Box Score WORCESTER, Mass. (Sept. 15) – The Nichols College football team fell to Worcester State, 49-3, in a cross-divisional New England Football Conference matchup Thursday night at Coughlin Field. The Thursday night tilt marked the first in the Bison's 79-year program history, and also the first for the Lancers.

The Bison (0-3) received their points in the second quarter courtesy of senior kicker Bill Crory, who kicked his third field goal in two games. Worcester State (3-0) runs its win streak to three games.

Lancers' QB Tony Tokarz accounted for three touchdowns, completing 10 of 19 passes for 176 yards with one interception. His main target, senior WR AJ Scerra made five catches for 134 yards, scoring twice. Marcus Price bolstered WSU's attack with 129 yards on the ground and two rushing touchdowns.

Worcester State got on the board right away, using a 62-yard pass up the middle from Tokarz to Scerra on the Lancers' first play from scrimmage to set the tone and give the home team a 7-0 lead just 18 seconds into the game.

Midway through the quarter, a roughing the passer call on the Bison on 3rd and 18 from the 22 moved the Lancers  all the way up to the 11 where Marcus Price finished the drive with rushes of five and six yards to give Worcester State a two-possession advantage, 14-0.

Mike Rubalcaba forced a fumble at the Worcester 37 where Peter Curto picked it up and returned it three yards to give the Bison good field position to start their drive. Two plays later, however, Andrew Tokarz picked off  Nichols QB Jacob Shoup, setting up a seven-play, 58-yard scoring drive capped by Price's second score of the night, a four yard push with 30 seconds left in the quarter.

Dan Snyder took over the throwing duties for the Bison in the second quarter, sparking Nichols to its first scoring drive of the game. Bill Crory capped a nine-play, 43-yard drive with a 25-yard field goal, his third of the year, to make it 21-3. Snyder finished the night 7-of-14 passing with one interception.

After the Lancers turned the ball over on downs, the Bison drove 23 yards on five plays to set up Crory for a 35-yard attempt, but this time it veered wide right.

Worcester was forced to punt on their next possession despite 22 yards rushing from Price, but recovered the fumbled punt return at the Bison's 17. Joe Lambert quieted the Lancers with an endzone pick, the first of his career.

Scerra capped the first-half scoring with a 22-yard hookup from Tokarz with 1:50 remaining on the clock for a 28-3 lead at the break.

Kenny Russell got in on the scoring action in the third quarter, connecting with Tokarz for a 22-yard chute that capped a clock-eating 12-play, 96-yard drive spanning 5:56 on the Lancers' first possession.

Richie Dube corralled a Nordbeck's 56-yard punt and returned it 43 yards to the Bison 32 yard line to set up another clock-eating drive for the home team, this time capped by a Tekena Omoegbekuse two-yard plunge to make it 42-3 in favor of the Lancers.

Dube came up with another big punt return, racing a Nordbeck boot 63 yards back for the Lancers' final touchdown, finishing the night's scoring with 4:43 left in the game.

Peter Curto and Mike Rubalcaba each posted eight tackles for the Bison, with Rubalcaba forcing a fumble and Curto recovering his second of the season. Joe Lambert played a solid coverage game with back-to-back endzone pass breakups and an interception.

For the Lancers, PJ Robinson and Tyler Asam each had six tackles, while Asam logged 1.5 of WSU's five sacks in the game.

Worcester State limited the Bison to 174 yards of offense while racking up 411. Neither team was playing an airborne game, as they combined for 18 pass completions and 341 rushing yards on 88 attempts.

Nichols wraps up its three-game road trip on Saturday, September 24th at 1 p.m. in its NEFC Boyd Division opener at Western New England University. Worcester State starts Bogan Division action September 24th with a 1 p.m. game at Westfield State.

Box Score