WESTFIELD, Mass. - UMass-Dartmouth's Dante Aviles-Santos (Cumberland, R.I.) completed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Angel Sanchez (Providence, R.I. / Bishop Henriksen) in overtime to give the Corsairs a dramatic 26-23 win over Westfield State and spoil the Owls homecoming at Alumni Field on Saturday.
Santos found Sanchez on a hook at about the eight-yard line, and Sanchez was able to beat several Owls defenders and outstretched the ball at the left pylon to break the plane of the goal line and score the game winner.
Westfield had grabbed a 23-20 lead on their first possession in the overtime with Cooper Harvey (Niskayuna, N.Y.) booting a 35-yard field goal to take the lead.
The Owls scored a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to force the extra session. Westfield QB Gabriel Fernandez (Holyoke, Mass.) punched in a 1-yard run with 7:30 left to trim the lead to 20-13. Then the Owls got the ball back as Harvey pooch-kicked the ball about 20 yards downfield, finding a hole in the Corsairs kick coverage, and Curtis Dion (Seymour, Conn.) recovered the ball to give the Owls a first down at the UMD 28-yard line.
Two plays later Fernandez found Michael Foley (South Windsor, Conn.) for a 28-yard TD, and Harvey's extra point tied the game at 20-all.
UMD threatened to win the game in regulation, but a 14-play, 69-yard drive died on fourth and goal incompletion from the four-yard line with 1:31 left in regulation.
Both teams had short drives in the final two minutes. Aviles-Santos fired a pass into the end zone from the 32-yard line as time expired in regulation but the ball fell harmlessly to the ground after being batted around amid a sea of bodies in the end zone.
Foley finished with three catches for 105 yards and two TD's for the Owls. Fernandez finished 15-30 passing for 231 yards with 2 td's and 2 interceptions. Jordan Smith (Coventry, Conn.) ground out 119 yards on 25 carries.
For UMass-Dartmouth, Aviles-Santos finished with 319 yards on 16-34 passing, with three TD's and an interception. Marvens Jean (Saugus, Mass.) threw a halfback option pass for a seven-yard TD as well.
Sanchez finished with six catches for 113 yards, Jean caught three passes for 90 yards and a TD, and Thomas Zednik(Johnston, R.I.) had three catches for 48 yards and a pair of scores.
Westfield had a trio of stellar defensive performances as Cam Danahy (Kingston, Mass./Silver Lake) and Tyler Cooley (Randolph, Mass./Archbishop Williams) each made 17 tackles. DL Cade Nelson (Shrewsbury, Mass.) made 13 stops with a sack and blocked a point after try.
UMD was led by 11 tackles from Logan Chappell (Griswold, Conn.).
Westfield dips to 1-5 on the season and 1-3 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference. The Corsairs are now 6-1 and 4-1 in the MASCAC.
The Owls will be back in action next Saturday at 4:00 p.m. at Bridgewater State.