Dave Geringer                                                                                      Athletic Department                                           (508) 990-9651

Sports Information Director                                                               Tripp Athletic Center                                           sportsinfo@umassd.edu

 

                                 

UMASS DARTMOUTH DOWNS MIT, 34-6

 

NORTH DARTMOUTH, MA-Neither a wet surface nor a driving rainstorm could keep the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth football from winning their second game in a row and their first home game of the season Saturday.

 

The Corsairs scored two touchdowns in a span of 3:34 late in the first half, took a 20-0 halftime lead and went on to a 34-6 New England Football Conference victory over the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Cressy Field Saturday afternoon.

 

Leading, 6-0, the Corsairs started at the Engineer 49 yard line after Matt Ramirez’ 25-yard punt. Junior running back Jameson Humphries (Longmeadow, MA/Longmeadow HS) carried the ball twice for 12 yards and a first down, sophomore running back Rob Sullivan (Dudley, MA/Shepherd Hill HS) ran for 16 yards and another first down, then Humphries carried thrice more, the third time for a one-yard touchdown that made it 13-0.

 

Just a few minutes later, UMass Dartmouth was knocking at the door again. MIT had a fourth down at their 37, and Ramirez’ punt was blocked by senior linebacker Eric Meza (Leominster, MA/Oakmont HS). Sullivan rushed for 11 yards and a first down.. he carried three more times. On his third carry, the ball popped out of his arms into the end zone, where sophomore offensive tackle Dan Reutzal (East Moriches, NY/Hampton Beach HS) recovered it for a touchdown to make it 20-0 with 1:22 remaining before halftime.

 

The Corsairs had used senior Derek Bealby’s (Peterborough, NH/Con Val HS) first two field goals of the season to take a 6-0 lead. Freshman Mike Crusco (Wakefield, MA/Wakefield HS) returned Ramirez’ punt 29 yards to the MIT 13 with 2:08 left in the first quarter, setting up Bealby’s 28 yard field goal that made it 3-0. A 54-yard pass from freshman quarterback Alex Garro (Mattapoisett, MA/Old Rochester HS)  to senior slot back Manny Lopes (Norwood, MA/Norwood HS) set up a 31-yard field goal by Bealby that made it 6-0 with nine minutes remaining in the first half.                                                                                      

 

UMD’s third touchdown was set up when Ramirez bobbled the snap on a punt and had to try to run for a first down. The Corsairs took over at the MIT 16 yard line with 5:55 remaining in the third quarter. Sullivan ran twice, the second time for 10 yards and a touchdown.

 

Freshman cornerback Randall Duarte’s (New Bedford, MA/New Bedford HS) interception at the MIT 10 set up UMass Dartmouth’s final score. Freshman running back Aaron Russo (Johnston, RI/Johnston HS) carried the last 10 yards, going two yards to score with 6:25 remaining.

 

On the ensuing drive, Stephen Toth’s 34-yard pass to Kevin Vogelsang set up MIT’s lone score. Robert Utz bulled his way into the end zone from 14 yards with 3:34 left to play.

 

“We rushed with three guys, and we covered with eight, and we thought we had eight people who could cover,” said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach Bill Kavanaugh. “We thought that if they tried to run the ball, we could stop them. We hit some big plays. Mike Crusco’s kick return before the first field goal, Derek Bealby’s field goal, and the pass from Alex to Manny Lopes were all big plays. We are getting better, and we have the right people in the right places. We think we have a pretty good ball club right now.”

 

Humphries rushed 20 times for 90 yards, while Garro completed 10 of 15 passes for 123 yards. Lopes caught six passes for 90 yards.

 

Utz led MIT with 66 yards on 26 carries, and quarterback Rick Mancuso was eight of 21 for 64 yards.

 

The Corsairs improved to 2-5, 2-2 in NEFC Boyd Division play with the win, while MIT dropped to 2-4 and 1-2. UMass Dartmouth will return to action when they host Western New England College next Saturday at 12 noon.

