SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (September 6, 2025) – The Western New England football team opened the 2025 season with a bang, knocking off the 13^th-ranked Pride of Springfield College on Saturday afternoon at Golden Bear Stadium to claim the Pynchon SAW Trophy for the first time since 2021, grabbing a dramatic 23-22 victory. 

Records:

• Western New England: 1-0
• No. 13 Springfield College: 0-1

How it Happened:

First Quarter: 

• The opening drive of the game belonged to Western New England, who won the opening coin toss on their home field but were not able muster much, coming up with just seven yards in 1:27 of play, quickly handing the ball over to the dangerous Pride offense. The Pride would not come up with anything on their first drive, coming up with just four yards, all runs, on their drive, keeping the score tied.
• Neither team came up with score through the first four drives until the third offensive drive of the afternoon for Western New England would result in the first three-points of the contest. An 11-play 49 yard drive for the blue and gold ended with a 23-yard field goal from Max LoGrasso, giving Western New England a 3-0 lead. The Pride had nothing to show for in the opening quarter, mustering nine rushes for 17 yards. 
• Western New England ran for just 12 yards in the opening quarter but threw for 37 between Brady Lafferty and Paul Gorry. WNE was 1/4 on third down conversions while Springfield failed to complete a first down, going 0/3. 

Second Quarter:

• Western New England's offense was a quick three-and-out to begin the second frame while the Pride found their legs to begin the quarter and ran a successful eight play, 34 yard drive that led to their first six points of the afternoon after James Green found the endzone on a one yard run, giving the Pride a 7-3 lead following the successful PAT. 
• The Golden Bears had an answer for Springfield's score on their next drive, carving up an 11 play. 76 yard drive, capped off by a Matt LaMontagne six-yard rushing touchdown, followed by a successful PAT from LoGrasso, putting the Golden Bears back in front, 10-7 with 3:18 to play in the quarter. 
• The Pride notched another score to end the second quarter, following six rushing attempts that led to 48 yards and a score as Springfield quarterback TJ Welch came up with a 14-yard touchdown run, giving the Pride a 14-10 lead at the break. 
• Springfield ran the ball for 89 yards in the second quarter without throwing a single pass. WNE totaled 79 total yards for 17 plays in the quarter themselves. 

Third Quarter: 

• Just six points would be added to the scoreboard in the third quarter, belonging to the home team. The Pride would chew off well over half the quarter on their opening drive, collecting a 15-play, 54 yard drive but would result in no points, following a missed field goal from Ian Wernik, keeping the score 14-10 in favor of Springfield College. The Western New England defense, led heavily by Nick Kolifrath, Ben Caulfield, Ryan Clark, and Henry Rodrigues, continued to make big stops for Western New England. 
• The opening and what turned out to be the only offensive drive of the third quarter for WNE resulted in six points after five plays got the blue and gold 80 yards down the field. The drive would be highlighted by a Davis Nelson 36-yard catch and run and would be capped off in the end zone with a 25-yard pass from Lafferty to Kevin Acosta Jr., giving the Golden Bears a 16-14 lead. Springfield would maintain possession of the football for the final 3:41 of the quarter, keeping the ball heading into the fourth. 
• Springfield College ran the ball 19 times in the frame overall and rushed for 78 total yards. Western New England ran for just six yards but caught 74 yards of scrimmage through the air to take a 16-14 lead out of the third quarter. 

