Recap
Senior Michael Pina threw for 249 yards and three touchdowns in Nichols College's 24-23 overtime loss to the United States Coast Guard Academy Friday night in non-conference football action at Vendetti Field.
 
Classmate Tony Martignoli caught 10 passes for 70 yards for the Bison (1-1) while junior Joshua Pierre-Charles rushed for a game-high 64 yards and also caught a game-tying 12-yard touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter. Nichols forced a pair of turnovers on the evening as senior Jared Abbruzzese and sophomore Dylan Kehoe each intercepted Bears senior signal-caller Ryan Jones, who tossed for 211 yards and a pair of touchdowns to sophomore Damaso Jaime.
 
NC sophomore Hunter Ferreira capped a 14-play, 79-yard drive with a 28-yard touchdown pass to knot the score at seven in the first quarter. In the second, senior Alex Santiago turned a USCGA turnover into three points when he booted a 32-yard field goal 70 seconds before halftime to bring the Bison to within seven points at 17-10.
 
Nichols scored the only points of the second half midway through the fourth when Pierre-Charles polished off a seven-play, 37-yard drive with his second touchdown of the season. In overtime, junior Dominic Coppola hauled in a 23-yard scoring strike to put the Bison up 23-17 (missed PAT) before junior Jon Wagner scampered in from 20 yards out to tie the game. Senior Patrick Crowley's ensuing PAT pushed the Bears to 2-0 on the season.
 
Three things you need to know...
            -Pina has now thrown for at least three touchdowns in three of his 12 collegiate games at Nichols, including both this season.
            -Senior R.J. Robiskie racked up a game-high 10 tackles (two solo) for the Bears. Nichols was led by seniors Michael Spraulding and Chris Lawrence, and sophomore Joe Cox, with seven each.
              -Coppola's touchdown reception was the first of his career.

Quote
"Much like the first half of last week's game against Dean, we were not particularly sharp in the first half, but we managed to settled down and play some pretty good football in the second half. Unfortunately, in order to beat a team like Coast Guard, we needed to play a complete game and did not. I felt we did a lot of things right tonight that we can build on to help us have success moving forward." –Nichols head coach Dale Olmsted
 
Next game 
Saturday, September 21 @ Anna Maria, 2:00 p.m.