WESTFIELD, Mass. – UMass Dartmouth rallied for three fourth-quarter touchdowns to defeat Westfield State University 26-16 in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference football game at Alumni Field on Saturday afternoon.
Luis Gonzalez (Greenacres, Fla./Tilton School) flipped the balance of power with a 73-yard touchdown run for the Corsairs midway through the fourth quarter to turn a 16-12 deficit into a 20-16 advantage.
The Corsairs added a 40-yard scoring strike from quarterback Dante Aviles-Santos (Cumberland, R.I.) to Antonio Brown (Montville, Conn.) on a deep ball down the right side with 4:36 left to lead 26-16.
The first quarter began with a 31-yard TD pass from Aviles-Santos to Marvens Jean (Saugus, Mass.), but Westfield State's Cameron Danahy (Kinsgton, Mass./Silver Lake) intercepted the 2-point conversion pass a yard deep in the endzone and rumbled the length of the field to give the Owls a defensive 2-point conversion. Senior DE David White (Walpole, Mass.) threw a key block near midfield to help spring Danahy to go the distance and limit the lead to 6-2, Corsairs.
Westfield got another big play on special teams on the first play of the second quarter, as Christian Julian (Hingham, Mass.) fielded a punt at the 25 yard line and scampered 75 yards for an Owls touchdown. Anthony Cintron (Auburn, Mass.) scored the 2-point conversion on a jet sweep play to put Westfield on top 10-6.
Cintron added a diving catch in the endzone on a 24-yard pass from Peyton Capizzi (East Setauket, NY/Ward Melville) with 19 seconds left in the second quarter to grab a 16-6 Westfield State lead at the half.
Aviles-Santos scored on a broken-play, 13-yard scramble early in the fourth quarter to start the comeback, as he was flushed out of the pocket and dodged several would-be tacklers on his way to paydirt.
Aviles-Santos finished an efficient 14-20 passing for 251 yards and two TDs. Gonzalez finished with 124 yards on the ground and the long TD run.
Brown led the Corsairs with 77 receiving yards on four catches.
Shane Clark (Bellows Falls, Vt.) led Westfield State with 51 yards rushing. Capizzi finished 10-23 passing for just 80 yards and tossed three interceptions, two of those coming in the fourth quarter to quiet the Owls' comeback attempt.
Defensively, Westfield sacked UMD quarterbacks six times, including 1.5 sacks from freshman DT Colton Hurlburt. William Soto (Marborough/Assabet Valley) led the Owls with 12 total tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and had a fumble recovery. Danahy added 11 tackles and Cullen MacNeil (Northbridge, Mass.) seven.
Javien Delgado (Lynn, Mass./Classical) was in on 14 stops for the Corsairs, who also got 11 tackles from Sam Alicea (Providence, R.I./Bishop Hendricken). Defensive back Logan Chappell (Griswold, Conn.) recorded a pair of interceptions.
UMass Dartmouth improves to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the MASCAC. The Owls slide to 0-6 overall and 0-4 in the MASCAC.
Westfield State will be back in action next Saturday, October 23 with a 4 p.m. conference kickoff at Bridgewater State. UMass Dartmouth hosts Fitchburg next Saturday at 3:30 p.m.