SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (October 16, 2026) – The Western New England football team returns from its bye week on Saturday afternoon and welcomes the Gulls of Endicott College to Golden Bear Stadium for Golden Bear Weekend and Homecoming on campus, with kickoff set for 1:00 PM. 

Last Time Out:
Western New England fell to the Eagles of Husson University on the road last time out by a final score of 26-21. The Golden Bears fell behind early in the game, seeing Husson score the opening 14 points and took a 26-7 lead in the final quarter of play. The Golden Bears scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but not enough to overcome the big deficit, falling in the Conference of New England (CNE) contest to drop to 2-3 on the season and 1-1 overall in CNE play. The Golden Bears were doomed by four interceptions in the game nearly two weeks ago, completing just 12 passes on 33 attempts through the air. Western New England ran for just 155 yards on the ground, the second fewest across the five games this season. 

The Golden Bears made a defensive stand on Husson's opening drive of the game, stuffing the Eagles on fourth-and-four from the WNE 23-yard line, forcing a turnover on downs. WNE tossed an interception on just its second offensive play of the game, turning the ball back over to the Eagles, who made the Golden Bears pay, coming away with the first score of the game, giving Husson a 7-0 lead. The second play of WNE's second offensive drive of the game ended the same way as the first drive did, an intercepted pass, giving the Eagles the ball back. The Western New England defense came up with stops before the quarter ended, keeping Husson only up by seven after 15 minutes of play. The Eagles came up with a score to open the second quarter to lead 14-0 quickly. The Golden Bears could not find any rhythm on offense to open the quarter, but bounced back to score with 7:30 remaining in the frame to pick up their first points of the game. Husson quickly answered after an 88-yard kickoff return put the Eagles at the WNE five-yard line, cashing in from the spot to lead 20-7, where the game would hold at the half. 

Husson put up the only points of the third quarter, collecting its fourth interception of the game and took a 26-7 lead. WNE ran 21 plays in the third quarter for 82 yards, but did not result in any points scored, trailing by 19 points heading into the final quarter. Western New England opened the fourth quarter with a 10-play, 86-yard touchdown with 11:10 remaining in the quarter to get within 11 following a successful two point conversion. The WNE defense then forced a three-and-out on defense to turn the ball back over to the offense. There, Western New England burned over six minutes of clock but came away with a touchdown on a 19-play, 94-yard touchdown, getting the Golden Bears back within five, 26-21. The WNE defense once again forced a punt on Husson with 1:50 remaining in the quarter, but a penalty flag on the WNE special teams forced an automatic first down for the Eagles and sealed the win, as the Golden Bears dropped their third straight game at Husson over the last three seasons, falling 26-21. 

Western New England's Offense:
The Golden Bears were led by senior Kevin Acosta, who came away with six catches for 107 yards, a career-high, and caught two touchdown passes on the afternoon against Husson. Acosta is now up to five touchdown catches for Western New England this season and leads the Blue and Gold with 18 catches for 330 yards. Paul Gorry completed just seven passes on 24 attempts (29%) after starting the season 17/20 on pass attempts. Gorry did throw a pair of touchdowns against Husson and came up with 114 yards of offense through the air. Corey Kilroy also saw action for the Golden Bears at the quarterback position, completing five passes on nine attempts, throwing for 75 yards and a touchdown. On the ground, Western New England was led by Matthew McGuire, who picked up 15 rushes for 62 yards, averaging four yards per carry. Kilroy was also effective on the ground, rushing 12 times for 58 yards. Through the air, WNE saw James Burg (2), John DeCamps (1), Gavin Bielawa (1), Matthew McGuire (1), and Keegan Walker (1), record catches. 

