NEWTON, Massachusetts — Sophomore quarterback Cory Brandon tossed five touchdown passes in the first half and Husson University’s top-ranked defense held Mount Ida to two first downs and 90 total yards to finish the regular season with its ninth straight win, a 54-20 Eastern Collegiate Football Conference victory on Saturday afternoon.
ECFC champion Husson (9-1 overall, 7-0 ECFC) will now travel to Springfield, Massachusetts, to take on New England Football Conference champions Western New England (10-0) in the first round of the 32-team NCAA Division III playoffs at noon Saturday.
Husson hosted the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the NCAA Tournament two years ago and lost 27-20 in overtime in their first round matchup.
WNE got ousted in the first round by Johns Hopkins of Baltimore last season 52-20.
Husson’s nine wins are a school record.
Mount Ida wound up 4-6 (4-3 ECFC).
Husson scored 34 unanswered points and built a 41-7 halftime lead.
Brandon threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Gaudet to open the scoring and then threw a pair of 8-yard TD passes to D.J. Allen, one in each quarter.
John Smith’s 1-yard run and Tyler Bassett’s 42-yard reception made it 34-0 before Mount Ida’s Matt Greenman returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown with 2:39 remaining in the half.
But the Eagles put together a 10-play, 68-yard drive to close out the half with Deon Wiggins catching a 1-yard TD pass from Brandon with two seconds to play.
Smith and Obie Christmas added 1-yard TD runs in the third quarter to build the lead to 54-7 before Greenman caught an 81-yard pass from Jack Sheehan and Sean Chinova returned a fumble 83 yards to close out the scoring.
Brandon completed 17 of 23 passes for 200 yards and Smith ran for 90 yards on 19 carries.
Wiggins had five catches for 51 yards, Kadeem Edge caught four passes for 30 yards and Allen had three for 43 yards.
Sheehan completed just five of 18 passes for 115 yards and was sacked five times. Mount Ida had minus-25 yards rushing.
Quan Soyini had five tackles to lead the Eagles. Jake Dobos, Elvin Suazo Jr., Marcus Fuller and Luke Washburn had three tackles each.
Josh David’s game-high 16 tackles and Chinova’s 13 led Mount Ida.
Salve Regina 45, MMA 12
At Castine, Sam Pascale rushed for 127 yards and three touchdowns and James Dawson added 124 yards and a touchdown as Salve Regina dealt Maine Maritime Academy its seventh straight loss.
Salve Regina improved to 8-1 overall and 6-1 in the New England Football Conference while MMA finished up at 1-8 and 0-7, respectively.
Maine Maritime Academy quarterback Corey Creeger’s conference-leading 16th touchdown run staked MMA to a 6-0 lead en route to his 204-yard rushing game.
But Salve Regina scored the next 45 points.
James Dawson answered Creeger’s TD run by returning the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a TD.
Pascale had TD runs of 1, 54 and 40 yards and Dawson closed out the half with a 37-yard run to make it 35-6.
Chris Rosati added a 2-yard run and Andrew Verre kicked a 21-yard field goal before Creeger capped the scoring with a 9-yard run.
Danny McDermott completed seven of eight passes for 96 yards and Connor Sullivan caught three passes for 57 yards. Damian Dell’Anno had 11 tackles and Tyler D’Errico and Drew Balestrieri had eight apiece.
Creeger carried the ball 29 times for his 204 yards and Jacob Doolan had five carries for 49 yards.
Creeger completed five of 18 passes for 78 yards and Jordan Susi caught three passes for 45 yards.
John Bennett’s game-high 13 tackles, Cody O’Brien’s 10 and Spencer Baron’s nine tackles paced the Mariners.