Box Score

DUDLEY, Mass. – Senior Brett Franciosi (Leominster, Mass.) caught seven passes for 128 yards and a touchdown in Nichols College's 28-12 loss to Coast Guard Saturday afternoon in New England Football Conference (NEFC) action at Vendetti Field.

Franciosi caught a 44-yard pass in the third quarter before hauling in a 24-yard scoring strike from junior signal caller Quillian Respass (Huntington, N.Y.) in the fourth as the Bison slipped to 1-3 on the season (0-1 NEFC) despite outgaining the Bears, 363-346. Nichols also dominated the time of possession, holding the ball for over 37 minutes, compared to 22-and-change for Coast Guard.

Respass finished his afternoon 22-of-38 for 212 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions; he also rushed for a team-high 53 yards on 17 carries. Junior Andre Rickerson (Boston, Mass.) rushed for 48 yards and one touchdown – a two-yard plunge in the third quarter that capped off a 15-play, 97-yard drive and cut the Bison's deficit to 14-6 (missed PAT). Freshman Jarvis Harris (Houston, Texas) caught a team-high eight passes.

The Bears (2-2, 1-0 NEFC) saw sophomore quarterback Derek Victory (Weston, Fla.) complete 22-of-34 for 259 yards and four touchdowns – two of which went to junior Jordan Groff (Willow Street, Pa.), who was on the receiving end of eight of those passes and two of the touchdowns. Defensively, junior Joe Rizzardi (Ashburn, Va.) led all student-athletes with 16 tackles (nine solo) to go along with an interception and a pass breakup.

Nichols junior Connor Richard (Londonderry, N.H.) and freshman Brian Camacho (Brooklyn, N.Y.) each picked off Victory once. Junior William O'Keefe (Trumbull, Conn.) paced the Bison with eight tackles (three solo) while senior Paul Craig (New London, Conn.) was one of four Nichols student-athletes to record five tackles (one tackle for loss).

The Bison held the ball for 11:51 of the first quarter but could not put any points on the board. Nichols took the opening possession and marched 56 yards in 13 plays before turning the ball over on downs at the Coast Guard 22.

The Bears broke the scoreless tie in the second quarter when senior Blake Thompson (Liberty Hill, Texas) capped a seven-play, 92-yard drive with a 27-yard touchdown pass to make it 7-0. After forcing the Bison to go three-and-out on the ensuing possession, Coast Guard moved the ball 50 yards in six plays, capped off by a 12-yard touchdown pass from Victory to sophomore Bryan Popp (Flower Mound, Texas) to double its lead.

Richard's interception set the Bison up at the Coast Guard 19 with 3:50 remaining in the first half and his team down two touchdowns. Nichols moved the ball down to the three-yard line before setting for a 20-yard field goal attempt by sophomore Grant Klimak (Toms River, N.J.), which missed wide right and closed the stanza.

Nichols forced a three-and-out following Rickerson's score in the third and took possession at the Coast Guard 48. An 11-yard hookup to freshman Mike Abruzzese (Natick, Mass.) and 10 rushing yards from Klimek helped get the Bison to the 17 before they turned the ball over on downs. The Bears answered with a 10-play, 83-yard drive that finished with a five-yard touchdown pass to Groff and pushed their lead to 21-6. Groff later caught a 54-yard touchdown pass before the Bison capped a nine-play, 57-yard drive with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Respass to close the scoring.

Nichols was 12-of-23 on third-down (52 percent) and 2-of-4 on fourth down (50 percent), but came away with points on only two of their seven possessions in plus-territory.

The Bison play at Salve Regina next Saturday at 1 p.m. Coast Guard heads to Springfield, Mass. for a 1 p.m. contest at Western New England next Saturday.