Football Falls to Bison 28-21 in Home Opener

THE BASICS:

- Score: Nichols 28, Anna Maria College 21

- Records: Anna Maria College (0-2); Nichols College (2-0)

- Location: Paxton, Mass. (AMCAT Field)

- The Lead: The Anna Maria College football team fell to the visiting Bison of Nichols College by a final score of 28-21 on Friday Night at AMCAT Field.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

-The Bison started scoring with 1:07 on the clock in the first quarter. Tony Martignoli (Santa Rosa, Calif.) completed a five yard pass to Jean St.-Vil (Everett, Mass.) and the visitor's extra point was good to take the 7-0 lead.

-Anna Maria got on the board in the second quarter with 10:05 on the clock. On a fourth down attempt Emmanuel Leake (Providence, R.I.) completed a six yard pass to Trai Weaver (Waterbury, Conn.) to bring the AMCATS within one (7-6)

-With 3:35 to play Anna Maria took their first lead of the game with a 31-yard run into the endzone for Joseph D'onofrio (Everett, Mass.). The AMCATS took a timeout before setting up for a two-point conversion. Leake found Bryan Mariner (Jamaica Queens, N.Y.) in the endzone to take the 14-7 lead.

-With just one second on the clock and just one yard from scoring, the Bison snuck through the AMCAT defense to tie the game at 14-14 to head into the halftime break.

-Nichols took control back with a 15-yard run from Jacob Duffrene (Boston, Mass.) and a good kick from Alex Santiago (Sunrise, Fla.) for the 21-14 lead in the third quarter.

-The Bison went ahead 28-14 following a two-yard rush from Martignoli and another good kick from Santiago.

-Just three minutes later the AMCATS came charging back down the field for another touchdown. Freshman Jayson Wallace (Rochester, N.Y.) completed a 31-yard touchdown pass to Weaver and a good kick from James Weiliczko (Holderness, Mass.) brought the AMCATS within seven with 3:15 to play (28-21)

-On their last drive of the game the Bison picked off an AMCAT pass to clinch the 28-21 victory.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

-The Bison tallied 23 first downs on the night while the AMCATS combined for 16 first downs.

-The visitors posted 330 yards of total offense to Anna Maria's 247.

-Freshman, Brian McLean (Montgomery, Ala.) led Anna Maria with two of their three sacks for a Bison loss of 16 yards. Freshman, Daniel George (Leicester, Mass.) added a sack to total the Bison loss at 25 yards on the night. Nichols made four sacks for an AMCAT loss of 23 yards.

-Nichol's Santiago went 4-for-4 in extra point attempts tonight while Wieliczko went 1-for-1 for the home team.

-Wallace passed for a total of 62 yards to lead the AMCATS while Leake added 25 passing yards.

-Martignoli earned 263 passing yards to lift the Bison to victory.

-D'onofrio accounted for 144 yards of the AMCATS offense and led all players in rushing yards.

-Duffrene posted 39 rushing yards for Nichols.

UP NEXT:

The AMCATS host Curry College on Friday, Sept. 15th for a 7:00 p.m. non-conference battle. Nichols travels to Coast Guard on Saturday, Sept. 16th for a 1:30 p.m. kick off.