AMCATS Fall to Eagles, 35-14

Paxton, Mass. – Sophomore quarterback Joe Seccareccia (Bangor, Maine) rushed for 133 yards and completed 5-of-10 passes for 76 yards and a touchdown to lead the Husson Eagles to a 35-14 win over host Anna Maria College in Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) action Saturday afternoon at AMCAT Field.

Anna Maria was led by freshman quarterback Gregory McGoldrick (Brooklyn, NY), who had his best statistical day in an AMCAT uniform, and was 23-of-36 in the air for 299 yards and two touchdowns. Teammate William Ricard (Billerica, Mass.) was McGoldrick's favorite target on the afternoon pulling in 8 receptions for 103 yards and a score.

Tailback Byron Jackson (Bridgeport, Conn.) also paced the Husson offense with 122 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.

After holding the AMCATS to just eight plays on their opening drive, the Eagles opened the scoring with a 3-play, 96-yard drive on their first possession, capped by a 3-yard run by Bryon Jackson. It would be the only score in the first quarter. Anna Maria would hold a 10:18-4:42 time of possession advantage in the stanza but couldn't convert that on the scoreboard.

The AMCAT defense would come up big on Husson's first possession of the second marker. With first and goal on the AMCATS eight, senior Jordan Koehler (West Warwick, RI) would have a pair of tackles for a loss of one yard and then freshman Carl Santos (New Bedford, Mass.) would sack Seccareccia for a 15-yard loss to the AMCATS 21-yard line. On fourth-and-goal Anna Maria would play stifling defense and the Eagles would turn the ball over on downs.

However, Husson would strip running back Robert Small (Sleepy Hollow, NY) on the ensuing AMCAT possession and Seccareccia would find Ryan Stroud in the end zone two plays later for the 14-0 lead.

 The AMCAT took their next possession all the way down to the Husson one-yard line, when McGoldrick hit Josh Sundquist (Windham, Maine) across the middle for a 31-yard gain. Unfortunately, McGoldrick would fumble the snap and the Eagles would recover the ball and take-a-knee to head into intermission with a two score lead.

Both teams came out firing in the second half, combining for twenty-eight third quarter points.

The Eagles would march 91-yards capped by a Shabashe McIntosh (Bridgeport, Conn.) 11-yard run to push the lead to 21-0 to open the third quarter.

After holding Husson to three-and-out on their next possession the AMCATS would take advantage of good field position. Starting from their own 42-yard line, McGoldrick would connect with Will Ricard for a 4-yard gain and then hit the wide receiver for a 54-yard strike for the AMCATS first score of the afternoon. Julian Diaz would make the extra point and Anna Maria would only trail 21-7.

On Husson's ensuing possession Byron Jackson would find the end zone with a two-yard run, to push the Eagles lead to 28-7.

Anna Maria would once again answer on the next drive, in just one play. The AMCATS offense would set up a screen play for Bobby Small coming out of the backfield, McGoldrick would hit the running back in stride on the left wing and Small would do the rest out running the Eagles defense for a 64-yard score. 

Entering the 4^th quarter, Anna Maria would trail Husson 28-14.

The Eagles tacked on the only fourth quarter touchdown with a Kyle McKinnon dive from 6-yards out on a first and goal to cap a 9-play, 74-yard drive that would span more than four minutes for the 35-14 final.

Koehler was once again the team leader on defense for the AMCATS, finishing with 14 total tackles, including 1.5 for a loss. Teammate Kevin Card (Deer Park, NY) posted 8 tackles while Tony Valente (Wilmington, Mass.) and St. Clair Ryan (South Easton, Mass.) each made seven stops.

Husson was led by Ernest Wiggins' (Bridgeport, Conn.) eight tackles and one forced fumble, while Logan Steward (Hampden, Maine) added 7 total tackles.

The Eagles improve to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in ECFC action, while Anna Maria falls to 1-4, 0-2 ECFC.

The AMCATS will travel to Mount Ida College next week for a conference match-up with Mount Ida College at 1:00pm.