‘CATS Stymied by Mustangs

Saturday, October 6, 2012 (Newton, Massachusetts) - Senior quarterback Scott Drosendahl (East Aurora, NY/East Aurora) threw for 244 yards and four touchdowns along with two rushing scores propelling the Mount Ida College football program to their fourth victory of the season and their second straight Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) win of the year over visiting Anna Maria College by a score of 48-35 Saturday afternoon on Alumni Field in Newton, Massachusetts.

The Mustangs sit atop the league standings in a three way tie with Castleton State College and Gallaudet University at 2-0 with an overall record of 4-1 while the visitors go home with a 1-4 slate in 2012 still searching for the first ECFC victory of the year.

Mount Ida showed a strong offensive performance in a penalty ridden, high scoring affair featuring 23 flags for 200 yards on the hosts making for a marathon game. Along with Drosendahl, Mustang senior wide receiver Matthew Valentini (Lake Hoptacong, NJ/Jefferson TWP) was impressive leading all Mustang wide outs with seven catches for 132 yards and a touchdown. Freshman Dejhaun Williams (Newark, NJ/M.X. Shabazz) had his strongest outing to date hauling in two TD's with three catches for 57 yards.

Not only were the hosts good through the air, they dominated the running game led by freshman Melquan Pinkney (Springfield, MA/Putnam) with 17 carries for 166 yards and a touchdown. Mount Ida junior wide receiver Jordan Hyman (Middletown, CT/Xavier) added four catches for 55 yards and a score respectively.

For the visitors, senior signal caller Santino Simone (Worcester, MA/Holy Name) aired the ball out most of the second half due to the large lead by the hosts going 23-44 with 346 yards passing and adding three scores recording 15 carries for 53 yards as well. Simone found AMCAT leading receiver, senior Domenique Concepcion (Middlebury, CT/Pomperaug), for two TD catches adding 13 catches for 181 yards. Anna Maria junior running back Robert Small (Sleepy Hollow, NY/Sleep Hollow) led the ground game with 19 carries adding 115 yards and two scores.

Defensively, Mount Ida was led by a strong attack from senior defensive end A.J. Knibbs (Spotswood, NJ/Spotswood) with eight quarterback hurries, five pass break-ups a sack and two tackles. Junior defensive lineman Jon Proto (North Haven, CT/North Haven) added four tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery while freshman Jovan Wilkins (Poughkeepsie, NY/Poughkeepsie) led the Mustangs with seven tackles.

For the AMCATS, junior linebacker Jordan Koehler (West Warwick, RI/West Warwick) notched a game-high 9.5 tackles while sophomore defensive back William Bishop (Uxbridge, MA/Uxbridge) added 6.5 tackles respectively.

Mount Ida led 35-14 at the midway point surging ahead due to their high powered offense led by Drosendahl and Valentini. The visitors struggled all game to keep pace with the hosts until the final quarter where the AmCats were forced into airing the ball out making the score more respectable finishing the contest at 48-35.

The Mustangs will travel to ECFC member Husson University this coming Saturday with kick-off coming at 1:00 p.m. while Anna Maria will host Maritime College at 2:00 p.m.