September 23, 2006

Worcester State Falls to MMA

Worcester, MA - The Worcester State College football team mounted a furious fourth quarter comeback but fell just short as they lost to the visiting Buccaneers of Massachusetts Maritime Academy by the final score of, 26-24, Saturday afternoon at Worcester State’s Coughlin Field.  The loss was the first to Mass Maritime since 1999.  Worcester State falls to 1-3 (0-1 Bogan) while the Buccaneers improve to 2-1 (1-0 Bogan.)

Mass Maritime opened the scoring when Joe DeFrank (Morgantown, PA) delivered a 22 yard strike to running back Jeff Piri (N. Attleboro, MA) to give the Bucs a 7-0 lead. 

Worcester State answered right back engineering a 4 play, 65 yard drive finished off by a 39 yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Pat Good (Hull, MA) to wide receiver Matt DeRosa (Burlington, MA) evening the score at, 7-7.

Mass Maritime took a, 14-7, lead after driving 57 yards culminating in DeFranks’ second touchdown pass of the day, this time to wide out Colin Teehan (South Boston, MA).  The Buccaneers extended their lead to 20-7 after recovering a Lancer fumble.  DeFrank hit Stefan Stauber (Holyoke, MA) on a 44 yard touchdown pass.  The Buccaneers took that lead into the half.

Mass Maritime took a, 26-7, lead when DeFrank tossed his 4^th touchdown pass of the day to his fourth different receiver, this time hooking up with running back Joseph St. Pierre (Beverly, MA).  Mass Maritime failed on the conversion for the second time on the day.

Worcester State got it going after that.  The Lancers took the ensuing kickoff and marched 66 yards on 6 plays with Steve Kasprzak (Tewksbury, MA) taking it in from 4 yards out to close the gap to 26-14. 

After a Mass Maritime punt pinned the Lancers at their own 2-yard line, Worcester State worked the ball out of their own end and Good hit Kasprzak streaking down the middle of the field on a 47-yard touchdown pass.

With the score, 26-21  were faced with a 4^th and 22 and elected to kick a 47 yard field goal which Tom Gabriel (Wareham, MA) drilled, resetting the Worcester State record which was previously 46 yards.

After a Mass Maritime punt, the Lancers turned the ball over on downs with 1:36 remaining.  The Buccaneers fumbled an option on 3^rd and 7 and Mike Coppola (Dracut, MA) recovered giving the Lancers one last chance with 1:14 on the clock.  After two shots at the end zone and a rush for no gain, Worcester State attempted a game-winning 52 yard field goal which missed giving the Buccaneers the victory.

Good finished the day with his first 300 yard passing day as he was 22-35 with 311 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Tight End Brian Doherty (Lunenberg, MA) had 8 catches for 102 yards.  Linebacker Perry Stauffer (Melrose,MA) led the Lancers with 1 tackles (5 solo, 9 assists) along with Matt Leeds (Bellingham, MA) who was all over the field making 8 solo tackles breaking up a pair of passes and picking off another.

DeFrank was 15-29 for 196 yards and 4 touchdown passes.  Running back Tom Stralka (N. Kingstown, RI) paced the Buccaneers ground game with85 yards on 24 carries.

Worcester State will return to action next Saturday when they travel to Framingham State to take on the Rams.  Mass Maritime will visit the US Coast Guard Academy.

Box Score