WESTFIELD, Mass. – Framingham State's Devaun Ford (Mashpee, Mass.) rushed for 126 yards and the Rams defense held Westfield State's offense to just 128 total yards as the Rams held on for a 14-11 win over Westfield State in a hard-fought MASCAC football game at Alumni Field on Saturday afternoon.
Framingham improves to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the MASCAC, while Westfield is now 0-4 overall and 0-2 in the league.
The Rams got on the scoreboard first with a Noah Leonard (Taunton, Mass.) 20-yard touchdown scramble with 4:59 left in the first half, but Westfield answered early in the second quarter with a 27-yard field goal from Evan Milstead (Riverside, Calif.) to trim Framingham's lead to 7-3 at the half.
In the second half, Framingham got a 19-yard scoring strike from Leonard to Manny Lara (Lawrence, Mass.) on a fade pattern into the left corner of the end zone to boost the lead to 14-3 with 4:45 left in the third.
Westfield got a quick-strike score midway through the fourth quarter, as QB Gabriel Fernandez (Holyoke, Mass.) threw a deep out to Michael Foley (South Windsor, Conn.) on the left side, that Foley caught around the 40-yard line, juked a Framingham defender and scampered down the sideline for the score. Westfield went for two and Fernandez rolled away from a trio of rushers to find Dylan Disabella (Granby, Conn.) in the end zone for the two-point conversion to trim the lead back to 14-3.
Westfield's defense forced a five-and out series from Framingham and the offense got the ball back with 5:37 left in the game, but Framingham's Cole Moretti (Lynnfield, Mass.) sacked Fernandez on second down for a nine-yard loss to put the Owls behind the chains, eventually turning the ball over on downs with 3:37 to play and the Rams used running backs Ford and Marcus McBean (Norwood, Mass.) to grind out the remaining time and secure the win.
The Rams' defense was tough on the Owls all day. Westfield finished with a net -40 yards rushing as the Rams sacked Westfield QB's five times and knocked starter Colby Pires (Milford, Mass.) from the game in the first half. The Rams also pressured the Owls into incompletions on five other occasions. Chase Buono (Lynn, Mass.) led the rams with five tackles and 1.5 sacks.
Westfield's defense was led by 18 tackles from Tyler Cooley (Randolph, Mass.) , 12 from Cameron Danahy (Kingston, Mass.) and 11 tackles and a sack from Cade Nelson (Shrewsbury, Mass.). Offensively, Foley finished with two catches for 91 yards, and Owen Thompson (Plympton, Mass.) had five catches for 40 yards. Fernandez finished 11-24 for 156 yards with one TD pass.
Framingham's Leonard was just 5-16 passing for 46 yards with one touchdown, and added 94 yards on the ground. McBean chipped in with 50 yards rushing as the Rams totaled 270 of their 344 total yards on the ground.
Westfield will next play at Mass Maritime on Saturday, Oct. 1 with a noon kickoff.