Box Score WESTFIELD, Mass. (Sept. 3) – The Nichols College football team opened the season at Westfield State Friday night in a New England Football Conference cross-divisional game at Alumni Field. Turnovers and penalties proved costly for the young Bison squad as the Owls converted seven turnovers into three touchdowns en route to a 43-21 victory.
Junior Sean Vaughan (Cumberland, Maine) paced the offense for Nichols, giving the Bison all of their 231 yards in the air on 18-of-41 passing. Junior receiver Reggie Belizaire (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) gave Nichols its only lead of the night early in the first quarter on a 35-yard catch, the longest amongst his five catches and 110 yards on the night.
On the ground, first year tailback Daquain Yarrell (Brockton, Mass.) led the Bison with 71 yards on 14 carries in his collegiate debut.
Despite outgaining Westfield by a 340 to 308 margin on the night and holding the Owls to just 89 on the ground, the Bison suffered setbacks of 75 yards of penalties to the Owls' 62. A fake field goal and a fake punt by the home team completed the oddities of the evening long after Nichols saw an early one-possession lead drift away as they were outscored 16-0 in the second quarter, capped by an 88-yard interception return.
Nichols pulled within striking distance midway through the third quarter, but a late score by the Owls in the third edged the home team ahead before the teams traded touchdowns in the fourth.
Senior defensive end Patrick Gregory (Webster, N.Y.) forced and recovered a fumble on the Owls' first possession to set up the Bison's first scoring drive from the Westfield 49. Belizaire's 37-yard catch came under heavy coverage in the endzone and was followed by a PAT from Bill Crory (Townsend, Mass.), who was 3-for-3 on the night.
A fumble at the Bison six yard line set up the Owls for a shot score, but it looked like the Bison were going to stall them at the one yard line at fourth and inches before a Luke Johnson rush put the Owls in to tie it up (Chris Stengel kick).
Another Nichols fumble got the Owls as close as the 14 yard line, but their field goal attempt sailed wide. Nichols brought it just past midfield before going out on downs. Stengel's next field goal attempt was good, a 17-yarder, for a 10-7 lead with 5:49 left in the half, before Dave Jolicoeur ran back a 90-yard interception return to carry a 16-7 lead into the break due to a blocked the PAT by Gregory.
Westfield used an interception on the Bison's first drive of the second half to set up a quick scoring drive, needing just a 38-yard pass to Evan Berneche to go up, 22-7, after missing the PAT.
Midway through the third, Alec Tavares (Boston, Mass.) blocked a Westfield punt at the Owls' 27 and Janear Davis (Andrews, S.C.) was there to pounce on it, returning it 10 yards to the 17. Vaughan took advantage of the setup to find Randy Hunter (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) on the next play for a touchdown, the only catch for Hunter on the night.
Nate Shea (Springfield, Mass.) recovered a fumble to set up Nichols at its own 48, but after being forced out on downs, the Owls took over for a seven play, 77-yard scoring drive. A fake field goal set up at the Nichols 16 developed into a pass out wide from Evan Berneche to Justin Erhardt and a 29-14 lead after Kennan Startzell's kick wobbled through the uprights.
Westfield ended two of Nichols' first three possessions in the fourth quarter with interceptions, converting the second into a touchdown for a 36-14 lead, but Nichols responded two possessions later with a four play, 28 yard drive spanning 27 seconds. Capped by a 28 yard pass to Mark Parker (Natick Mass.), Nichols pulled the score to 36-21 in favor of the home team.
Westfield capped the scoring with just under two minutes left on a fake punt setup from the Bison 31 that saw Jolicoeur run the ball in for his second score of the night and the 43-21 final (Startzell kick).
Tyler Dow threw for 203 yards on 13-of-27 passing for the Owls, finding Berneche five times for a game-high 166 yards and one score.
Defensively for the Bison, linebackers Michael Maselli (West Haven, Conn.) and Evan Greathead (Pepperell, Mass.) had nine and eight tackles respectively. Gregory posted six tackles, a forced fumble, a recovery and a blocked PAT.
Erhardt had 11 tackles to go with his touchdown, while Jolicoeur posted six solo stops to go with a pair of scores including the 90-yard interception return.
Nichols starts a three-game homestand on Friday, September 10th in a 7 p.m. cross-divisional game against Worcester State at Vendetti Field.
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