Owls Set to Clash with Lancers in First Road Game of the Season

Another week, another Westfield State Owls Football Saturday as for the first time this season the Owls will hit the road and face the Worcester State Lancers for another MASCAC matchup.

Westfield falls to 1-2 on the season after a tough conference loss to the Wolves of Western Connecticut State. After giving up three fumbles on three straight offensive drives, the Owls fought back and ended the first quarter up 13-10 on a pair of Sean Willis touchdown runs. That was the end of the scoring from Westfield and the Wolves took the game over, 31-13.

Worcester improved to 2-1 with a win over the Falcons of Fitchburg State 20-14 last Saturday and will host the Owls on their Homecoming weekend.

The Owls have won four of the last five meetings against the Lancers.

LAST YEAR: Westfield got out to a hot start against the Lancers last November as the Owls had two touchdowns from the ground via Dylan Zuerblis and Jordan Smith, along with two through the air to Jacob Swinehart and Joseph DiBlasi. The Westfield offense had 275 yards of total offense, including 182 of them being through the rush game. The Owls defense forced three turnovers to secure the 30-12 victory for Westfield.

WESTFIELD STATE ON OFFENSE: The Owls average just south of 300 yards of offense per game as the 299.3 yards per game is good for fourth in all of the MASCAC. It is almost an even split of those 299.3 yards, with 151.7 coming on the ground and 147.6 through the air. Westfield's leading rusher, Willis, has 240 total yards this season through three games and a pair of touchdowns that came in last week's matchup against the Wolves. Willis averages 78.7 yards a game, good for fifth in the MASCAC.

The passing game is led by senior captain Gabe Fernandez. Fernandez has thrown for 365 yards this season and three touchdowns on 23 completions. Fernandez is fifth in the MASCAC for passing yards per game and tied for fourth in passing touchdowns.

WESTFIELD STATE ON DEFENSE: Westfield on defense has nine of its 11 starters with over ten total tackles on the season thus far. Five of those nine guys have over 1.5 tackles for loss which are headlined by Cade Nelson (3.5), Blake Simpson (2.5), Corey Henderson (1.5), Anthony Messore (1.5), and Dylan Zuerblis (1.5).

The Owls have five interceptions this season, two from Tafari Proctor, one from Zach Allen, one from Andrew Lovell, and one from Eric Lovell. Westfield's five interceptions is second in the MASCAC with only the Corsairs of UMass-Dartmouth ahead with eight.

WESTFIELD STATE ON SPECIAL TEAMS: The kicking duo of Cooper Harvey and Andrew Currier continue to take turns as the pair is one-for-two on field goal attempts this fall along with three-for-four in extra point attempts.

Swinehart continues to headline the return game for the Owls as he has four returns for 68 yards, averaging 17 per return.

WORCESTER STATE ON OFFENSE: The Lancers had 308 total yards of offense last week versus Fitchburg State. Worcester had 170 of those yards on the ground with leading rusher Nico Holmes recording 151 yards rushing on 27 attempts and two touchdowns. Holmes also helped out in the passing game as the second leading receiver on the team with three grabs for 25 yards total. Holmes is currently the leader for rushing yards per game in the MASCAC and is tied for fourth most rushing touchdowns this season.

The only Lancers signal caller this fall has been Cam Ayotte. Ayotte has completed 41 passes on 69 attempts for 500 yards passing, a 59.4% completion rate, and three touchdowns. Ayotte has three targets that have over 100 plus receiving yards in Dylan Hall (119), Lance Williams (119), and Drew Von Klock (126). Hall and Williams account for two-of-three touchdown passes Ayotte has thrown.

WORCESTER STATE ON DEFENSE: Worcester gives up the third least amount of yards per game in the MASCAC at 266.7. John McMasters III leads the Lancers in total tackles this season with 33.0, with an average of 11.0 tackles per game which is tied for fifth highest average in the MASCAC. Of McMasters 33.0 total tackles, his 3.5 are tackles for loss are one of five lancers with over 1.5 tackles for loss.

McMasters also adds an interception to his ledger as one of three picks for the Lancers defense with the other two coming from Damian Mitchell and Micah Haynes.

WORCESTER STATE ON SPECIAL TEAMS: The Lancers kicking specialist position is held by Manuel Freitas who is currently six-for-eight on point after attempts this season but is zero-for-three on field goal tries.

Williams is the return specialist for Worcester as he has six of the seven kick returns for the Lancers all year with 120 return yards for an average of 20 per touch.

COVERAGE: Live stats and video are available at WestfieldStateOwls.com.  The game is also live streamed via the MASCAC.tv app on AppleTV, Roku, AmazonFire, and most major streaming devices.  Note that the app has been updated this summer so please re-install the app on your TV or streaming device to ensure you get full coverage of MASCAC events.

NEXT WEEK: Westfield will continue their road trip as they visit Vermont State Castleton for a MASCAC matchup on Saturday, October 5 at 2 p.m.

Worcester State visits Bridgewater State Saturday, October 5 at 4 p.m. for their forth MASCAC matchup of the season.