Hartwick rolls up 625 total yards, pounds Husson

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BANGOR – The growing pains for the Husson College football at times are at times just that – very painful.

Hartwick College of Oneonta, N.Y., came to Winkin Complex with a winless record but a much more established football tradition Saturday, and surged out a 33-0 first-quarter lead en route to a 50-20 victory.

“We keep trying, we practice hard and do so many good things,” said Husson coach Gabby Price, whose Eagles fall to 0-4. “No one’s going to take it easy on you. These other teams are practicing; they’re good programs. We’ve just got to go back and work. This is no easy thing.”

Hartwick totaled 625 yards of offense and 30 first downs against Husson, and cruised to victory despite six turnovers – five of them interceptions. The 1-2 Hawks passed for 357 yards and rushed for 268, and never punted.

“It was a good effort on both sides of the ball,” said Hartwick coach Mark Carr, whose team was coming off a 47-8 loss to nationally ranked Ithaca. “We’re still a pretty young and inexperienced team and we’re making a lot of mental mistakes. The first two games it cost us, and in this game, fortunately for us it didn’t.”

Husson was not without bright spots of its own – particularly three interceptions by junior safety Chad Bennett of Pittsfield and a pair of touchdown receptions by sophomore tight end Matt Mulligan of West Enfield.

Tailback Mike Prentiss of Bangor added 94 rushing yards on 24 carries, but by the time the Eagles were able to show flashes of their growth during its year and a half as a varsity program, the Hawks were mixing starters with reserves.

“We’ve got kind of caught in a rut,” said Bennett of the Eagles’ slow starts. “We’re not turning on the juice early enough. We’ve just got to keep working hard in practice. Practice is getting more intense, so I think it’s a matter of time before we click it on.”

Husson’s first two plays from scrimmage produced a penalty and a fumbled snap that Hartwick’s Josh Schroeder recovered at the Eagles’ 36. Lindy Crea scored the first of his three first-quarter touchdowns five plays later on a 5-yard run, and Hartwick was in control.

Crea added a pair of 1-yard TD runs, while Tyler DeMulder had a 1-yard run and Mark Zappia hit Matt Willis with a 2-yard scoring pass to account for the first-quarter onslaught.

While four of those scores came via the run, they were set up by the pass. Zappia, a freshman from Rochester, N.Y., completed 9 of 12 passes for 192 yards in the first quarter, and was 10 of 16 for 202 yards when he left the game late in the second quarter after being injured while sacked by Husson’s Joe Melcher.

“We want to be a balanced attack,” said Carr. “I guess we’ve made a little more of a name for ourselves as a passing team, but we’re a very capable running team also, and I think we went out and did both fairly well today.”

Husson’s Adam Bishop recovered a Crea fumble on the second-half kickoff, and the Eagles cashed in as David Chase (8 of 17 passing for 162 yards) found Mulligan for a 26-yard TD pass to close the gap to 33-6.

After Hartwick’s T.J. Rizzo scored on an 11-yard run midway through the third quarter, Husson converted a Bennett interception into points as Chase hit Mulligan for a 25-yard scoring strike.

Hartwick backup QB Matt Nazarian (8 of 17, 155 yards) passed to Conor Talbut for a 16-yard touchdown that pushed the Hawks’ lead to 47-12 before Husson’s James Dobson reached over a defender along the right sideline to haul in a Chase pass and went 78 yards to the end zone with 13:51 to play.

Hartwick’s Cory Nebel added a 22-yard field goal with 6:13 left.

HAWKS 50, EAGLES 20

Hartwick (1-2) 33 0 7 10 ? 50

Husson (0-4) 0 0 14 6 ? 20

Hart?Crea 5 run (Kick failed)

Hart?Crea 1 run (Nebel kick)

Hart?DeMulder 1 run (Kick failed)

Hart?Willis 2 pass from Zappia (Nebel kick)

Hart?Crea 1 run (Nebel kick)

Huss?Mulligan 26 pass from Chase (Kick failed)

Hart?Rizzo 11 run (Nebel kick)

Huss?Mulligan 25 pass from Chase (Rush failed)

Hart?Talbut 16 pass from Nazarian (Nebel kick)

Huss?Dobson 78 pass from Chase (Chase pass to Lockard)

Hart?Nebel 22 field goal

Hartwick Husson

First downs 30 8

Rushing att.-yards 55-268 33-98

Passing comp.-att. 18-33 8-20

Passing yards 357 162

Total yards 625 260

Punts-avg. 0-0 6-31.1

Fumbles-lost 3-1 4-3

Intercepted by 1 5

Penalties-yards 15-136 9-75

Rushing

Hartwick: Bates 12-68, Rizzo 7-60, Crea 13-50, Strong 7-70, DeMulder 14-49, Zappia 2-1; Husson: Prentiss 24-94, Jack 2-11, Hilton 2-1, Lockard 2-0, Chase 3-(-8)

Passing

Hartwick: Zappia 10-16-2-202, Nazarian 8-17-3-155; Husson: Chase 8-17-1-162, Coleman 0-2-0-0, Lockard 0-1-1-0

Receiving

Hartwick: Willis 7-141, Sands 4-88, Talbut 3-64, Dengler 1-32, Sposito 1-17, Foster 1-15, Rocco 1-10; Husson: Dobson 4-97, Mulligan 3-57, Lockard 1-8

A?500 (est.)