NEWPORT, R.I. - Sophomore Jessy Resende (Brockton, Mass.) rushed for 81 yards and a pair of touchdowns to lead Bridgewater State College to a 42-18 win over Salve Regina University in New England Football Conference action Saturday afternoon at Toppa Field.
The Bears (1-2, 1-1 NEFC) rushed for 327 yards and five touchdowns on the afternoon, capitalizing on three Salve Regina turnovers. Senior Bruce Burley (Mansfield, Mass.) led BSC with 84 yards and a touchdown while junior Jeff Creedon (Mansfield, Mass.) piled up 65 yards and a score and senior Tyler D'Ambra (Mansfield, Mass.) tallied 60 yards and a touchdown.
Seahawks junior quarterback and reigning NEFC and ECAC Player of the Week Jeff St. Onge (Kingston, N.H.) struggled to find both protection and open receivers all afternoon, finishing 14-of-26 for 108 yards and an interception. As a result, he found himself scrambling most of the afternoon and finished with 78 yards on the ground and a touchdown.
The Seahawk defense sparked the team early as senior captain Jon Alvarez (Oneonta, N.Y.) recovered a fumble by Creedon at the Salve six-yard line, but St. Onge was sacked on third-and-six and fumbled into the endzone. Junior Sean Larkin (Pembroke, Mass.) recovered the miscue and the Bears had an early 7-0 lead with 9:12 left in the opening stanza.
After the next two Seahawks drives resulted in a punt, Resende broke off a 39-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage to push the BSC lead to 14-0 with 1:22 remaining in the first quarter. The Seahawks fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, and four plays later, Burley rushed in from three yards out to make it 21-0 on the first play of the second quarter.
St. Onge helped the Seahawks put a crooked number on the board on their next possession as he accounted for 36 of the 69 yards using his legs, the last eight of which carried him to the endzone, making it 21-6 (missed PAT) with 10:27 remaining in the half.
Bridgewater State answered with a six-play, 44-yard drive that D'Ambra polished off with a one-yard touchdown run at 6:54 that made it 28-6. Salve capped the first-half scoring with a one-yard touchdown run by junior Matt Wierzbicki (Wethersfield, Conn.) that made it 28-12 entering the half (failed two-point conversion) with 32 ticks left before halftime.
In the second half, Creedon's four-yard touchdown run at 5:59 of the third gave the Bears a 35-12 lead, and a 20-yard run from Resende early in the fourth pushed the lead to 42-18. Salve freshman Anthony DePaolo (Southington, Conn.) blocked a BSC punt and classmate Matt Peterson (Bristol, Conn.) collected the ball in the endzone for the third and final Seahawk touchdown on the afternoon with 3:47 remaining.
Junior Ben Hall (Conway, N.H.) caught six passes for a game-high 45 receiving yards for the Seahawks, who compiled just 241 yards of total offense. Wierzbicki finished with 26 yards on nine carries to lead the Salve running backs. Defensively, junior Nolan McGarrity (Verona, N.J.) recorded a game-high 17 tackles (eight solo) and had one of six Seahawk sacks. The Bears, meanwhile, sacked St. Onge twice.
The Seahawks return to action next Saturday when they travel to Endicott for a 1 p.m. contest.