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ENDICOTT EDGES UMASS DARTMOUTH FOOTBALL TEAM, 16-14
NORTH DARTMOUTH, MA-The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth football fell just a bit short in their homecoming game against Endicott at Cressy Field Saturday afternoon.
The Corsairs scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns, but fell to the Gulls, 16-14, in a New England Football Conference Boyd Division game.
Freshman quarterback Alex Garro (Mattapoisett, MA/Old Rochester HS) brought UMD back in the final period. Trailing, 9-0, the Corsairs drove 48 yards in nine plays to score after freshman wide receiver Todd Harold (North Andover, MA/Prep HS) returned Adam Maher’s kickoff 40 yards across midfield. Garro connected with sophomore tight end Charley Gryska (Medfield, MA/Medfield HS) from 11 yards out to cut the Gulls’ advantage to 9-7 with 10:11 left.
EC replied in kind. Orlando Johnson returned senior Derek Bealby’s (Peterborough, NH/Con Val HS) kickoff 25 yards, and a penalty for a facemask violation gave the Gulls the ball at the EC 47. Endicott went 48 yards in eight plays, culminating in a 26-yard pass from Alex Smith to Ryan MacLean with 6:29 remaining that made it 16-7.
After a short kickoff, the Corsairs took possession at their 44. They went 56 yards in plays, and Garro hit senior slot back Manny Lopes (Norwood, MA/Norwood HS) from seven yards out to make it 16-14, Endicott, with 2:41 remaining.
After Bealby’s kickoff, the Gulls took over at their own 30. Smith hit Gerard Festa with a screen pass for 16 yards and a first down on EC’s first play from scrimmage. The Gulls picked up first downs on a 13-yard pass from Smith to Ray Lynch and a five-yard run by Festa and a five-yard facemask penalty, and then ran out the clock.
The defenses dominated the first half. Maher’s 24-yard field goal with 4:36 left in the first quarter was the only scoring of the first half. Johnson returned a Bealby punt 35 yards to the Corsair 15 with 1:21 left in the third quarter, setting up Smith’s three-yard scoring pass to Nick Giacalone with 14:55 remaining in the fourth period that gave the Gulls a 9-0 advantage.
“We played hard for 60 minutes, but we just didn’t do enough to win,” said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach Bill Kavanaugh. “Our defense did a great job. Offensively, we weren’t able to push them off the ball until the fourth quarter. They were stuffing us at the line of scrimmage, and we were able to do the same to them. We played better in the kicking game and offensively than we have been playing, but we just didn’t make enough plays to win.”
Each team rushed for 126 yards. Festa gained 92 yards on 27 carries for Endicott, while sophomore running back Rob Sullivan (Dudley, MA/Shepherd Hill HS) led the Corsairs with 57 yards on 18 carries, Garro completed 12 of 22 passes for 96 yards, while Smith was 15 of 26 for 227 yards.
UMD fell to 0-5 and 0-2 in the NEFC Boyd Division with the defeat, while Endicott improved to 3-2 and 2-0. The Corsairs will return to action when they visit Nichols next Saturday afternoon.
UMASS DARTMOUTH FOOTBALL
