Santos’ passing too much for Bears’ defense

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DURHAM, N.H. – It was a disappointing end to a frustrating season Saturday afternoon for the University of Maine.

All-America senior quarterback Ricky Santos picked apart the Black Bears defense to the tune of 355 yards and four touchdowns, leading 20th-ranked New Hampshire to a 39-14 Colonial Athletic Association football victory over UMaine at Cowell Stadium.

Coach Jack Cosgrove’s Bears finished the season 4-7, 3-5 in the CAA, the worst record for a UMaine squad since the 1999 team also went 4-7.

UNH has won five consecutive meetings against the Bears, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

“This is a tough way to end the season,” said UMaine sophomore quarterback Mike Brusko. “I feel bad for the seniors ending this way, but we didn’t respond when we needed to. We got beat up. It wasn’t pretty.”

The victory lifted the Wildcats (7-4, 4-4 CAA) into the NCAA playoffs – one of five CAA teams to achieve the feat.

Santos dictated the tone with his confident play and decision-making. He completed his first 10 passes as UNH scored 10 points on its first two possessions to grab the momentum from the outset.

Santos finished the day completing 25 of 32 throws and become the No. 3 passer in Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) history with 12,961 yards.

Santos’ 49-yard scoring toss to Mike Boyle (7 catches, 170 yards, 3 TDs) in the third quarter was the 120th TD pass of his career, pushing him past Steve McNair for third place on the FCS career list.

“I’m glad he’s done,” UMaine coach Jack Cosgrove said good-naturedly. “He’s been as dominating a football player as I’ve coached against in my 15 years as a head coach at Maine.”

UMaine received the second-half kickoff, trailing 17-7. Rather than get themselves back in the game, the Bears watched the Wildcats put it away by scoring 15 points in four minutes, 41 seconds.

UMaine was quickly forced to punt after Marvin Wright sacked Brusko at the 12-yard line. Kash Kiefer’s punt was blocked by John Clements and the Bears recovered in the end zone for a safety.

The ensuing free kick by Kiefer was returned 47 yards to the UM 6 by Terrance Fox. Two plays later, Chad Kackert ran 8 yards for a score and Tom Manning’s PAT made it 26-7 at the 12:35 mark of the third.

UMaine managed a first down on its next possession, but again was forced to punt, this time from its own 17.

UNH took over at the UM 49 and pulled out a razzle-dazzle play. Wideout Keith LeVan took the initial end-around handoff to the right, but quickly gave the ball to end J.T. Wright on an inside counter to the left.

Wright made a flea-flicker pitch back to Santos, who found Boyle alone at the goal line to give the hosts an insurmountable 32-7 advantage.

“They wanted it more than we did,” Cosgrove said. “I thought we were in the game at halftime, challenged our football team. I’ve got to check my inspirational speeches, because we went in the exact opposite direction in the second half.”

After spotting UNH a 10-0 lead, the Bears eventually responded in the second quarter, shortly after being pinned at their own 1-yard line by Tom Bishop’s 77-yard punt.

UMaine tailback Jhamal Fluellen took a short screen pass to the left side, ran through a crease created by excellent blocking at the point of attack, and raced 84 yards for a touchdown.

It tied for the longest pass play in UMaine history.

“They [the blockers] basically made it real easy for me,” Fluellen said. “All I had to do was run straight.”

Bobby Donnelly’s PAT cut the deficit to 10-7 with 10:47 remaining in the half.

The Wildcats, who rolled up 457 yards of offense, answered with a 58-yard scoring drive. Santos hit Boyle with a 10-yard TD pass to make it 17-7.

The Bears, who were plagued by holding penalties on two first-quarter drives, saw their run game bottled up and were unable to mount a serious threat after intermission.

“We shot ourselves in the foot a couple times and it really set us back,” said Brusko, who passed for a career-best 226 yards on 20-for-30 accuracy.

UMaine moved to the UNH 33 on its first drive and got to the Wildcats’ 27 on its second possession, but came up empty.

“We didn’t get points that we needed to get early on,” Brusko said. “When you don’t take advantage of those opportunities, they have a great offense and they go score points and we get behind.”

Brusko threw a 20-yard TD pass to Landis Williams (7 receptions, 67 yards).

Sophomore linebacker Jordan Stevens of Temple registered 14 tackles for UMaine, while junior end Jovan Belcher had nine tackles, including four of the six sacks of Santos.

Two UMaine seniors missed their last collegiate game.

Fullback Anthony Cotrone, 22, was suspended for a second time this season. He was suspended for one game earlier this season after he was charged Sept. 27 with assaulting a man in Orono.

The latest sanction was levied Friday by athletic director Blake James after Cotrone’s charge was upgraded to felony aggravated assault by the Penobscot County District Attorney’s office, according to published reports.

Linebacker and tri-captain John Wormuth missed his second straight game for undisclosed personal reasons.

WILDCATS 39, BLACK BEARS 14

Maine (4-7) 0 7 0 7 – 14

New Hampshire (7-4) 10 7 15 7 – 39

NH – Manning 44 field goal

NH – Boyle 58 pass from Santos (Manning kick)

UM – Fluellen 84 pass from Brusko (Donnelly kick)

NH – Boyle 10 pass from Santos (Manning kick)

NH – Safety, blocked punt recovered by Maine in end zone

NH – Kackert 8 run (Manning kick)

NH – Boyle 49 pass from Santos (kick failed)

NH – Sicko 15 pass from Santos (Manning kick)

UM – Williams 20 pass from Brusko (Donnelly kick)

Maine UNH

First downs 13 25

Rushing att.-yards 33-69 36-102

Passing comp.-att. 20-30 25-32

Passing yards 226 355

Total yards 295 457

Punts-avg. 9-31.1 4-38.5

Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0

Intercepted by 1 0

Penalties-yards 8-80 2-20

Rushing

Maine: Fluellen 13-29, Brusko 11-29, Henderson 9-11; UNH: Kackert 13-67, Ward 5-17, Simpson 3-12, Fox 1-7, Santos 11-2, LeVan 2-(minus-1), Team 1-(minus-2)

Passing

Maine: Brusko 20-30-0-226; UNH: Santos 25-32-1-355

Receiving

Maine: Williams 7-67, Fluellen 5-98, Jones 2-22, Talkpa 2-12, Henderson 2-10, Fersner 1-12, Randall 1-5; UNH: Boyle 7-170, LeVan 6-22, Sicko 4-43, Kackert 4-33, J.T. Wright 2-53, Ward 2-34

A-6,222