Husson runs by SUNY Maritime for 5th win

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BANGOR – Other than a few too many penalties, there wasn’t much not to like – even if you’re one of the coaches – in Husson College’s 63-7 pasting of State University of New York Maritime College Saturday afternoon.

The win improves Husson’s record to 5-2 in the Eagles’ most successful football season and drops the second-year Privateers to 2-5.

“This is our second year playing Division III and we’re playing mostly freshmen and sophomores,” said SUNY Maritime coach Clayton Kendrick-Holmes. “[Husson head coach] Gabby [Price] kind of knows what we’re going through here. They went through the same kind of growing pains.”

This is Husson’s fifth season since the school revived its football program in 2002.

“We came up here in 2005 and they’ve gotten a lot better since then. Hopefully in two years we will be too,” Kendrick-Holmes added.

The difference in the programs, development-wise, was apparent Saturday at Winkin Complex as the Eagles used maturity and talent to notch their biggest blowout win.

“It’s about leadership, experience and seniors. We have 15 seniors and our team has grown up a bit,” said Price.

The Eagles piled up 465 total yards – 328 on the ground – against the Privateers and limited them to 218 total thanks largely to Husson’s domination of the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

“Their offensive line impresses me. They’re very big up front and they have speed as well as power,” said Kendrick-Holmes.

Defensively, the Eagles had four interceptions, four fumble recoveries, three sacks, two touchdowns and a blocked punt.

“Coming off last week, our defensive line had to change it up because we knew we had to bring a lot more pressure and get a rush going,” said senior defensive lineman Joe Melcher. “We did a lot more stunts with our linebackers along with slants and shifting with the line, and that really worked.”

Husson made it 7-0 with 7:25 left in the first quarter by cashing in on a fumble recovery. Sophomore back Bryan Ferguson (18 carries, 130 yards) capped a 69-yard drive with a 26-yard touchdown run. Two plays, 40 seconds and another fumble recovery later, the Eagles made it 14-0 when quarterback Jonah Chappell hit Victor McKenzie for a 32-yard TD pass over the middle.

The Privateers’ defense then stiffened and stopped Husson on its next two possessions. Then their offense got in gear with a nine-play, 73-yard TD drive to make it 14-7 with 11:10 left in the first half. That’s as close as it would get as Chappell capped his own eight-play, 73-yard drive with a 15-yard TD pass to Paul Spriesterbach.

Just 84 seconds later, Ramael Barton scooped up another Privateers fumble and returned it 15 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-7 Eagles with 6:30 left.

The Eagles used a 28-point blitz in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. The outburst was highlighted by another outstanding defensive play by Barton, who blocked a punt at the Privateers’ 27-yard line and recovered the ball in the end zone for another TD.

It was perhaps the best effort of the season by Husson’s special teams as kickoff man Oscar Ody pinned SUNY-Maritime at or inside its own 30-yard line with eight of his nine kickoffs. Four of them were not returned at all.

“They really had to improve, particularly after last week. That’s the area of greatest improvement I’ve seen,” said Price.

EAGLES 63, PRIVATEERS 7

SUNY Maritime (2-5) 0 7 0 0 – 7

Husson (5-2) 14 14 28 7 – 63

H – Ferguson 26 run (Gauthier kick)

H – McKenzie 32 pass from Chappell (Gauthier kick)

M – Smooke 1 run (Pellumbi kick)

H – Wildman 15 pass from Chappell (Gauthier kick)

H – Barton 15 fumble return (Gauthier kick)

H – Lindie 9 run (Gauthier kick)

H – Barton 15 blocked punt recovery (Gauthier kick)

H – Crews 23 pass from Williams (Gauthier kick)

H – Toothaker 3 run (Gauthier kick)

SUNY Maritime Husson

First downs 13 21

Rushing att.-yards 49-125 46-328

Passing comp.-att. 10-22 9-18

Passing yards 119 137

Total yards 244 465

Punts-avg. 5-33.0 5-32.0

Fumbles-lost 7-4 1-0

Intercepted by 1 4

Penalties-yards 2-31 7-60

Rushing

SUNY Maritime: Swedish 23-86, Smooke 12-21, Campisi 5-9, Knapp 1-4, Glacken 1-4, Jackson 1-2, Nichols 2-2, Galante 3-(minus-1), Shuler 1-( minus -2); Husson: Ferguson 18-130, Eaton 6-72, Wildman 2-42, Lindie 2-29, Chappell 3-15, McCurdy 1-14, Toothaker 5-13, Mondesir 2-5, Barnet 1-4, Mellows 1-3, Burrell 2-2, McCarthy 1-0, Roberts 2-(minus -1)

Passing

SUNY Maritime: Galante 7-15-3-83, Smooke 3-6-1-36; Husson: Chappell 8-17-1-114, Williams 1-1-0-23

Receiving

SUNY Maritime: Campisi 4-49, Spriesterbach 4-35, Swedish 1-23, Knapp 1-12; Husson: McKenzie 2-46, Crews 2-33, Dowe 1-22, Wildman 2-19, Poissionner 1-9, Lindie 1-8

A-300 (est.)