Statistics
WORCESTER, Mass. -- Trailing 17-7 at halftime, the University of New England football team rallied to take the lead but saw its hopes of a comeback victory dashed when sophomore kicker Nathan Napier drilled a 50-yard field goal as time expired, giving Worcester Polytechnic Institute a 22-21 win Saturday afternoon (Sept. 12) at Carr Field.
Napier's conversion capped an improbable turn of events after the Engineers (1-1) had turned the ball over on downs inside the Nor'easters' 10-yard line late in the game. UNE ran the clock down to 16 seconds before electing to take an intentional safety on fourth down, draining an additional nine seconds but cutting its lead to 21-19. An ensuing squib kick was downed by WPI at the UNE 33-yard line with six seconds remaining. After an incomplete pass, Napier came on for his game-winning boot.
After UNE had established a 7-0 advantage after one quarter on a 6-yard run by
Damien Jones , WPI responded with 17 unanswered points to take a 10-point cushion into the locker room at halftime. The Nor'easters fought back with a pair of touchdown passes from Chris Lang, the first to
Quinn Carlson in the third quarter to pull within three (17-14), and the second a 53-yard strike to
Max Viglione to give the visitors the lead at 21-17, a cushion they would carry into the closing seconds of the contest.
Jones went to 83 yards on the ground for the Nor'easters, who saw their high-powered offense limited to just 263 total yards. Lang was 11-for-23 for 157 yards through the air, while Carlson and Viglione combined to account for 107 of those yards.
For WPI, Dylan Gallo threw completed 17 of 34 passes for 185 yards and two scores. Andrew Kanakor led the ground attack with 55 yards.Â
UNE received a stellar defensive performance from junior linebacker
Aidan Blood, who finished with seven solo tackles (8 total).
Cole McLaughlin accounted for seven stops and a sack, while
Jeremy Franzini contributed five tackles (all solo).
Pat Andrews led all players with nine solo tackles to spearhead the Engineers' defense. Jake Robertson and Carter Learned each had eight total tackles.
A strong defensive effort by UNE limited WPI to just 299 yards of total offense. The Engineers nearly doubled-up the Nor'easters in possession time, however (39:27 to 20:33). WPI was 7-for-18 on third down, compared to a 4-of-15 showing for UNE.
The Nor'easters (0-2) will look to get into the win column next Saturday when they take on Hampden-Sydney College in their home-opener. Kickoff time at Blue Storm Stadium is scheduled for noon.
