KINGS POINT, N.Y. (9/12/2026) – The Nichols College football team ran into a dominant rushing attack on Saturday afternoon, falling 63-14 to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) at Brooks Stadium in their first road test of the season.
Nichols drops to 0-2 overall with the loss, while USMMA improves to 2-0 with the triumph.
Merchant Marine jumped out to a fast start, built a 35-6 lead by halftime, and never looked back. The Mariners struck first with back-to-back rushing touchdowns from Bubba Mustain, but saw a quick Nichols response with an impressive 12-play, 75-yard drive capped by a nine-yard touchdown pass from
Will Migliaccio to
Skyler Burgess, cutting the deficit to 14-6.
However, USMMA broke the game open with 21 unanswered points in the second frame, scoring runs by H. Garrido and two more short-distance plunges from Mustain to extend their lead to 29 points going into the locker room.
After the halftime break, Mustain opened the second half with an explosive 59-yard touchdown run on the very first play from scrimmage. The Mariners continued to add on another six-yard rushing touchdown later in the frame, pushing their lead to 49-6.
After another USMMA touchdown by Jake Kenney, Nichols put together a resilient 14-play, 70-yard drive that ate nearly nine minutes off the clock in the final period.
Ricardo Navedo punched it in from one yard out, and Migliaccio converted the two-point pass to
Kahlil Talley. USMMA capped off the scoring with a late seven-yard run by Cooper Wolocko, finalizing the 63-14 score.
The Mariners outgained the Bison in total offense 501 yards to 203, driven almost entirely by their ground game. USMMA accumulated 435 rushing yards on 45 attempts, averaging an astonishing 9.7 yards per carry and scoring nine touchdowns on the ground. Migliaccio finished the day going 15-of-25 on passes for 141 yards and one touchdown, while Navedo led the backfield workload with 14 carries for 40 yards and a rushing touchdown.
Jonathan Ferrara paced the Bison defense with seven total tackles, including six solo efforts.
Football will host United States Coast Guard Academy for their Homecoming Weekend game at Michael J. Vendetti Field on Saturday, September 19
th at 1:00 PM.