Western New England's Defense:
Despite a slow start against the Eagles on defense, the Golden Bears allowed just six points in the second half to lock up Husson's offense. Michael Canavatchel led the Blue and Gold with eight total tackles in week five, picking up a solo tackle and seven assisted tackles, while also recording a tackle and a half for loss. Jackson Caramanica, Dimaggio Ferrara, and Nick Kolifrath helped the WNE defense with seven tackles each, while Ferrara and Kolifrath picked up tackles for loss in the contest. Anthony Sturniolo still leads the Golden Bears on the season with 40 total tackles, coming away with 18 solo tackles and 22 assisted. Austin Pszczolkowski leads Western New England with 6.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. The Golden Bears rank third in the CNE in total defense this season. 

Western New England Special Teams:
The Golden Bears punted three times in the loss to Husson, all three punts taken by Rhys Surprenant. Surprenant averaged 40 yards per kick, including a 51-yard boot as a high for the game. The WNE junior is now averaging just over three punts per game for over 38 yards per kick. Surprenant has forced three fair catches, three kicks inside the 20-yard line and three kicks over 50 yards. Max LoGrasso remained perfect on the season in extra-point attempts, hitting his only try in the game. LoGrasso did not attempt a field goal in the contest. Christian Delgado returned one punt for nine yards in the game and also ran back one kickoff attempt for 20 yards. Jova'n Hill picked up one kickoff return for 12 yards. 

Quick Scout On Endicott:
The Gulls come into Saturday's contest ranked ninth overall in the D3football.com top 25 poll and have gone without a blemish to their record this season, starting the year a perfect 5-0. The Gulls, also coming off a bye week, last played at the University of New England on October 3 and took down the Nor'easters by a final score of 55-27. Endicott has a high-powered offense, scoring no lower than 24 points in any game this season, averaging 38 points per game. The Gulls offense ranks 16^th in the nation, averaging 469 yards per game. Endicott is one of just 25 teams across 215 ranked that have not lost a game yet this season. Senior quarterback Shea Lynch has been recognized by the Conference of New England twice this season as Offensive Player of the Week and also secured the New England Football Writers Association Gold Helmet Award, given to one Division III player across all New England schools who had the greatest impact for their team during the week. Through five games, Lynch has completed 76 passes over 122 attempts (62%), throwing for 1,096 yards, and has collected 11 touchdown passes. Last season's Conference of New England Rookie of the Year, Bryan Ferreira, continues to lead the Gulls on the ground, rushing 78 times for 566 yards and has scored six touchdowns. Endicott has a one-two punch on the ground, with Markys Bridgewater also taking a heavy amount of carries with 66 for Endicott, rushing for 355 yards, scoring three touchdowns. Endicott's Matt Leone leads the Gulls with 213 yards of offense off 13 catches, scoring two touchdowns on the year. Kennedy Charles also has 13 catches for the Gulls, accumulating 206 yards of offense, picking up three touchdown passes. 

The Gulls defense is led by Caleb Luz, who has picked up 37 total tackles on the season, 20 solo and 17 assisted overall, averaging over seven tackles per game. Luz has three sacks on the season, tied for the most on the team and has picked up 13 tackles for loss, far and away the highest for Endicott. Will Tirrell averaged just over six tackles per game for EC and has 33 total on the year. Tirrell also has one of Endicott's five interceptions. Ty Cannistraro leads EC with a pair of INTs for the season as well as picking up four breakup passes on the year.

Endicott's special teams are led by Nick Drosopoulos, who has hit four of a possible seven field goal attempts on the season and made 23 of a possible 26 extra point attempts. Garold Stones has punted 13 times on the season for the Gulls, averaging just south of 40 yards per kick. Five different Gulls have taken in kick returns on the season, including Ferreira, Bridgewater, Charles, Jacob Phelps, and Joe Carrara. Ferreira leads the Gulls with four returns for 92 yards. Jack Steen has been the only Gull to return a punt this season, doing so eight times for 91 yards. 

The Game:
The Golden Bears are in search of their first win over Endicott in their last five meetings. The Blue and Gold last picked up a win over Endicott in 2019. The two teams will battle at Golden Bear Stadium for a 1:00 PM kickoff. 

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