NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. -- The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's football team scored three times in the first 14 minutes, opened up a 21-7 lead, and held off a late rally to defeat visiting Salve Regina, 41-33, in a New England Football Conference Boyd Division game on Homecoming Day at Cressy Field Saturday.
The Corsairs got going after the first three possessions of the game resulted in turnovers, driving 70 yards in nine plays after an interception by freshman defensive back Alvin Morris (Dorchester, MA/West Roxbury HS) and scoring on a nine-yard run by senior quarterback Alex Garro (Mattapoisett, MA/Old Rochester Regional HS). George Vasiliadis' (Worcester, MA/St. Peter-Marian HS) extra point made it 7-0.
Senior running back J.T. Harold (North Andover, MA/ Austin Prep HS) dashed 83 yards for a touchdown on the second play of UMass Dartmouth's next possession. Rob LaRiviere-Tougas raced 70 yards from scrimmage to put the Seahawks on the board, but Garro connected with senior wide receiver John Henry (Tenafly, NJ/Tenafly HS) with 1:39 left in the first quarter to make it 21-7 after the first 15 minutes.
Nolan McGarrity recovered a Harold fumble at the Corsair 39 yard line with 4:44 remaining in the first half. SRU drove to the end zone in nine plays, with LaRiviere-Tougas going the final yard with 13 seconds left in the half to make it 21-13 at the intermission after the extra point was missed.
Morris returned his second interception of the game 33 yards for a touchdown midway through the third quarter to make it 28-13, UMD. A 42-yard pass from SRU quarterback Jeff St. Onge to Ben Hall keyed a five-play, 70-yard drive that LaRiviere-Tougas capped with a four-yard run to cut the lead to 28-19 less than two minutes later after a two-point conversion pass failed. But UMass Dartmouth came right back, scoring on a 53-yard pass from Garro to Henry to make it 35-19 with 1:45 remaining in the third quarter.
Freshman defensive back Darrien Furr (Taunton, MA/Taunton HS) picked off a pass by St. Onge and returned it to the Salve Regina 29 less than five minutes into the fourth quarter. The Corsairs drove all the way in seven plays; with senior fullback Aaron Russo (Johnston, RI/Johnston HS) scoring from two yards out with 7:22 remaining to make it 41-19 after Vasiliadis' kick was blocked.
SRU then went 64 yards in seven plays to score on a 22-yard run by LaRiviere-Tougas with 4:18 remaining. The two-point conversion failed, and Jeff Bartek's short kickoff was returned to the Seahawk 45-yard line. The Corsairs were held, and Vasiliadis' punt left SRU at their 13-yard line with 1:52 left. But St. Onge hit Michael Dargan for 46 yards and Jason Giordano for 21 more, setting up his own 14-yard scoring run with 29 seconds left. A reverse to Giordano for a successful two-point conversion cut the margin to 41-33. But Carlos Santos' on-side kick was recovered by Corsair junior wide receiver Marc Fiore (Wakefield, MA/Wakefield HS) at the Seahawk 41, and UMass Dartmouth ran out the clock.
"I was very happy with the win, we really needed to bounce back after we lost last week," said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach Mark Robichaud. "Even though it ended up as an eight point game, I felt that we were always in control. We worked on some things on our pass protection, and Alex had his best game passing all season. He's been getting better each game, and we were able to mix things up more on offense. John Henry had a great game, our defense played well, and Alvin Morris made some big plays."
Garro completed nine of 16 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns, both to Henry, who caught five passes for 114 yards. Senior running back J.T. Harold (North Andover, MA/Austin Prep) rushed 19 times for 155 yards, caught a screen pass from Garro for 35 yards, and returned a kickoff for 14 yards. LaRiviere-Tougas rushed 24 times for 167 yards for the Seahawks and scored four touchdowns, St. Onge completed 12 of 22 passes for 181 yards, and Giordano caught four passes for 67 yards.
Defensively, senior linebacker John Waldron (Lynn, MA/Lynn Classical HS) had 11 tackles for the Corsairs, including six solo stops. He also had half a tackle for lost yardage and recovered a fumble. Morris broke up two passes and picked off two, returning one for a touchdown. McGarrity had 14 tackles for SRU, including four solos. He forced a fumble, and recovered two.
The Corsairs improved to 4-3 and 2-2 in the Boyd Division with the victory, while the Seahawks dropped to 3-3 and 2-2 with the defeat. UMass Dartmouth will return to action when they visit Nichols next Saturday. SRU will host MIT next Saturday in their final home game of the season.
-- COURTESY UMASS-DARTMOUTH SPORTS-INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
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