Golden Bears deal Seahawks first loss

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Western New England University football team defeated Salve Regina 41-3 in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action Saturday afternoon.

The CCC rivals opened the game evenly matched with neither team able to put a drive together of more than five plays. On the Golden Bears' third drive of the first quarter Western New England gained some momentum. The drive began at the opponent's 46-yard line and after three first downs the Golden Bears found themselves on the Salve Regina nine. A rush by EJ Dudley from the seven-yard line sealed the Golden Bears' ticket for the first touchdown of the game followed by an extra-point by Matt Gilbert to earn Western New England a 7-0 lead. The Golden Bears remained solid on defense forcing the Seahawks to punt two more times before the quarter was out.

After forcing the Golden Bears to punt, Salve Regina completed a nine-play 50-yard drive that resulted in a field goal from 34-yards out. The Seahawks put themselves on the board to trail the Golden Bears 7-3 with a little over 11-minutes remaining in the half. The field goal by the Seahawks only motivated Western New England more. Their very next drive the Golden Bears went 75 yards in 10 plays ending in another Dudley touchdown rush from three yards out followed by a made extra point from Gilbert. The Golden Bear defense cranked it up a notch for the remainder of the half as did the Seahawks defense with no more points scored in the first half. The Golden Bears led 14-3 after the first 30-minutes of play.

The Golden Bears were able to regain momentum in their second drive of the third quarter. Two first downs on ten plays for a total of 48-yards led to another Dudley touchdown from three yards out with Gilbert recording the made extra point once again. Western New England now led 21-3. It was on Western New England's very next drive where Bryce Karstetter connected with Adam Razza in the endzone for a seven-yard touchdown pass. Gilbert missed the extra point and the Golden Bears now led 27-3 and would close out the third quarter holding Salve Regina at their own 32-yard line.

To start the fourth quarter the Golden Bear defense forced a punt to give momentum to the offense in their next drive. The Golden Bears went 52 yards in ten plays in the next drive that ended by Karstetter finding Steven Fedorchak in the endzone for a 13-yard touchdown catch for Fedorchak to set a new program record for career touchdowns with 23. Gilbert made the extra point to give Western New England a 34-3 lead with just under ten minutes left to play. After stopping an eight play drive for the Seahawks, the Golden Bears turned around and went 63 yards in ten plays for Ryan Carlson to punch in a touchdown on the ground followed by a Gilbert extra point to score the final points of the game and earn the Golden Bears the 41-3 win over the previously undefeated Seahawks.

Inside the Numbers:

• The Golden Bears earned 25 first downs, 14 in the air and 10 on the ground while also recording a 68-percent efficiency rate on third down and a 100-percent fourth down efficiency.
• Western New England recorded a total of 407 yards of offense with 231 passing and 176 rushing while only punting four times for 158 yards.
• The Golden Bears forced the Seahawks to punt nine times while Western New England maintained possession of the ball for 36:45.
• Karstetter went 24-for-33 passing today for a total of 207 yards and two touchdowns while Dudley rushed 20 times for 52 yards and three touchdowns.
• Dillon Kohl rushed 11 times for 41 yards while Ryan Carlson recorded the other ground touchdown with a total of six carries and 12 yards.
• Fedorchak set a new program record for career touchdown catches with his one touchdown in the game. Fedorchak now holds the record with 23 while tallying a total of six catches today for 87 yards.
• Ricky Montalvo and Josh Salem led the Golden Bears defense with six tackles apiece while Salem recorded a sack for a loss of nine yards.