Statistics

NEWPORT, R.I. – Salve Regina scored 26-unanswered points in the second half to roll to a 53-17 victory of the University of New England in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Football action at Toppa Field in Newport on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Seahawks had 487 yards of total offense to just 285 for the Nor'easters. The ground game accounted for 253 yards, 193 for Joey Mauriello who also finished with two touchdowns. Salve Regina quarterback Tyler McGovern was 10-for-20 for 205 yards and four touchdowns. Mike Nestor (78 yards) and Pat Travers (69 yards) each caught three passes and a TD to lead the receiving corps.  
 
The CCC's leading passer, Brian Peters was held to a season-low 140 yards to go with two TDs and two interceptions. Cobey Johnson hauled in five passes for 61 yards and a score. Jack Mahoney paced UNE on the ground with 55 yards on 14 carries.
 
The day started off great for the Nor'easters as Peters found Johnson for a 14-yard touchdown to cap a nine-play, 75-yard drive that took just under three minutes. UNE forced a punt on defense, but was buried deep in its own territory and following a punt of its own set the Seahawk defense up the Nor'easters 25-yard line to start its next drive.
 
Mauriello gained all the yards, scoring from five out, on four carries to tie the game 7-7. UNE had another long drive capped by a 25-yard field goal by Kevin Heintz to take a 10-7 lead after a quarter.
 
McGovern began the second quarter with a 24-yard touchdown to Hayden Hulme to grab the lead back for the Seahawks. Following a Peters' interception in the end zone by Justin Jantorno, McGovern threw another touchdown, this time to Travers as Salve Regina began to pull away.
 
The ensuing kickoff was muffed by UNE, leading to the Seahawks taking over on the Nor'easters 21-yard line. Mauriello ran it in from a yard out to extend the lead to 27-10. UNE was able to swing some momentum back in its favor with a 15-play, 72-yard drive finished by a six-yard TD pass to Ryan Gaboury to close the gap to 27-17 just before halftime.
 
The second half was all Seahawks as they scored on five of their eight drive and forced three UNE turnovers. McGovern had touchdown passes of 11 yards to Danny Hoffman and 53 yards to Nestor to build a 40-17 lead. Angelo DiSanto added a 23-yard field goal to push the score to 43-17 after three.
 
Jack Maguire tossed an 18-yard touchdown to Nicholas Lane and DiSanto hit a kick from 30-yards out for the fourth quarter scoring.
 
Matt Messner had 12 tackles including 2.5 for a loss to lead the Seahawk defense. Drew Balestrieri made 10 tackles and had an interception. Nick Scarfo made 12 stops (nine solo) to lead UNE.
 
The Nor'easters play their final road game of the season next Saturday (Nov. 9) at Endicott at 12 p.m.