No. 4 Football Overwhelms Western Connecticut, 56-27
DANBURY, Conn.,,October 9, 2004 -- Springfield College senior quarterback
Ryan Sylvia (Marion, Mass.) rushed for a career-high 197 yards and four touchdowns to lead the fourth-ranked Pride to a 56-27 non-conference victory over Western Connecticut this afternoon at the Westside Athletic Complex.
The Pride have now won 18 consecutive regular-season games dating back to the 2002 season.
Sylvia, who also threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to senior split end
Mike Grendal (Foxboro, Mass.), keyed the SC ground game that piled up 449 yards. Sylvia moved into third place all-time at SC with 2,740 rushing yards and is also currently third with 41 rushing touchdowns.
Senior halfback
Kevin Domurat (Forestdale, Mass.) rushed for 88 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, while senior fullback
Tim Lutgens (Greenwich, N.Y.) added 73 yards and two scores, which moved him into fourth place all-time with 30 touchdowns at SC.
SC held a 41:19 to 18:41 time of possession advantage, while converting 11 of 18 third-down attempts. SC also scored on all six of its trips in the red zone.
After allowing three touchdowns on the Colonials’ first four drives, the SC defense yielded only six points the rest of the way. Senior linebacker
Justin Fletcher (Orwell, Vt.) spearheaded the Pride with eight tackles, including three tackles-for-loss. Sophomore linebacker
Andrew Madigan (New Britain, Conn.) added seven stops and forced a fumble.
With the game tied at 14-14 entering the second quarter, Sylvia took over. Just 1:13 into the quarter, he exploded for a 23-yard score to give the Pride a 21-14 cushion. The Colonials struck back on just two plays laters. Jeff DeMeglio hit David Cornoyer with a 55-yard pass to the SC one-yard line, setting up an Jason Adamson TD rush with 13:26 on the clock. On the Pride's next drive, Sylvia rushed for 47 of the 69 yards, and capped the drive off with a two-yard scoring run to make the score 28-21 with 5:37 left. The Pride forced the Colonials to go three-and-out on the their next drive, and Lutgens went in from four yards to give SC a 14-point advantage with 1:22 left. SC added another score when senior linebacker
Mike Clark (Paramus, N.J.) blocked a punt, and Sylvia scored his third TD of the quarter, and five yarder, to extend the lead to 42-21. Western Connecticut nearly got that touchdown back but junior cornerback
Mitch Dupuis (Merrimack, N.H.) intercepted a DeMeglio offering in the end zone with :24 left.
Sylvia added a one-yard TD run in the third quarter and hit Grendal with a 38-yard scoring pass in the fourth quarter, and the SC defense dominated the second half. After allowing DeMeglio 216 first-half passing yard, the Pride held him to 110 in the final two quarters. SC forced two turnovers in six Colonial second-half drives.
Team Links
Head Coach Mike DeLong
Michael C. “Mike” DeLong ’74 enters his 31st season as a head football coach in the fall of 2012. He enters his 29th year at Springfield College alone. For the past 28 years, he has been the head coach at Springfield, his alma mater. Mike had also been the head coach at Maine Maritime in Castine, Maine in 1979 and 1980.
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Contact Head Coach Mike Delong
E-Mail | Phone: 413.748.3156
