September 15, 2006

Worcester State Gets First Win of Season

Worcester, MA – The Worcester State College football team broke into the win column for the first time this season defeating the visiting Bison of Nichols College by the final score of, 16-13, Friday evening at Worcester State’s Coughlin Field.  The Lancers, who are now, 1-2, on the year have now beaten the Bison nine straight times.  Nichols evens up at 1-1 on the year with the loss.

Senior wide receiver/place kicker Tom Gabriel (Wareham, MA) opened the scoring in the 2nd quarter with a 40 yard field goal to put the Lancers up, 3-0.  Nichols answered back with a 7 play, 68 yard drive capped off by a Chris Patterson (Stamford, CT) 9 yard touchdown run to put the Bison on top, 7-3, which stood at halftime.

Gabriel added his second field goal of the night; a 44 yarder, on Worcester State’s opening drive of the second half to close the gap to a single point, 7-6.  With 11:51 on the clock in the 4^th quarter, senior running back Jonathan Godfroy (Tyngsboro, MA) burst through the Bison defense for a 13 yard touchdown run capitalizing on Nichols lone fumble in the ball game which was forced by defensive end Anthony Figueiredo (Wareham, MA) and recovered by opposite end Mike Coppola (Dracut, MA).  The drive went 64 yards on 11 plays carries with senior running back Steve Kasprzak (Tewksbury, MA) accounting for 53 of those yards on the ground.  Quarterback Pat Good (Hull, MA) completed a conversion pass to fullback Billy Shea (Walpole, MA) to put the Lancers up by a touchdown, 14-7.

Nichols proceeded to march the ball all the way down to the Worcester Sate 3 yard line on the ensuing drive but on 4^th and goal, sophomore linebacker Matt Leeds (Bellingham, MA) thwarted the drive by chasing down the Nichols quarterback from the backside for a sack to give the ball back to Worcester State. 

After forcing a Worcester State punt, Nichols quarterback Michael Carven (Hanover, MA) tossed a 31 yard scoring strike to Joshua Harris to reset the score at, 14-13.  Nichols then went for the win but their pass attempt failed preserving the Worcester State advantage. 

Worcester State recovered a Nichols College pooch kickoff but went three and out punting the ball back to the Bison with 1:04 remaining in the game.  Nichols took a safety on a snap out of the back of the end zone to increase the Lancers lead to 16-13.  Worcester State then recovered the free kick to preserve the win.

Kasprzak rushed for 117 yards on the day moving him into 6^th place on the Worcester State all-time rushing list with 1,258 yards.  Pat Good finished the evening 11-28 for 95 yards.

Nichols linebacker Brian Meuse (Billerica, MA) led all defenders with 16 tackles.

Carven was 8 for 17 for 146 passing yards and Patterson netted 84 yards on 21 carries to pace the bison offense.

Worcester State will look to get back to .500 next Saturday when the Buccaneers of Mass Maritime come to town.  Nichols will travel to MIT on Saturday afternoon.

Box Score