                                               

UMASS DARTMOUTH FOOTBALL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Statistics (Final)

 

                                                       MIT      UMD

                   Score.........................        6       34

                   FIRST DOWNS...................        8       18

                   RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............    34-17   58-190

                   PASSING YDS (NET).............       99      141

                   Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  28-10-2  19-13-1

                   TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   62-116   77-331

                   Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0

                   Punt Returns-Yards............      0-0     4-94

                   Kickoff Returns-Yards.........    7-110     2-21

                   Interception Returns-Yards....     1-14     2-10

                   Punts (Number-Avg)............   8-29.8   2-31.0

                   Fumbles-Lost..................      3-1      6-2

                   Penalties-Yards...............     3-19     3-20

                   Possession Time...............    32:34    27:26

                   Third-Down Conversions........  5 of 17  8 of 17

                   Fourth-Down Conversions.......   0 of 3   0 of 4

                   Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      1-1      6-8

 

                  MIT                             UMASS DARTMOUTH

 

 Rushing         No  Yds TD Lg  Avg    Rushing         No  Yds TD Lg  Avg

 Robert Utz      26   66  1 14  2.5    Jamsn Humphries 20   90  1 18  4.5

 Matt Ramirez     1    8  0  8  8.0    Aaron Russo     13   60  1 19  4.6

 TEAM             2  -15  0  0 -7.5    Rob Sullivan    12   58  1 16  4.8

 Richard Mancuso  5  -42  0  4 -8.4    Todd Harold      3    7  0 12  2.3

 

 Passing         AttCmpInt Yds TD Lng  Passing         AttCmpInt Yds TD Lng

 Richard Mancuso  21-8-1    64  0  17  Alex Garro       15-10-0  123  0  54

 Stephen Toth      7-2-1    35  0  31  Kraig Mello       4-3-1    18  0   9

 

 Receiving        No.  Yds   TD Long   Receiving        No.  Yds   TD Long

 Kevin Vogelsang    4   56    0   31   Manny Lopes        6   90    0   54

 Marcus Carson      2   28    0   17   Jamsn Humphries    2    8    0    9

 Thomas Franklin    2    8    0    4   Rob Sullivan       1   12    0   12

 C. Ruggiero        1    4    0    4   Robert Jensen      1    9    0    9

 

 Punting          No.   Avg Long I20   Punting          No.   Avg Long I20

 Matt Ramirez       7  34.0   46   0   Derek Bealby       2  31.0   33   2

 TEAM               1   0.0    0   0

 

 Punt returns     No.  Yds   TD Long   Punt returns     No.  Yds   TD Long

                                       Mike Crusco        3   78    0   42

                                       Eric Meza          1   16    0    0

 

 Kick returns     No.  Yds   TD Long   Kick returns     No.  Yds   TD Long

 Ryan Brunswick     7  110    0   20   Eric Wilbur        1   21    0   21

                                       Robert Jensen      1    0    0    0

 

 

 

 Team     Qtr Time   Scoring play                                   Conversion                Plays-Yards  TOP      MIT - UMD

 ----     --- ----   ------------                                   ----------                -----------  ---  -----------------

 UMD      2nd 14:56  Derek Bealby 28 yd field goal                                               4-2      2:12        0 - 3

 UMD      2nd 09:00  Derek Bealby 31 yd field goal                                               5-45     2:24        0 - 6

 UMD      2nd 04:56  Jamsn Humphries 1 yd run                       Derek Bealby kick            7-49     2:26        0 - 13

 UMD      2nd 01:22  Dan Reutzal 0 yd fumble recovery               Derek Bealby kick            5-21     0:40        0 - 20

 UMD      3rd 05:21  Rob Sullivan 10 yd run                         Derek Bealby kick            2-16     0:34        0 - 27

 UMD      4th 06:25  Aaron Russo 2 yd run                           Derek Bealby kick            3-10     1:19        0 - 34

 MIT      4th 03:34  Robert Utz 14 yd run                           Matt Ramirez kick failed     6-61     2:40        6 - 34