FOOTBALL: Anna Maria falls to SUNY Maritime

The Basics:

-Score: SUNY Maritime 51, Anna Maria College 15

-Records: SUNY Maritime 5-1, 3-1 ECFC; Anna Maria 0-6, 0-3 ECFC

- The Lead: The Anna Maria College football team dropped to 0-6 overall and 0-3 in the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) Saturday with a 51-15 setback to SUNY Maritime at Reinhart Field. Junior quarterback Emmanuel Leake (Providence, R.I.) and senior wide receiver Trai Weaver (Waterbury, Conn.) provided highlights for the AMCATS, as Leake threw for 255 yards and two touchdowns and Weaver caught a season-high nine passes for 149 yards and one touchdown, his fifth straight game with a TD reception.

How It Happened:

-Anna Maria opened the game attempting an onside kick but was unable to get the ball beyond the needed 10-yards, allowing Maritime to open the game in AMCAT territory. The Privateers needed just three plays as Chris Olberding scored one a 12-yard touchdown run. A few series later Anna Maria was backed up in the shadow of its own goal posts and Craig Hinrichs took care of the rest as he stopped the AMCAT running back in the end zone to give the Privateers a 9-0 lead after the safety.

-Maritime's next possession resulted in an 11-yard run from Andrew Geni into the endzone as the Privateers opened up a 16-0 lead with just under seven minutes gone by. Brandonn Drumgole followed suit with a rushing touchdown as Maritime took a 23-point advantage with 6:41 left in the opening quarter.

-Anna Maria got on the board two minutes later with an 85-yard drive, capped by a TD pass from Leake to senior Camden Brown (Gardner, Mass.), but the Privateers got back in front by three scores when Thomas Wright found Drumgole for an eight-yard touchdown reception. The Privateers led at halftime by a 30-6 score and did not turn off the pressure in the second half.

-Anna Maria opened the scoring after the break with a 34-yard touchdown reception by Weaver to shrink Maritime's lead down to 18 as Hinrichs blocked the extra point to keep the game at 30-12.

-Maritime marched right down the field on the next drive resulting in a 10-yard touchdown catch by Matt Ward from Wright to propel the Privateers to a 37-12 advantage. Maritime got the ball again with just over a minute to go in the third quarter and fed the ball to Olberding, who rushed three plays and 40 yards to the end zone.

-The Privateers got more points on the board with its first drive of the fourth quarter as Butterworth took over on offense found Cormac Quigley for the 16-yard score. The AMCATs tacked on a late field goal by freshman Marcelino Da Veiga (Central Falls, R.I.)

Inside the Numbers

-Weaver has caught 17 passes for 326 yards and two TDs the past two weeks, upping his season totals to 35 catches for 561 yards and six TDS.

-Sophomore Michael Hall (East Providence, R.I.) and freshman Daniel George (Leicester, Mass.) finished with 12 tackles apiece to lead the AMCAT defense, with George forcing a fumble and Hall recovering two fumbles.

–Freshman Swavaughn Smalls (Mattapan, Mass.) made six tackles, including two sacks and freshman Dylan Diorio (South Grafton, Mass.) made eight stops, forcing a fumble and recovering a fumble.

Up Next:

The AMCATS play three of their final four games on home turf, beginning next Saturday, Oct. 21, against Alfred State in an ECFC affair at AMCAT Field (1:00 p.m.) SUNY Maritime travels to Newton, Mass. next Saturday, Oct. 21, for a 1:00 p.m. ECFC encounter at Mount Ida College.

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