By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The standing-room only crowd of 2,541 fans packed into Swenson Field on the afternoon of Nov. 20, 1999.
For the first time in program history, the football team at Bridgewater State College (which was its name back then) had reached the NCAA Division III tournament and was putting its undefeated record on the line that Saturday before Thanksgiving Day.
The Bears, ranked in the national top 25, went against Ursinus College of Pennsylvania after rolling through a 10-0 regular season by averaging 43 points per game.
It was a quarter of a century this month when Bridgewater State received the a bid to the NCAAs as a reward for what is still arguably the program's best season ever.
"That was a great team," said current head coach Joe Verria, who was an assistant coach 25 years ago, "and to be able to host the NCAA tournament was amazing.
"That team laid the groundwork for a lot of Bridgewater teams to come."
The Bears were defeated by Ursinus, 43-38, in their NCAA tourney debut, ending their season at 10-1, the only time Bridgewater State ever cracked double figures in wins.
The Bears wound up ranked 23rd in the final national poll and earned multiple postseason awards for all that was accomplished.
Three other Bridgewater State teams -- in 2000, 2012 and 2016 -- went to the NCAAs, but the '99 team set the standard with its incredible run in which it scored at least 41 points in eight of the 10 regular-season games.
"It was just an incredible team," said Chris Carr, who was a junior wide receiver and placekicker. "It was fun to go to practice all the time. It was fun to play games.
"There were great teammates, great football players. How could you not have fun? How could it not be a great time? Those were good times."
Even now, 25 years later after that season to remember, the Bears tell all the old stories whenever they get together or are in group chats.
"It was a very special year," said running back Seto Berry, who remains Bridgewater State's all-time leading career rusher with 4,495 yards. "One of the things I'll never forgot was the camaraderie. I can't imagine a team being any closer.
"Even to this day, I've never been closer to a group of guys. I remember when my mom died in 2007, I didn't expect a lot of my college buddies to show up. I think almost the whole team showed up. We were telling stories and laughing, mostly about that year.
"So at my lowest point in my life, I was laughing about the best time of my life with them.
"When you go undefeated, it's a different feeling. Everybody's happy. If you ask anybody, they'll say it was the best athletic experience they ever had."
Bridgewater State received the New England Football Conference's first-ever automatic qualifier for the NCAA tourney, going 6-0 and clinching the berth with a Cranberry Bowl win over the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
"It just happened to be that year it opened up and it happened to be our best year,'' said Berry, who teaches in Plymouth. "The stars lined up perfectly."
The Bears were rarely challenged in the regular season, beating nine of 10 teams by 11 points or more with only UMass Dartmouth being a one-score decision (31-24).
The tone was set with a season-opening victory on the road over New England power Springfield College, 36-29. Springfield had dismantled the Bears the year before, 64-21, at Swenson Field.
Bridgewater State finished fourth nationally in the regular season with 43 points per game and was seventh with 275.1 rushing yards.
Quarterback Dan Maurer was fifth in the country with a 165.7 passing rating and threw for 1,672 yards and a school-record 27 touchdowns.
Berry ran for 1,286 yards and 16 touchdowns, Andy Macaione had 15 TD receptions and 969 receiving yards and Carr made a school-record 54 point-after conversion kicks.
The Bears still hold school records for points (468), points per game (42.5), total yards (4,958) and are second in total yards per game (450.7).
The defense was led by players like Christos Arsoniadis, who won the Joe Zabilski Award for being the top defender in the region, and Rich Cawley, who had eight interceptions, including a school record-tying four against UMass Dartmouth, and was a Division 3 All-America second team pick.
Pete Mazzaferro was named the Gridiron Club New England Divisions 2-3 Coach of the Year and the American Football Coaches Division 3 Region One Coach of the Year.
Maurer was the NEFC Offensive Player of the Year and Berry received honorable mention on the Football Gazette Division 3 All-America team as well as All-East Region honors.
Bridgewater State had an incredible offense that featured Maurer at the helm, Berry and Jason Imlach in the backfield, Macaione and Carr forming perhaps Bridgewater State's best one-two punch at receiver, and Dan O'Brien a solid option at tight end.
"It was unbelievable,'' said Carr. "The offensive line was unbelievable, the quarterbacks and running backs were unbelievable. Everywhere you looked, you had weapons.''
Said Berry: "We had two really good receivers and a really good tight end in Dan O'Brien. The reason we scored so many points was if someone keyed on the run, we could throw. If someone keyed on the pass, we could run. I don't remember playing in many fourth quarters that year.''
Said Verria, whose defense had to deal with the offense in practice: "They were awesome. Going against them in practice was something.''
In the NCAA tourney game, the Bears fell behind, 21-7, in the first quarter with Macaione catching a 57-yard TD pass from Maurer for their only score.
Maurer opened the second quarter with TD passes of 5 yards to Tim O'Shea and 88 yards to Macaione to cut the deficit to 21-20. Maurer then ran 25 yards for a TD to give the Bears their first lead, 26-20.
But Ursinus went up, 29-26, before halftime on a TD pass and two-point conversion before Imlach put the Bears back up, 32-29, with a 7-yard run for the lone score of the third quarter.
Ursinus scored twice in the fourth quarter on a 15-yard pass and 1-yard run for a 43-32 lead, and Carr scored the final TD of the season late on a 12-yard pass from Maurer. The Bears attempted an onside kick but could not recover.
Ursinus won despite throwing five interceptions as it ran for 308 yards and passed for 275 while Bridgewater State's ground game was limited to 132 yards on 39 attempts.
For Ursinus, that was the program's last trip to the NCAAs until this past Saturday when it lost to King's College, 32-29, a quarter of a century later.
"They decided to shut down the run," said Berry. "It was frustrating. They did their homework. We had to beat them with the pass and we did all right but they were tough.
They were a good team, but I don't think we played our best. I think we could have played better in that game."
Still, the Bears had one amazing season with a 10-1 record still ranking first in the record book and a spot in the national top 25 proof of how great a team they were.
Bridgewater State went back to the NCAAs a year later after going 8-2 but lost on the road to Hobart, 25-0.
The first trip 25 years ago with a large crowd at home was the most memorable one.
"It was our first opportunity and it was a great experience for everybody," said Verria. "It gave us a taste of what the NCAA was about. That team put Bridgewater on the map."
Said Berry: "It was a big deal. That was huge for the program. I felt like we were taking the next step with the program. We hadn't been undefeated, we were a first-time qualifier for the NCAA. All year long, we were in the rankings. They had other good teams, but no one had gone to the NCAA."
It is hard to argue against the 1999 team ranking as the best in program history.
"We always say that was the best team that ever went through Bridgewater,'' said Carr. "Some of us went to the (football program's alumni) golf tournamnet and some younger kids were saying, 'We were better.'
"I'm like, 'We went 10-0, scored an outrageous amount of points. All the backs and receivers were in the top 10 scorers in the league. It was well rounded. It was just unreal."