SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (November 13, 2021) - Western New England scored 28 unanswered points as the Golden Bears defeated the Eagles, 35-10, on Saturday afternoon at Golden Bear Stadium in Commonwealth Coast Conference action. Both teams closed out the regular season as Western New England claimed second place in the standings.

Records:

• Western New England: 7-3, 5-1 CCC
• Husson: 7-3, 4-2 CCC

How It Happened:

Husson started the scoring with a six-yard run by Garrett Poussard to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead at the 9:37 mark in the first quarter. On the Golden Bears very next drive, they went 82 yards on 14 plays with Carlos Martin Nieto punching in the touchdown from two yards out followed by a good PAT from Matt Gilbert to tie the game 7-7 in the first quarter. The second quarter both defenses took it up a notch not allowing any points to be scored on either side sending the game into halftime tied 7-7.

The Eagles opened the second half with the ball and capitalized. They took the ball 53 yards in 11 plays to record a 29-yard field goal by Aaron Paradis to take a 10-7 lead. This only motivated the Golden Bears who responded under three minutes later on a six play, 69-yard drive finished by a 22-yard rush from Ian Britt followed by another good PAT by Gilbert to put Western New England ahead 14-10. Britt scored again with 1:50 left in the third quarter this time from the one-yard line. This completed an 80-yard drive with Gilbert continuing his perfect game to give the Golden Bears their largest lead 21-10. The fourth quarter was all about the Golden Bears. At the 10:56 mark, Martin Nieto completed an 18-yard pass to Steven Fedorchak to complete a 62-yard drive. With 2:55 left in the game, Ryan Smith ran in a touchdown from seven yards out to score the final touchdown of the game. Gilbert completed a perfect game with two PATs for Western New England to defeat Husson 35-10 on senior day.

Inside the Numbers:

• The Golden Bears finished the game scoring 28 unanswered points. As a team, the Golden Bears recorded 18 first downs on 365 yards of offense, 202 passing and 163 rushing.
• Martin Nieto went 12-for-25 at quarterback for 148 yards and one touchdown.
• Britt led the rushing game for the Golden Bears recorded 16 rushes for a total of 75 yards with two touchdowns. Martin Nieto tallied 12 rushes for 66 yards and one touchdown while Smith ran the ball twice with one touchdown.
• Fedorchak tallied the only receiving touchdown and tallied five catches in the game for a total of 71 yards.
• Gilbert had another perfect game going 5-for-5 on extra points. Zac Christian tallied five punts where two landed inside the 20-yard line.
• Joshua Salem led the Golden Bears defense tallying 15 tackles while both Bailey Devine-Scott and Erich Keutmann earned nine tackles apiece. Keutmann also earned 1.5 sacks for seven yards while Devine-Scott recorded a broken-up pass.
• Jerry Woodard earned an interception that he returned for nine yards along with three broken-up passes and one tackle for a loss of eight yards.