MILTON, Mass. – The Curry College football team held off a late surge from Dean College as they defeated the Bulldogs 44-41 on Friday night at Walter M. Katz Field. The Colonels move to 1-0 on the season while Dean slips to 0-1.
Dean opened the scoring when Nicholas Cade (Carrollton, Ga.) blocked a punt from freshman Geoffrey Wilson (North Attleboro, Mass.) at the Curry 40 yard line. After the ball bounced around, David Marino Silver (Tampa, Fla.) scooped it up around the 16 yard line and took it to the house to go up 6-0. Colby Moore (Ashland, N.H.) converted the point after to push the score to 7-0 with 12:25 to go in the first quarter.
Later in the first stanza, the Bulldogs moved the ball down deep into Colonel territory at the six yard line but Marcus Greenidge (Flushing, N.Y.) picked up a fumble from Terrell Watts (New Haven, Conn.) and scored for a 94 yard return for a touchdown. Nick Oliveira (East Providence, R.I.) split the uprights for the point after to knot the game at seven.
Curry was the next team to score as Oliveira converted a 28 yard field goal to put the Colonels up 10-7 with 8:46 remaining in the second quarter. The home squad tacked on their first offensive touchdown of the season as junior quarterback Nick Juvelier (Centereach, N.Y.) connected with Steven Elice (Stoughton, Mass.) from two yards go up 16-7 with 25 ticks to go in the opening half. Oliveira converted the extra point to give the Colonels a 10-point advantage.
The scoring was not complete in the first half as Dean returned the kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown. The ensuing extra point was blocked as the score remained 17-13.
The Bulldogs started the scoring in the second half with a 75 yard touchdown pass from Watts to Julian Burris (Marietta, Ga.). to push the score to 19-13. The two point conversion was not converted as the lead stayed at six with 5:57 left in the third quarter.
Curry wasted little time in answering the touchdown drive with one of their own. Juvelier scrambled in from six yards out to reclaim the lead, 23-19. With a four point advantage, the Colonels attempted a two point conversion, which was not converted.
Curry started the scoring in the fourth quarter with a one-yard touchdown run from Juvelier. With the extra point conversion, the Colonels would go up, 30-19 with 14:41 left in the final stanza.
Curry then scored a defensive touchdown when Davante' Thomas (Norwalk, Conn.) intercepted a pass from Watts at the Dean 40 yard line and returned it to the house to make the score, 36-19. The point after conversion from Oliveira made the score 37-19.
The Bulldogs had a late comeback which started with a 20 yard touchdown pass from Watts to Burris. The two point conversion was good to cut the deficit to 10, 37-27 with 11:47 left in regulation.
The Colonels answered the touchdown drive with one of their own as Zach Levy (Bellingham, Mass.) capped it off with a run from nine yards out to increase the lead to 17, 44-27.
Two late touchdowns trimmed the lead to 44-41 and Dean's last chance came down to an onside kick, which was recovered by the Colonels and Curry was able to run out the clock to preserve the victory, 44-41.
Curry will return to action on Friday, September 7 at home against M.I.T.
