UMass edges UMaine Playoff hopes fade with loss

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AMHERST, Mass. – Winning close games is the result of executing in key situations.

The University of Maine football team had a couple of critical breakdowns during Saturday’s Atlantic 10 game against Massachusetts and the result was another tough loss.

The 19th-ranked Black Bears had a chance to send the game into a second overtime, but Mike Mellow’s low point-after kick was blocked, giving the Minutemen a 35-34 victory at rainy, raw McGuirk Stadium.

“It was a tough one to lose,” said UMaine coach Jack Cosgrove, whose team fell to 4-4 overall, 2-3 in conference play.

The Bears’ four losses have come by a total of 17 points, each by a touchdown or less.

“It came down to us not making a kick at the end of the game,” Cosgrove said. “We didn’t execute when we had to.”

The setback likely will all but eliminate UMaine from NCAA postseason contention.

“The whole postseason thing is looking pretty grim, not looking too good, but basically we can’t think about that right now because that time hasn’t come,” said UMaine senior wideout Christian Pereira. “It’s not time to cross that bridge.”

What’s worse, the Bears know Saturday’s game was a winnable one.

“To lose to a team that you’re better than is beyond frustrating and I know everyone on the team right now feels terrible,” said UMaine senior tailback Marcus Williams. “We just didn’t make the plays when we needed to today.”

UMaine won the overtime coin toss and elected to go on defense first. Each team gets the ball at the opponent’s 25-yard line and plays until it scores or fails to get a first down.

UMass (4-5, 2-4 A-10) needed four plays to score, with bruising tailback Steve Baylark (33 carries, 159 yards) scoring on a 4-yard run. Michael Torres’ PAT kick was good.

“Thank God we make the extra point, which has been an adventure for us, the kicking game, at some points this year,” said UMass coach Don Brown.

The Bears struck on their first play in OT. Williams (28 carries, 175 yds., 4 TDs) burst through the middle of a UMass blitz for a 25-yard touchdown.

Mellow’s PAT kick was batted down by Ola Sanusi.

“Off of my foot, it felt fine,” said a cordial Mellow. “It may have been a little low, but I won’t be able to tell until we look at film.

“My job is to put the ball in between two posts and I didn’t do that.”

UMass led 28-21 late and was driving again when Joan Que-

zada made a lunging interception of Minutemen quarterback Tim Day (17-for-29, 201 yds., 4 TDs) at the Maine 21-yard line with 5:57 remaining.

“I read the quarterback all the way,” Quezada said. “They had some success, basically because we missed a whole lot of tackles.”

Behind Williams’ running and key third-down completions from Ron Whitcomb (22-for-33, 268 yds, 1 TD) to Christian Pereira and Ron Waller, UMaine scored on Williams’ 9-yard run with 2:14 left in regulation. Mellow’s kick made it 28-28.

Each team had one more possession but couldn’t score.

The Bears had gone ahead 21-14 early in the third quarter on a 5-yard TD run by Williams. The Minutemen responded with consecutive scoring drives, both of which were capped by short scoring passes from Day to J.J. Moore.

Safety Brandon McGowan and linebacker Jermaine Walker made 10 tackles each to lead UMaine. Serge Tikum had 11 for UMass.

UMaine got on the board with 3:49 left in the first quarter on a 32-yard TD hookup from Whitcomb to Pereira after failing on its first two tries.

The Bears had opened the game by marching 56 yards, only to have David Burris block Mellow’s 38-yard field goal try. On their next possession, a Whitcomb third-down pass was picked off by R.J. Cobbs at the UMass 4-yard line.

The Minutemen got their offense in gear after UMaine’s first score, largely behind the hard-nosed running of Baylark. Day hit a wide-open Steve Wysocki on a 3-yard bootleg pass to make it 7-7 with 12:51 left in the first half.

UMaine answered with an 84-yard TD march that featured a 20-yard completion from Whitcomb to Ron Waller and was capped by Williams’ determined 30-yard run off the right side at the 9:11 mark.

The Minutemen responded 63 seconds later when Jason Peebler caught a sideline throw from Day, escaped the grasp of cornerback John Baumgartner, and raced into the end zone to complete a 53-yard play.

UMaine had an apparent 65-yard touchdown run by Williams negated by a holding penalty on its next possession.

“We have to cut down on mistakes,” Williams said. “Penalties have hurt us all season and they continued to hurt us today.”

Safety Daren Stone then intercepted Day at the UM 15 with 2:45 remaining in the half, helping preserve the 14-14 deadlock.

MINUTEMEN 35, BLACK BEARS 34

Maine (4-4) 7 7 7 7 6 – 34

Massachusetts (4-5) 0 14 7 7 7 – 35

ME – Pereira 32 pass from Whitcomb (Mellow kick)

MA – Wysocki 3 pass from Day (Torres kick)

ME – M. Williams 30 run (Mellow kick)

MA – Peebler 53 pass from Day (Torres kick)

ME – M. Williams 5 run (Mellow kick)

MA – Moore 6 pass from day (Torres kick)

MA – Moore 8 pass from Day (Torres kick)

ME – M. Williams 9 run (Mellow kick)

MA – Baylark 3 run (Torres kick)

ME – M. Williams 25 run (kick blocked)

Maine UMass

First downs 21 16

Rushing att.-yards 36-183 38-190

Passing comp.-att. 22-34 17-29

Passing yards 268 201

Total yards 451 391

Punts-avg. 4-41.2 5-42.2

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-0

Intercepted by 2 1

Penalties-yards 4-35 9-77

Rushing

Maine: M. Williams 28-175, K. Williams 2-8, Gordon 2-7, Whitcomb 4-(minus 7); UMass: Baylark 33-159, Bry. Smith 5-31

Passing

Maine: Whitcomb 22-33-1-268, Team 0-1-0-0; UMass: Day 17-29-2-201

Receiving

Maine: Pereira 4-65, Ababio 4-40, Radulski 4-39, Ro. Waller 3-41, M. Williams 3-30, Nwosu 2-1, McMahan 1-46, Gordon 1-6; UMass: Peebler 6-101, Moore 4-37, Stewart 3-26, London 1-16, Bry. Smith 1-12, Douglas 1-6, Wysocki 1-3

A-5,632