Husson University became the first of Maine’s six Division III college football teams to earn a win this season as the Eagles had four interceptions, including one for an 85-yard touchdown return by freshman Melvyn Telisca, and posted a 26-21 victory over Western New England on Saturday at the Winkin Sports Complex in Bangor.
In the other games involving Maine teams, Nichols College dealt Maine Maritime Academy its 36th consecutive loss, 38-20; nationally-ranked Endicott College outscored the University of New England 55-27; Tufts edged Bates 22-21; Amherst topped Bowdoin 22-13; and Middlebury clobbered Colby 32-2.
In Bangor, Daniel Ruiz Cantu scored on runs of 3 and 5 yards, Brody Gibson tossed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Lenz, and Telisca’s second interception of the game and his 85-yard return proved to be the game-winner.
It gave Husson a 26-7 lead and the Eagles withstood a Western New England fourth-quarter rally that saw Paul Gorry throw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Acosta, whom he had connected with on a 22-yard TD reception in the first half, and a 29-yard pass from Corey Kilroy to John De Camps with 2:17 left.
Husson is now 1-4 overall and 1-1 in the Conference of New England while Western New England is 2-3 and 1-1.
Husson’s Gibson completed 16 of 26 passes for 143 yards and a touchdown and Caden Crocker had seven catches for 50 yards. Lenz had four for 55.
Brett Davis had an 88-yard kickoff return to set up a touchdown.
Ruiz Cantu had 20 carries for 65 yards and two TDs. Cooper McNamara had a game-high 11 tackles for Husson and he also had an interception. Erik Menger and J.T. Wright had 10 tackles apiece and Brayden Trombly had an interception.
The four interceptions is the most since Husson had five against Nichols in 2023.
Gorry completed just seven of 24 passes for 114 yards and two TDs with four interceptions for Western New England. Kilroy completed five of nine passes for 75 yards and a touchdown and he also carried the ball 12 times for 58 yards. Acosta caught six passes for 107 yards. Matthew McGuire had 15 carries for 62 yards for the Golden Bears and the defense was led by Michael Canavatchel’s eight tackles.
In the matchup between Nichols and Maine Maritime Academy in Dudley, Massachusetts, Nichols quarterback Will Migliaccio completed 21 of 23 passes for 270 yards and three touchdowns and he also ran for a touchdown as Nichols improved to 2-3 and 2-0 in the Conference of New England.
Maine Maritime Academy fell to 0-4 and 0-2.
Migliaccio tossed TD passes of 24 and 17 yards to Brett Lato and 40 yards to Kahlil Talley and he added a three-yard TD run. Teyshon McGee scored on a two-yard run and rushed for a game-high 83 yards on 12 carries.
Lato, Ethan LaGuardia and Noah Gincastro each had four receptions for the winners and Mike Orvil and Nat Cook had six and five tackles, respectively, to spark the defense. Orvil also had an interception.
Harris Stone completed 19 of 33 passes for 228 yards for the Mariners. He threw 43 and 14-yard TD passes to Evan Flowers and a six-yarder to Aiden Sullivan.
Auston Harris carried the ball 12 times for 63 yards and caught six passes for 91. Flowers had five receptions for 67 yards.
Lucas Houghton had a game-high 12 tackles and Matt Gagin had nine.