Saturday, September 15, 2012 (Springfield, Massachusetts) - Mount Ida College football senior quarterback Scott Drosendahl (East Aurora, NY/East Aurora) launched five touchdown passes going 21-30 through the air for 280 yards, but it wasn't enough as the Mustangs dropped their first loss of the season to hosting non-league foe Springfield College Saturday afternoon falling 49-42 on Amos Alonzo Stagg Field.
The Mustangs fall for the first time in 2012 with an overall record of 2-1 with their first Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) match-up coming in two weeks (Saturday, September 29, 2012) at Alumni Field on Homecoming against rival Norwich University with game time slated for 1:00 p.m.
Mount Ida had a two touchdown advantage through nearly three quarters of play but could not hold on due to three final scores by the visitors in a matter of six minutes all from Pride running back Mike Davis (Madison, CT) who collected four TD's on the afternoon with 191 total yards on the ground.
Davis accounted for 184 yards rushing, including TD scores of 62, 19, 52, and 13 yards. His 62-yarder came in the second quarter, giving SC a 21-14 lead at the time. His last three came with 2:28 left in the third quarter, drawing the Pride to within 42-35; with 14:49 remaining in the game, tying the score at 42-all; and with 11:27 left, giving SC the lead for good at 49-42.
The game was a roller-coaster ride for both teams. In the first half, each squad scored four touchdowns, and the game was tied at 14-all after one quarter, and at 28-all at the half.
In the third quarter, the Mustangs scored twice -- with 8:45 left and 3:19 left -- to give Mount Ida a 42-28 lead.
But then Davis struck for his three consecutive scores and the Pride's defense made some big plays down the stretch to preserve the victory.
In today's game, Mount Ida produced 526 total yards to SC's 407. In rushing, the Pride had 397 yards to the Mustangs' 246. But through the air, Mount Ida passed for 280 yards to SC's 10.
Mount Ida dominated time of possession, 38:23 to 21:37, running 75 plays to SC's 55.
On the ground, sophomore running Chris McNally (Bourne, MA/Bourne) carried the workload for the Mustangs. He ran for 112 yards on 21 totes. Also for Mount Ida, freshman running back Melquan Pinkney (Springfield, MA/Putnam) ran for 75 yards and one TD on 10 carries, and senior WR Matt Valentini (Lake Hopatcong, NJ/Jefferson TWP) ran for another 73 yards on just three carries, including a 73-yarder on a fake punt. Although Drosendahl had a good day in the air he spent some time on the ground being sacked five times adding two interceptions as well late in the action
For Mount Ida, two players had nine tackles. They were sophomore Kalyn Smithson (Vilseck, Germany/Vilseck) and junior LB Carlous Julien (Fort Pierce, FL/Indian River Street College). Smithson also had half a tackle-for-loss. Mount Ida defensive end A.J. Knibbs (Spotswood, NJ/Spotswood) added 6.5 tackles while junior defensive back Frank Greene (Poughkeepsie, NY/Poughkeepsie) added an interception that set the Mustangs up deep in SC territory eventually giving Mount Ida a two score lead at that point.
For the Pride, three others had good days rushing the ball. They included sophomore QB Rob Merckling (Melville, NY) with 78 yards and one TD, senior FB Joel Altavesta (Tewksbury, MA) with 68 yards and two TDs, and freshman FB Lou Fenaroli (Newtown, CT) with 48 yards on only fve carries.
Merckling threw only two passes on the afternoon, completing one and having one picked off
Also for SC, five players were credited with five tackles or more. They included sophomore LB Mike Dublin (Portsmouth, RI) with a team-high 13 stops, including three tackles-for-loss; sophomore LB Danny Macalena (Congers, NY) with 12 tackles, including one sack and two tackles-for-loss; senior LB Kevin Shields (Melville, NY) with 11 tackles, one sack, two tackles-for-loss, and one forced fumble; freshman cornerback Anthony West (Mattapan, MA) with nine tackles, one fumble recovery and one interception; and junior LB Corey Kaiser (River Vale, NJ) with nine tackles. West's interception came with 46 seconds left in the fourth quarter, clinching the victory. Junior safety Sam Weiss (Glasser, NJ) also had an important interception with 13 seconds left in the third quarter, which led to Davis' game-tying TD early in the fourth.
Content Courtesy of Mount Ida College and Springfield College Sports Information