SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (October 30, 2026) – The Western New England football team will make its second conference road trip of the season on Saturday when it visits the Pilgrims of New England College. WNE is coming off a 48-13 victory over Curry last weekend and will look to build on that momentum this week. 

Last Time Out:
Western New England got its revenge on the Colonels of Curry College last week, who took down the Golden Bears last season, but the Golden Bears were able to return the favor with a 35-point victory at Golden Bear Stadium last Saturday. The Colonels started the game with a touchdown, using over 11 minutes of the first quarter to cap off a 20-play, 80-yard drive that resulted in six points. That would be the last time the Colonels would score in the game until a late touchdown, as the Golden Bears ripped off 41 points before Curry scored its next touchdown. A rushing touchdown with seven seconds remaining in the first quarter gave the Golden Bears the lead, while ten more points in the second quarter extended the lead for the Blue and Gold at the half, which stood at 17-6. A field goal and a rushing touchdown added ten more points to Western New England's total, taking a 27-6 lead over the Colonels with 15 minutes to play. The final quarter saw the Golden Bears outscore Curry 21-7, picking up a defensive touchdown in the process, allowing the Golden Bears to come away with a massive 48-13 victory, improving to 2-2 in the conference and coming up with their third win of the season overall. 

Offensive Leaders:
With 48 points on the board last week, plenty of Golden Bears emerged, as the team came away with 422 yards of offense in the win, 239 on the ground and 183 through the air. Western New England went 14/19 in pass attempts, led by Drew Caouette, who completed eight passes for 13 yards, throwing for one touchdown and 84 total yards. Corey Kilroy was a perfect five-for-five in pass attempts against the Colonels, throwing for 64 yards. Noah Pierre-Louis recorded his first career collegiate pass completion in the fourth quarter and also threw for his first career touchdown in the win, a 35-yard pass. Ten Golden Bears combined to attempt 41 rushes in the win, led by Matthew McGuire, who ran 14 times for 72 yards, scoring his fourth rushing touchdown of the season. Corey Kilroy attempted seven runs for 51 yards, coming away with his team-leading seventh rushing score of the year. Marcus Crawford tallied his second touchdown of the season, rushing seven times for 43 yards. Yasir Jones, Cody Jackson, Jova'n Hill, Noah Pierre-Louis, Jason Pratt, Davion Joe, and Alex Silva all carried the ball for WNE. 

Wide receiver John De Camps led the Golden Bears with five catches in the win, going for 87 yards and a touchdown. Kevin Acosta caught three passes for 36 yards, while Christian Delgado picked up four grabs for 22 yards. Jayden Melendez picked up his first career catch and touchdown for the Golden Bears in the last score of the game, coming down with a 35-yard pass. The WNE offense picked up 25 first downs, averaging seven yards per play. 

Defensive Standouts:
A pair of first-years led the way for the Golden Bears in the win over Curry, as Noah Albert recorded six solos and three assisted tackles in the win. Albert also came away with a pair of breakup passes for the Blue and Gold. Alante Green recorded eight tackles for Western New England, picking up a half tackle for loss. Henry Rodrigues had a career game, coming away with six tackles, two solo and four assisted, while forcing the lone fumble of the game, which wound up a touchdown for the Golden Bears. Joel Maggs was on the back end of the fumble, scooping and scoring from 55 yards out to come away with six points for Western New England. 

The Golden Bears recorded six breakup passes in the win last week, as Curry threw 25 passes, completing just nine of those, for 130 yards, and did not throw a passing touchdown in the game. Albert (2), Ryan Clark (1), Michael Canavatchel (1), Rashawn Shelton (1), and Chase Royal (1) all came down with a breakup. Western New England also came up with six quarterback hurries, with Austin Pszczolkowski (2), Logan Watts (2), Sean DuTremble (1), and Joe Malone (1) helping the Golden Bears in the win. 

Special Team Leaders:
Max LoGrasso came through with two field goals last week, hitting from 25 and 35 yards out. LoGrasso also remained perfect on the season in extra point attempts, going six-for-six, attempting and hitting a season-high. LoGrasso is 23-for-23 this season in extra point attempts and has made three of four field goals overall. Western New England did not punt last week and returned a pair of kickoffs, both by Marcus Crawford, who picked up a 28-yard and 19-yard return. Chris Digiacomo has taken over kickoffs for the Golden Bears over the last two weeks, doing so nine times for 514 yards, averaging 57.1 yards per kick. 

Quick Scout On NEC:
New England College comes into Saturday's action with a 2-5 record, going 1-3 in Conference of New England action so far this season. The Pilgrims are coming off a 17-14 victory over Maine Maritime Academy last weekend on the road, totaling 245 yards of offense. NEC's Brody Sobotka led the Pilgrims with 20 pass completions on 27 attempts, for 136 yards. The Pilgrims scored an offensive touchdown last week, coming on the ground from Ethan Cenesca, who rushed in from five yards out. Fire Anderson leads New England College with 51 rush attempts for 178 yards and four touchdowns on the year. Jackson Borkush is right behind Anderson with 49 rush attempts for 171 yards and a touchdown. Through the air, the Pilgrims have caught 95 passes, led by Conrado Lago, who has 27 catches for 249 yards and a pair of touchdowns this season. Lago has the only two receiving touchdowns for the Pilgrims so far in 2026. Isaiah Turner has picked up 15 catches for 149 yards, averaging 22 yards per game, while Gavin Auger has recorded 14 catches for 84 yards. 

On defense, NEC has far and away the top tackler in the conference this season, as Ethan Cenesca has picked up 52 solo tackles and 37 assisted tackles, good for 89 total tackles through seven games. Cenesca is second in the nation in total tackles per game (12.6), third in the nation in solo tackles per game (7.29), and 13^th in interceptions per game (0.57).  Cenesca has four interceptions on the year, 13.5 tackles for loss, and a pair of forced fumbles. Kaevryel Madison has 48 tackles on the season, the second-most for NEC, while Hollis Jones and Gavin Philbrook both have over 40 tackles on the year. 

NEC has been forced to punt 37 times this year, averaging 37 yards per punt from Ben Roy. Roy has picked up seven fair catches, five inside the 20-yard line, and six kicks for over 50 yards. The Pilgrims have attempted seven field goals this season, hitting four of those. Gavin Ford is 3/5 for the Pilgrims, while John Pappas has hit one of two attempts. Spencer Brian returned NEC's first kickoff return for a touchdown of the season last week against Maine Maritime, running for 81 yards. Brian has recorded 19 kickoffs for 495 yards on the year. 

The Game:
Western New England defeated New England College 55-0 last season at Golden Bear Stadium in the first meeting between the two teams in program history. WNE gave up just 83 yards to the Pilgrims last season, while putting up over 500 yards of offense themselves. This season's contest will take place on Saturday, October 31, at 12:00 PM at NEC's Football Field. 

To watch the game, click here. 

To follow the live stats, click here.