MILTON, Mass. - The Curry College football team fell 35-20 to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in its season opener on Friday evening in non-conference action at Walter M. Katz Field.
With the loss, Curry begins its season with a record of 0-1, while MIT improves to 1-0.
Curry opened the scoring midway through the opening quarter, thanks in part to great field position set up by a blocked punt by junior Michael Sims (Baltic, Conn.). The block set up the Colonels on MIT's 20-yard line, and they would need just two plays before graduate quarterback Justin Mullaney (Danvers, Mass.) found Gabe DeSouza (Everett, Mass.) in the end zone from five yards out for the first score of the season. The extra point attempt was blocked, and Curry held the early 6-0 lead.
The Engineers scored three straight times in the first half to jump ahead by a margin of 21-6, but Curry scored late in the second quarter to cut the deficit down to one possession headed to the locker room. The Colonels capped a nine-play, 72-yard drive with another Mullaney-to-DeSouza connection, this time from 31 yards out, pushing the score to 21-13 with 1:23 left in the half.
MIT scored the only touchdown of the third quarter and again just 38 seconds into the fourth to take a commanding 35-13 advantage, but Curry battled right down to the final whistle. At the end of a 12-play drive that sucked eight minutes off the clock, junior Bailey Smith (Wilmington, Mass.) forced and recovered a fumble, running it back 87 yards before being dragged down just three yards shy of the end zone. On fourth-and-goal just moments later, Mullaney found senior Maxx Bell (Auburn, Maine) cutting across the middle for his first touchdown of the season with just 15 seconds remaining, giving the game its final score of 35-20.
Mullaney finished the evening completing 14 of his 29 passes for 132 yards and three touchdowns. DeSouza and Bell each caught five passes to pace the Colonels, totalling 76 and 24 yards respectively.
Defensively, Sims led all players with 15 tackles, including eight of the solo variety, and the one blocked punt. Senior Tahg Coakley (Danvers, Mass.) notched 11 tackles, with one tackle for loss and one forced fumble, while Smith finished with 10 tackles and a tackle for loss to go along with the long fumble return.
Overall, MIT outgained Curry by a margin of 268-186. MIT controlled the rushing game, outgaining Curry 228-54 on the ground, and rushing the ball on nearly 87 percent of all snaps.
Next up for the Colonels, they will continue their non-league slate with their first road contest of the 2022 season at Coast Guard next Saturday. Kick-off from New London, Connecticut is slated for 1:30 p.m.
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