MILTON, Mass. – The Curry College football team lost a 42-28 decision to Western New England University on Saturday afternoon in a battle of two teams undefeated in CCC Football action. The win moves the Golden Bears to 7-2 overall and 4-0 in conference play. The Colonels fall to 7-2 overall and 3-1 in league play. Prior to the contest, Curry honored their 14 senior football players in addition to three senior cheerleaders in a special Senior Day ceremony.
The Colonels struck first on the afternoon as senior captain Alex Corvese (Cranston, R.I.) engineered a nine-play, 73-yard drive in 4:19. The fifth play of the series was a 21 yard rush by Corvese set up Curry at Golden Bear 41. Following two rushes by D'Aundray Burcy (Hyde Park, Mass.), and a 24 yard reception by Mike DelGais (East Rockaway, N.Y.), Corvese would find the end zone from seven yards out on a rushing attempt. Marc Mrozek (Stratford, Conn.) split the uprights on the extra point opportunity to give the Colonels a 7-0 advantage.
Curry held the lead until there was 14:52 left in the second quarter. Western New England quarterback Anthony Service (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) found Justin Townsend (Stratford, Conn.) on a 15-yard completion to trim the deficit to 7-6 to cap a nine-play 62-yard drive. Valentin Wagner (Saint Aubin De Medoc, France) converted the PAT to knot the game at seven.
Following a three-and-out by Curry, the Golden Bears got the ball back and went 89 yards in 12 plays. A heavy dose of the rushing game from Peter Hoff (Shelton, Conn.) and Dante Aiken (Brooklyn, N.Y.) put the Golden Bears at the Curry four-yard line. After an offside penalty, Aiken broke the plane from four yards out to go up 13-7. Wagner knocked through the point after to make the score 14-7.
The Colonels answered back quickly to knot the game at 14. Following a 33-yard return from Burcy and a personal foul penalty, Curry set up shop at the Western New England 47 yard line. After two rushes, one apiece from Corvese for 11 yards and Sean Amaru (Westwood, Mass.) for four yards, Corvese would connect with Nick Villanueva (Hanson, Mass.) from 32 yards out. The touchdown pass finalized a three-play, 47-yard in 2:02. Mrozek converted the extra point opportunity following the touchdown.
Western New England had the answer for the Colonels touchdown as they embarked on a seven-play, 62-yard drive. The ground game was a major factor once again in this series, set up by rushes of 11 and 28 yards by Hoff and Aiken, respectively. With the ball at the Curry four-yard line, Aiken scored his second touchdown of the day to give the Golden Bears a 20-14 lead. Wagner knocked through the point after to increase the lead to 21-14.
The Colonels went three-and-out on their next series and would turn possession over to Western New England via a Mrozek punt. Starting at their 30-yard line, the Golden Bears went 70 yards in nine plays, capped off by a two-yard rush from Hoff to put the visitors up 27-14. They would double up Curry with the successful extra point try from Wagner to push the score to 28-14 heading into the half.
The Colonels began to chip away at the deficit when they came out of the intermission. Amaru started the half on the right foot, returning the opening kickoff 41 yards to the Western New England 39. After two rushes by Corvese for a total of 30 yards, he would find Villanueva from 10 yards out to go cut the deficit to eight. Following the good extra point opportunity, the contest was a one score game, 28-21.
The teams traded touchdowns on the next three possessions as that would be the rest of the contest's scoring. The Golden Bears closed an eight-play 54-yard series when Aiken found the promise land once more from nine yards out for his third touchdown on the afternoon.
Curry came right back and went on an eight-play, 75-yard drive capped off by a 15-yard touchdown connection from Corvese to Philip Lebel (Wolcott, Conn.). The Mrozek point after was good and the score would be 35-28 with 5:28 left in the third.
The final scoring drive came after Western New England went 75 yards in eight plays, finished off by the fourth touchdown for Aiken, this time from four yards out to put the score to 42-28 after the extra point opportunity from Wagner.
Curry would have three more possessions but all of them were halted by Corvese interceptions as the game would end in a 42-28 final.
The Colonels offense was led by Corvese, who went 23-of-34 for 2227 yards through the air, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Corvese also paced the Curry backfield with 94 yards on 11 rushing attempts and one score. Villanueva led all Colonel receivers with 77 yards on four catches and two touchdowns. On the defensive side, Curry was led by Marcus Greenidge (Flushing, N.Y.), who made 12 tackles (seven solo, five assisted) and Joe Surace (West Islip, N.Y.), who finished with 10 tackles (four solo, six assists).
For Western New England, Service completed 15-of-22 attempts for 196 yards and one touchdown. Aiken led the charge on the ground, rushing 28 times for 152 yards and four touchdowns. Dietrich was the leading receiver, hauling in four catches for 84 yards. Mike Chirco (Weedsport, N.Y.) registered nine tackles (six solo, three assisted) to lead the way for the Golden Bears.
Curry will close out the regular season on Saturday, Oct. 11 when they travel to Salve Regina for a 12:00 p.m. CCC Football contest. Western New England returns to action when they host Nichols on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.