By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University football team marked Homecoming Weekend by extending a pair of winning streaks.
The Bears stayed on top of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference standings with a 21-0 victory over Westfield State University at Peter Mazzaferro Field Saturday.
Bridgewater State has won five straight games and has defeated Westfield State 11 games in a row.
The Bears (5-2) own a 5-0 MASCAC record with three games remaining, putting them ahead of Western Connecticut State and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, who are both 5-1 in the conference.
Bridgewater State hosts UMass Dartmouth on Saturday at noon in the final home game of the season.
The win over Westfield State (1-6, 1-4) came on a rainy day that limited both teams offensively. BSU was limited to 170 yards of total offense while the Owls had 208 yards. Despite having more than a 20 minute advantage in time off possession (40:11 to 19:49) Westfield failed to to put any points on the board.
"Tough conditions, low scoring. We struggled a little bit here and there,'' said BSU coach Joe Verria. "But the kids persevered. They worked hard all week getting ready for this game.
"We had a bye week before this, so we hadn't played in a couple of weeks. You could see a little rust there, but no excuses. The kids played hard.''
BSU, which recorded its first shutout of the season, opened a 14-0 halftime lead and rode the defense to the win.
Westfield State, coming off an overtime loss to UMass Dartmouth, lost three of its six fumbles and was intercepted twice.
"The defense played well,'' said Verria. "The defense has gotten better and better every week and hopefully we haven't peaked yet.''
Said Bears graduate student running back Adam Couch (Winchendon, Mass.): "Always got to be proud of the defense. They ball out every week. They gave us at least three or four turnovers. Our defense played their hearts out.''
Couch led the BSU offense by rushing for 117 yards on 16 carries and scoring a touchdown.
The passing game was limited to 62 yards due to the weather with senior quarterback James Cahoon (Buzzards Bay, Mass.) going just 6 for 24 and he was sacked twice.
Westfield State was led by junior running back Jordan Smith (Coventry, Conn.), who rushed for 164 yards on 40 carries.
Owls senior quarterback Gabriel Fernandez (Holyoke, Mass.) was 8 for 23 for 69 yards.
"Conditions definitely played a part today for sure,'' said Couch. "It was hard to get the ball out of James' hands and catching was another thing. It was just too slippery. But we pushed through, decided to keep the ball on the ground for the most part.''
Bridgewater State took advantage of two first-half miscues early in each of the two opening quarters to grab the 14-0 halftime lead.
After Westfield State was pinned deep in its own end following the opening kickoff, the Owls fumbled the snap on a punt attempt, and recovered at the 2-yard line by senior Greg Demetri (North Reading, Mass.).
Two plays later, Cahoon opened the scoring with a 1-yard run with 12:55 to go in the first quarter. Sophomore Joey Naso (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) made it 7-0 with the point after kick.
The Bears extended the lead to 14-0 with 10:38 remaining in the half as junior running back Mack Driver (Mastic Beach, N.Y.) took a direct snap and scored on a 6-yard run. Naso converted the kick.
Bridgewater State was set up by an interception by senior linebacker Brendan Albert (Canton, Mass.), who picked off a Fernandez pass at the Owls' 17 and returned it to the 6-yard line. Mack scored on a second down run.
The Bears had two interceptions and recovered two Westfield State fumbles in the first half.
The Owls' best scoring chance of the half came when they drove to the BSU 20, but a 37-yard field goal try by freshman Cooper Harvey (Niskayuna, N.Y.) hit the upright with 4:27 left in the first quarter.
Bridgewater State went up, 21-0, with 8:59 to go in the third quarter when Couch scored on a 1-yard run to cap a nine-play, 45-yard drive.
The Bears kept that scoring march alive by twice converting on third down.
On third and 16, Cahoon connected with sophomore wide receiver Ryan Coonan (Worcester, Mass.) for 27 yards to the Westfield State 24. Then, facing a third and 10, Couch turned a reception from Cahoon into a 17-yard gain, moving the ball to the 7.
The Owls put together an 18-play drive that covered 9:03, starting at their own 25 in the third quarter. But after getting to the BSU 8, the drive stalled on a fourth-down incompletion in the end zone early in the fourth quarter.
Westfield State threatened to ruin the shutout in the final minute of the game after driving from its own 22 to the Bears 5.
But on third and 1, graduate linebacker Quinton Browder (Mansfield, Texas) forced a Smith fumble that went out of the end zone with 45 seconds remaining, and the Bears took over and ran out the clock.
After dropping two non-conference games to start the season, the Bears head to the final three games against UMass Dartmouth, Framingham State and Mass. Maritime Academy on top of the MASCAC.
"We started the season off slow, then little by little, every week we've gotten better and better and better,'' said Verria. "We're in the best position we could be in right now going into next week.''
Said Couch: "It looks like we're improving week to week. Right now we've got tunnel vision on just winning the conference and keeping this win streak going.''
BEAR NOTES: Junior defensive back Matthew Mammone (Dedham, Mass.) and Browder had seven tackles each for BSU...The Bears had 10 tackles for a loss of 31 yards with sophomore linebacker Victor Martinez (Haverhill, Mass.) getting three of them...Junior safety Zachary Souza (Tyngsboro, Mass.) joined Albert in recording an interception...Couch moved into sixth place on the Bears' all-time rushing list as he now has 2,549 yards in his career...Naso has converted 28 consecutive point after tries...BSU's all-time leading rusher, Seto Berry, was honored at halftime for being inducted into the MASCAC Hall of Fame this year. Berry, who played from 1997-2000, holds school records with 4,495 rushing yards and 44 rushing TDs.