Falcons Fall to Corsairs in Season Finale

 Falcons Fall to Corsairs in Season Finale

Fitchburg, Mass. – The Fitchburg State University football team dropped a 38-0 decision to the Corsairs of UMass Dartmouth in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action on Saturday afternoon at Elliot Field.

 Prior to the contest, the Fitchburg State University football team honored eight seniors playing in their final regular season. The seniors are #1 Jevon Brown-Simpson (Lynn, Mass.), #4 Jesse Lastra (Fort Myers, Fla.), #5 David Dezeme (Fort Myers, Fla.), #6 Dylan Woods (Townsend, Mass.), #8 Devin Summiel (Tewksbury, Mass.), #37 James Droney (Suffield, Conn), #85 Jonathan Charles (Stoughton, Mass.), and #98 Marquise Frazier (Providence, R.I.).

The Basics

Score: Fitchburg State University 0, UMass Dartmouth 38
Records: Fitchburg State University (3-7, 2-6 MASCAC) | UMass Dartmouth (4-6, 4-4 MASCAC)

How It Happened

The Corssairs quickly found the endzone, pushing a pair of touchdowns across in the first five minutes of the game. Senior running back Michael Slaughter (Springfield, Mass.) broke through the Falcons defense for a 22-yard scamper followed by a Jace Pena (East Providence, RI) 56-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Leroy Brown (Milton, Mass.) on the UMass Dartmouth next possession for a 14-0 lead.

Junior Abbi Bamgbose (Worcester, Mass.) corralled the next two scores for UMass Dartmouth. Pena found Bamgbose for a 6-yard score with 3:50 on the clock in the first frame, then hit the wide receiver for a 26-yard touchdown to start the second quarter.

Kicker James Tooker (Harwich, Mass.) converted a 31-yard field goal to give UMass Dartmouth a 31-0 lead heading into intermission.

Pena tossed his fourth touchdown of the day, with a 29-yard strike to freshman Adam McLaughlin (Taunton, Mass.) for the 38-0 final.

Inside the Numbers

UMass Dartmouth held a huge advantage in total yards (523-85), rushing yards (278-19) and passing yards (245-66) over the Falcons.

Pacing the UMass Dartmouth offense was Slaughter who finished with 156 yards on 28 carries and one touchdown, while Brown had a team-high 82 yards receiving with one touchdown. Bamgbose had 79 yards receiving with two touchdowns, 19-yards on the ground and threw one interception.

Pena threw for 234-yards and four touchdowns, on a 14-for-28 day.

Jevon Brown-Simpson led the Falcons with 55 yards rushing, while Devin Summiel had three catches with 40 yards.

Dylan Woods (Townsend, Mass.) had 10 total tackles and Anthony Bednarz (Middletown, Conn.) had 9 tackles and a fumble recovery to lead the Green and Gold on defense. Jonathan Charles had a fumble recovery and junior Mory Keita (Pawtucket, R.I.) added an interception.

It was the 20th meeting between the two schools on the gridiron with the Falcons 6-14-0 when taking on the Corsairs.

Fitchburg State had won four of the previous six meeting with the Corsairs, including the last two meetings (33-14, 22-14).