CASTINE, Maine — The Maine Maritime Academy defense had to find a way to rebound from a poor performance in a big loss last weekend to Bridgewater State in which it surrendered 469 total yards, allowed the Bears to convert on 12 of 14 third-down opportunities and didn’t force a turnover.
And the Mariner defense did just that on Saturday against Westfield State at rainy Ritchie Field on Homecoming Weekend.
They did allow 340 total yards, but they forced four critical turnovers, including two interceptions by senior cornerback Mike Riley, and held the mistake-prone Owls off the scoreboard in the fourth quarter to earn a 21-13 victory.
“We had a hard week in practice. We knew we had to come out and win this game and we did it,” said Riley.
“The defense came up really big at the end,” said MMA senior fullback Jim Bower, who rushed for 125 tough yards on 25 carries despite a tender hamstring and scored on a 4-yard run in the fourth quarter to erase a 13-6 deficit.
MMA improved to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the New England Football Conference, while Westfield State (Mass.) fell to 2-3, 0-2, respectively.
Bower’s TD capped an 11-play, 69-yard drive and tied the game before Mike Brennan’s conversion placement gave the Mariners a 14-13 lead.
Nick Bourassa’s 18-yard run on an option pitch around the left side and Bower’s 24-yard run up the middle on the ensuing play were the key plays on the decisive drive.
“We knew we needed to score on that drive,” said Mariner senior quarterback Tyler Angell, who had an important 9-yard run on second-and-eight from the 25.
On the ensuing WSC possession, Tom Lockhart recovered an Owl fumble at the MMA-35. Lockhart was filling in for the injured Travis Fergola.
The Owls had three more possessions but couldn’t score, and backup quarterback Matthew Rende, playing for the injured Angell, added an insurance score on a 14-yard option run around right end on a third-and-10 with 1:40 left.
Linebacker Brock Lawrence set up Rende’s TD by stuffing Chris Coutu for a 1-yard gain on a fourth-and-two at the WSC-16 with just 2:15 remaining.
“I read [Coutu]. He stepped up in a hole and I met him. He’s a big boy (215 pounds), so I had to get low,” said Lawrence.
Westfield State did march down to the MMA-18 with 35 seconds left, but Riley broke up two consecutive passes at the goal line intended for David Benoit to clinch the win.
Angell opened the scoring for MMA with a 19-yard run that came three plays after Brennan had recovered a fumble at the MMA-42. That occurred with 5:12 left in the first quarter and Brennan kicked the extra point.
Westfield State sophomore quarterback Kyle Anderson answered nine seconds into the second quarter with a 4-yard run, three plays after Chris James had recovered a fumble at the MMA-21.
But Chris Stengel hooked the extra point wide left.
Stengel also hooked a 30-yard field goal attempt wide to close out the half. There was a low snap, but Stengel didn’t offer any excuses.
“That shouldn’t have affected my kick,” he said.
Riley’s two interceptions stalled WSC drives at the MMA-10 and 22-yard lines.
“I jumped straight up on the first one and the second one was a gift. I was laying on the ground and it landed in my hands [off the hands of an Owl receiver],” said Riley.
“We just couldn’t put the ball in the end zone. We couldn’t finish,” said WSC’s Anderson.
“We didn’t make plays when we had to,” said WSC coach Steve Marino.
The Owls took the lead with 8:28 remaining in the third quarter when sophomore running back Luke Johnson finished off a 13-play, 51-yard drive with a 1-yard run.
Marino elected to kick the extra-point rather than go for the two-point conversion, a decision he later lamented as a “bad call on my part.”
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