Fourth Quarter:

• Springfield College would doom themselves early in the fourth quarter with a costly penalty, forcing a punt to the Golden Bears. Western New England would not be able to make the Pride pay, going three-and-out on their next offensive drive, handing the ball back to Springfield. 
• The Pride would see a six minute and eleven second drive again end with no points, going for a fourth-and-eleven and getting ten yards on the play and turning the ball over to WNE. WNE again would go three-and-out, this time in just 1:41, giving Springfield the ball back with 4:43 to play. 
• The Pride would ultimately add seven more points to the scoreboard with just 2:26 left to play. Following a 26-yard touchdown run from Cam Pedro and adding the two-point conversion to take a 22-16 lead. 
• Western New England would need all of its 17-play drive to end the game with seven more points to come up with the win. A massive fourth-and-one from the Springfield 23 yard line would see LaMontagne rush up the middle to squeak over the link and grab WNE the first down. With just five seconds remaining on a second-and-10 from the Springfield 13-yard line, Lafferty would send an out-route pass to Christian Delgado, who made a Springfield College defender miss and would pile drive just over the goal line and into the end zone, giving the Golden Bears six points and tying SC 22-22. Max LoGrasso's extra point would go straight down the middle of the uprights, giving the Golden Bears a 23-22 lead. The final kick of the game would see Springfield's Avian Evans rush the ball up the middle but would be stopped by Ben Caulfield and would give Western New England the victory in the 12^th-annual Pynchon SAW Game. 

Inside the Lines:

• The first career touchdown for Christian Delgado would be the game-winning touchdown of the game to bring the Pynchon SAW Trophy back to Golden Bear Stadium for the first time since 2021. 
• The Golden Bears defeat Springfield College, who came into the season ranked 12^th overall in the d3football.com rankings, for their first win over a ranked opponent in program history. 
• As a team, WNE tossed for 192 yards, led by Brady Lafferty, who picked up 17 completions for 180 yards and a pair of TDs. De'Andre Harris led receivers with six catches for 62 yards in the win. 
• The Western New England defense, led by Nick Kolifrath, shut down the high-powered run offense from the Pride, who ran for 240 yards in the game. 
• Ryan Clark made a pair of tackles for loss in the game. 
• WNE evens the all-time series with Springfield College, with both teams winning and losing six games to one another. 

Coach's Corner:
Game-winning touchdown scorer, Christian Delgado, was interviewed after the game and asked what was going through his mind and what he saw on that final offensive play. "I had a couple targets early in the drive. Me and Brady didn't really connect. All game, it felt like I wanted to do more out there for my boys, but that last play, nothing was working, so Brady went to his checkdown, got the ball, saw someone, knew I had to make a play for the game. It just comes down to hard work at that point," Delgado emphasized. When asked about what went through his mind when he scored, Delgado stated, "As soon as I scored, I found my boys and celebrated with them because it's about us."

WNE's leader in tackles, Nick Kolifrath, was asked about what helped him prepare to always be in the middle of the pile during tackles, as well as any advice the coaches gave him to get ready for Springfield's dynamic offense. "Just watched a lot of film and knew what we were doing with our game plan. We just stuck to (the game plan). It was just see your key, read your key, and just go downhill and make a play," Kolifrath noted. When some of the big defensive stops were mentioned, Kolifrath took us through those moments. "You just have to play the call that coach calls, stick to it, look at your keys, know what they are going to do, look at what the backs are going to do, and let it fly."

Head coach Jason Lebeau spoke on the feelings after an emotional win. "I am super proud and excited for the guys. They put in so much work, it feels like years and years, to get to this point. They stuck with it; they had each other's backs. They did everything that they were asked to earn a victory. Extremely proud!" Lebeau emphasized. When asked about the final drive, knowing the offense needed six points, the coach explained the mindset on the sideline. "The entire game, they were good on defense. We knew we had to continue to stay the course and just tried to keep guys together. There was really never a real doubt or waver from each other, so just sticking with it, we knew we had to find a way to throw the ball in the wind, and the wind was a factor. We had to keep trying to make plays, keep making the defense have to defend us all across the field, and the guys just kept hanging in there with multiple fourth downs and plays where we were behind the chains; they just stuck with it. Proud of that!" Lebeau stated.
Up Next On The Schedule:

• The Golden Bears hit the road for the first time this season to take on old conference foe Salve Regina University on Saturday, September 13 at 12:00 PM in Newport, Rhode Island.