the fourth quarter.
The Golden Bears were forced to punt on their next two possessions, then lost two more fumbles in the 3:22 span, the last one when the team drove to the MIT 30 with 1:52 left in the game.
Capitanio enjoyed his best outing of the season rushing for 184 yards on 21 carries while sophomore quarterback Pat Murphy (Kensington, NH) completed 13-of-25 passes for 146 yards with no interceptions. Sophomore wide receiver Kevin Miculcy (Greenwich, CT) had another solid performance with eight catches for 97 yards.
MIT quarterback Richard Mancuso was 24-for-56 passing for 277 yards with a pair of touchdowns and three interceptions.
Junior cornerback Jarod Johnson (Ticonderoga, NY) and freshman linebacker Daniel Merriam (North Haven, CT) had the other interceptions for the Golden Bears. Junior linebacker Matt Guaragna (Port Chester, NY) had a team high eight tackles.
