DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The Worcester State Lancers football team earned their first victory of the 2015 season in a 45-32 game over the UMass Dartmouth Corsairs Friday night at Cressy Field, as they had a strong first half and held their lead throughout the entirety of the game to seal the win.
With the win the Lancers are now 1-5 (1-3 MASCAC), while the Corsairs drop to 3-4 (2-3 MASCAC) on the season.
Lancers senior quarterback, Trevor Vasey (Cumberland, R.I.) piloted the Worcester State offensive attack, totaling 316 yards on the game and went 20-33 in completions. Vasey also marked his 11th touchdown of the season.
Senior Kemani Jones (Milton, Mass.) led the team with three touchdowns on the night while totaling 116 rushing yards and seven receiving yards. Senior running back, Dana Valentine (Roxbury, Mass.) and junior wide receiver Derek Moore (Mendon, Mass.) had the team's two additional touchdowns. Valentine totaled 34 yards rushing, and Moore was second on the team in receiving yards with 93, including a 60-yard touchdown. Junior Arron Witkus (Chelmsford, Mass.) was the prime receiver as hauled nine passes for 123 yards on the night, including a 40-yard completion.
The Lancers' freshman kicker, Noah Hwang (Brooklyn, NY) totaled nine points on the night and had a perfect kicking percentage as he went 1/1 on field goal attempts, and went 6/6 in extra points.
The Lancers defense forced seven Corsair turnovers, leading to 17 points. Junior Carrick Driscoll (East Longmeadow, Mass.) was the catalyst, registering 10 tackles (six solo), an interception, a forced fumble, a sack, and two QB hurries. Junior Shane Gleim (North Grosvenordale, Conn.) posted eight stops, two fumble recoveries including a 51-yard TD return, and a forced fumble. Sophomore Dan Orlando (Westboro, Mass.) tallied a pair of interceptions.
The Lancers got up on the scoreboard just three minutes into the game, as Moore received a 60-yard pass from Vasey to complete the touchdown. Hwang put up his first point of the night to give the Lancers the 7-0 lead to start the game out.
The Corsairs eventually got on the scoreboard with 7:48 to go in the first half on a 37-yard pass from junior quarterback Cory Burnham (Essex, Mass.) to junior Jakarrie Washington (Everett, Mass.) to score their first touchdown of the night, but still were behind as the Lancers had already upped their score to 14.
The first quarter was the Lancers quarter, as Jones recorded two additional touchdowns in the first quarter, eventually leading to a 35-7 figure going into the second quarter.
The Blue and Gold ran the score up once again in the second, taking a 31 point advantage on UMass Dartmouth from another touchdown by Jones and a 25-yard field goal by Hwang. The Corsairs got lucky right before the second half and had a 13-yard run for their second touchdown at the night, leaving the score at 38-13 at the half.
The second half was catch-up time for the Corsairs as they completed three touchdowns, and the Lancers only scored one on a 1-yard run by Valentine.
With the tight score with 3:16 left remaining in the final quarter (45-32), the Corsairs had the ball in their hands but were unable to complete a pass, leading into Worcester State's last drive of the game. The Lancers had possession of the ball with 2:35 left, and were able to keep it for the remainder of the game to seal the first win of the season.
Next weekend the Lancers will be back on their home field as they will take on Western Connecticut State University at 2:00 p.m. for the Worcester State Homecoming game.
Portions of this Release Courtesy of UMass Dartmouth Sports Information