Box Score Bangor, Maine - The Husson University football team won their ECFC opener with a 35-26 win against SUNY Maritime. Jack Hersom (So., Sidney, ME) factored in three touchdowns, one on the ground and two throwing while the defense forced three key fumbles. Carlos Romero (Fy., Coral Springs, FL) set a school record having converted 13 extra points in a row.
Maritime dominated time of possession 38:52 to 21:08 and jumped on the Eagles early with a 10 play 62 yard drive to open the game. Jamie Spanopoulos (So., Franklin Square, NY) finished the drive with a 2 yard run. But the Privateers turned the ball over on the next two drives resulting in Eagles touchdowns to change momentum.
Husson marched down to the Maritime 7 yard line looking for the tying score. Julius Williams (Sr., Boston, MA) got the ball on a 3rd and 1 but was tackled for a 4 yard loss by Michael Oehi (Sr., Nesconset, NY). Carlos Romero (Fy., Coral Springs, FL) missed a 29 yard field goal wide to the left to keeping the game at 7-0.
The Privateers took over but four players later Bobby Gilbert (Sr., Beaver Cove, ME) forced the fumble as he knocked the ball free from Spanopoulos and Dillion Shaw (So., August, ME) recovered it for the Eagles. Hersom went to work with a 7 yard completion to tight end PJ Dowe (Sr., Bangor, ME) and then 27 yards to Roderic Johnson (Jr., Bloomfield, CT) who was forced out at the 1 yard line. Hersom took it himself to finish the drive tying the score 7-7.
On the next drive, Maritime took it inside Eagles territory for the third possession in a row. This time it was Ramael Barton (Sr., Danbury, CT) making the big play on defense. Quarterback Anthony Gagliano (So., Islip Terrace, NY) was stood up and pitched the ball to his left but Barton grab the pitch out of mid air and raced 55 yards for a touchdown putting Husson up 14-7 with 12:20 to go in the 2nd quarter.
Maritime tied the score on a 12 play 63 yard drive eating up 6:54 on the clock. Spanopoulos raced 7 yards up the middle for his 2nd of 3 touchdowns on the day with 5:14 left in the first half. After the teams exchanged punts, Husson took over at their own 16 yard line with 2:12 left in the half.
Hersom went to work marching the Eagles 84 yards on 8 plays. Hersom was 4-5 for 56 yards and had a 9 yard run on the key drive of the game. The big play was a 32 yard completion to Audie Murphy (Fy., Biddeford, ME) taking inside of Maritime territory and Hersom finished the drive with a 15 yard pass down the middle to Dowe for the touchdown. Romero kicked the extra point making it 21-14 at the half.
Husson opened the second half looking to put the Privateers away, scoring on their first drive. Hersom connected on a 40 yard pass play to James Dobson (Sr., Berwick, ME) down the right side for a touchdown with 9:19 to go in the 3rd. However the Eagles gave Maritime a short field after a personal foul penalty following the extra point.
Maritime return the kick off the Husson 47 yard line and it took 11 plays to set up the 3rd Spanopoulos touchdown of the day. Spanopoulos finished with 115 yards on 29 carries. Madison Leary (So., Tavares, FL) missed the extra point making it 28-20.
The Eagles maintain control from there as Williams scored from 3 yards out pushing it to 35-20 early in the fourth quarter. Williams tallied 111 yards on 23 carries. Maritime scored with 6:03 left on a John Gagliano 6 yard run cutting it to 35-26 but another missed extra point keep it a two possession game.
Gilbert led the Eagle defense with 11.5 tackles (8 solo and 7 assisted). Keenon Blindow (Sr., Morgan, VT) had 7 tackles (5 solo and 4 assisted), Chris Dalecki (So, Elliot, ME) chipped in 6.5 tackles and Kyle Vanidestine (So, Bangor, ME) and Shaw each had 6 tackles to pace a balanced defensive attack. The Eagles defense was on the field for almost 40 minutes but held tough when it need to. They allowed 241 rushing yards to the option attack of SUNY Maritime and forced three key fumbles.
Oehi had 8.5 tackles for Maritime and Keith Barnes (So., Westbury, NY) had 8 tackles for the Privateers defense. They were solid against the running attack of the Eagles holding them to just 155 yards rushing, but Hersom finished 10-21 with a 149 yards passing.
Husson is now 2-1 (1-0 ECFC) and SUNY Maritime is 2-2 (0-1 ECFC)
Both teams play on Saturday, October 3 as the Eagles travel to Gallaudet University for a 12:00 noon ECFC contest and Maritime host Anna Maria at 4:00 pm.
