WORCESTER, Mass — The Buccaneers and Lancers met on Coughlin Field on Saturday in a conference matchup. After a loss to UMass Dartmouth last Thursday, the Buccaneers righted the ship with a 25-17 win over Worcester.
The Basics
Final: Buccaneers 25, Lancers 17
Records: Maritime 3-3 (3-1)
Worcester 1-5 (1-3)
Inside The Numbers
For The Bucs
- Quarterback Marc Murphy completed 22 of 32 passes for 284 yards and three touchdowns.
- Running back Ja’iel Johnson led the team in both rushing and receiving, running for 58 yards on 17 carries and catching seven passes for 130 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown was a 75-yard catch and run from Murphy.
- James Cassidy ran the ball 13 times for 48 yards in the win.
- Wide receiver Evan Dyer had a career day, catching four balls for a career-high 74 yards and two touchdowns.
- Defensively, Cobey Williamson led the Bucs in tackles with seven, six solo. He also had a tackle for loss.
- Hugh Wells recorded two solo tackles; he also recorded a sack, a tackle for loss and tallied his first career interception.
- Mack Brown had three tackles and two tackles for loss.
- Safety Sam Huffman tallied two tackles, a tackle for loss, forced fumble and fumble recovery.
- Stephen McBrine had a sack, tackle for loss, forced fumble and fumble recovery to go along with one tackle.
- On Special teams, Mike Epifano converted two of three extra points and converted a field goal from 22 yards.
- Punter Jack Mulligan punted five times for 224 yards with an average punt of 44.8 yards, a long of 64 yards and three punts inside the Lancers 20 yard line.
For The Lancers
- Quarterback Mike Loveless completed 22 of 51 passes in the game for 238 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
- Loveless also led the team in rushing with 52 yards on 10 attempts.
- Drew von Klock led the team in receiving with 72 yards on five catches and a touchdown.
- Defensively, San Duah, Jr. led all players with 14 tackles, nine solo and a half tackle for loss.
- Jamison Metcalf made five tackles, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble.
- On Special teams, Santiago Rodriguez-D’Atri made a 25-yard field goal and missed his lone extra point attempt.
- Punter Kyle Wall punted four times for 173 yards, an average of 43.3 yards per punt with a long of 29 yards and three inside the Bucs 20 yard line.
How It Happened
Maritime received the opening kick off of their game against Worcester on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in central Massachusetts. The Bucs struck quickly going 81 yards in four plays, including a defensive facemask for 15 yards, a 24-yard completion to Johnson, and they capped the drive off with a 29-yard touchdown pass from Murphy to Dyer. Epifano made the extra points and the Buccaneers led 7-0. On the ensuing drive, Worcester lanced the Buccaneer defense, going 57 yards in 11 plays. After a tackle in the backfield by Brown by the Buccaneers for a loss of five yards, Worcester was stalled out and had to settle for a 25 yard field goal. The Bucs still led 7-3, and they would extend that lead nearly immediately. Dyer returned the kickoff to his own 21 yard line. Johnson ran for four yards then, Murphy hit Johnson in the flat and the speedy back went 75 yards for the touchdown. After a missed PAT, the Bucs led by 10, 13-3. Maritime forced the Lancers into a three and out on their next drive and took over at their own 33 after a 47-yard punt by Wall. On a massive 12 play drive, the Buccaneers went 62 yard, burned 6:26 off the clock and at the Worcester five yard line were stopped on third and goal. On fourth and goal, Epifano extended the lead to 13 with a 22-yard field goal. After one quarter of play, Maritime led the Lancers 16-3.
In the second, after a 19-point frenzy in the first 15 minute, there was only one score and it came with 3:32 left in the half. On a Bucs drive that went 71 yards in 10 plays, the Lancers forced a fumble at their own three, stopping Maritime from adding a touchdown to the board. Worcester took over at their own two and after a false start penalty, were backed up to their own one. On first an 11 from the one, Wells sacked Loveless in the endzone, forcing him to step out of bounds for a Buccaneer two-point safety. This extended the Bucs lead to 15, 18-3, which was the score at the break.
The third quarter was fairly uneventful with the Bucs punting twice, the Lancers turning the ball over on downs and having to punt. Neither team scored in the third period and they went to the fourth with the Buccaneers still leading 18-3.
In the fourth, the Buccaneers extended their lead once again on their opening drive of the quarter that began with 2:34 left in the third. On 10 plays, Maritime went 80 yards and scored on a 15-yard pass from Murphy to Dyer, Dyer’s second score of the day. Epifano hit the PAT and the Bucs led by 22, 25-3. On their next drive, Worcester began their comeback attempt. Loveless did himself with his legs to finish off a 10-play 77-yard drive from five yards out. The PAT was missed and the Lancers trailed 25-9 with 8:28 left in the game. After a turnover on downs by the Bucs, Worcester got the ball back with 6:13 on the clock. It took 12 plays and 66 yards but the Lancers closed the deficit once again, this time on a Loveless to von Klock four yard connection for the touchdown. Going for two to make it an eight-point game, Loveless completed to Deion Osei-Sarp in the end zone to make it 25-17 Buccaneers with three minutes left. The LAncers ensuing on-side kick attempt was unsuccessful and the Bucs took 3:06 of 3:09 off the block and turned the ball over on downs. With three seconds left, Loveless hit Metcalf at the line of scrimmage, the Bucs forced a fumble on the last ditch effort and Huffman recovered to end the game, 25-17, in favor of Maritime.
What’s Next
The Buccaneers are back home on Saturday, October, 22nd to take on West Conn at 12pm.
