Seahawks top Gulls to forge a crowd at the top of the CCC standings

NEWPORT, R.I. (October 23, 2021) - Salve Regina University football scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to rally and defeat Endicott College, 21-14, in a pivotal Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) matchup at Toppa Field on Saturday afternoon. Senior Connor Welsh (North Middletown, N.J.) punched in a 1-yard run and a 3-yard sweep to the right for a pair of TDs in the final period and senior Jack Maguire (Abington, Mass.) completed a two-point conversion to graduate student John Whitehouse (Foxboro, Mass.) for the Seahawks (7-1, 3-1 CCC).

The Gulls (6-2, 3-1 CCC) had their two scoring drives at the beginning and the end of the first half.  Sophomore quarterback Mike Ingraffia (Kings Park, N.Y.) passed 14 yard into the left corner of the endzone to sophomore Kobe Gaudette (Saco, Maine) on the first Gulls possession to complete a six-play, 57-yard drive in less than three minutes. Ingraffia took it to the endzone himself from from one yard out on 4th-and-goal with four seconds remaining in the second quarter. Sophomore Ryan Smith (Glastonbury, Conn.) made both of his PATs on the day. He did miss wide right on a 45-yard field goal attempt in the third quarter. Smith has a league-best 10 field goals made (15 attempted) with a long of 41 yards.

Salve Regina freshman Chris Maida (Red Bank, N.J.) had his first PAT bang off the right upright for a miss before converting after Welsh's go-ahead score with 1:27 left in the fourth for the final point.

Maguire finished 15-for-29 passing for 147 yards including a 10-yard TD strike to senior Max DeVito (Cedar Grove, N.J.) in the second quarter. Maguire completed passes to seven different Seahawk targets with graduate student Pat Travers (Plymouth, Mass.) hauling in four receptions.

Senior running back Joey Mauriello (Colts Neck, N.J.) led all rushers with 71 yards on 17 carries (4.2 ypc) before suffering an injury on his longest run of the day (27 yards) with under six minutes remaining in the third quarter. The Seahawks still trailed by eight (14-6) at the time, and Maguire appeared to have a touchdown completion to Travers in a later drive that period while flags were flying for defensive pass interference. The flags were thrown correctly but officials said Travers' catch did not occur in bounds. Maguire did convert a 3rd-and-8 to Travers at the Endicott 2-yard line for the final play of the quarter to setup 1st-and-Goal for the start of the final period.

Welsh took two handoffs to get the ball into the endzone at the outset of the fourth quarter. Maguire to Whitehouse for the two-point conversion tied the score at 14-all.

For the third time in four home games, Salve Regina's defense blanked its opponent in the second half. Graduate student Matt Sylvia (East Greenwich, R.I.) and sophomore Francisco Aguero (Miami, Fla.) both had fourth-quarter interceptions for the Seahawks who are now unbeaten at home since October 5, 2019 (Endicott, 30-24) and have won six straight at Toppa Field.

Salve Regina ties the all-time series (began in 2003) at 9-9 with today's win.

"I'm proud of these guys no matter what! A game like that when you're behind the entire game and you look at them and they're saying to themselves, 'We still got this.' They had the heart and the character, and they prove it. We dominated the fourth quarter in a game that was going 50-50 up to that point." -- Seahawk head coach Kevin Gilmartin

A three-way tie of 3-1 teams in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play includes Salve Regina, Endicott, and Western New England University. The three teams are 1-1 against each other. Husson University also has one loss (to Endicott, 24-17, last week) and still has to play the Seahawks and Golden Bears in November.