Box Score CASTINE, Maine--Senior quarterback Tyler Ward threw for 321 yards and four touchdowns, and sophomores Terrence N`Dabian and Nick Connell both had 100-yard rushing games, as visiting Western New England churned out 769 yards of total offense in a convincing 80-16 victory over Maine Maritime Academy at Mariners Field on Saturday. It was the New England Football Conference opener for both squads.
On a day in which a plethora of players recorded career highs and Western New England set several school records, the milestone that stands out the most is that the Golden Bears have earned their first 3-0 start in the program's NCAA Division III history that began in 1981. The Golden Bears had 2-0 starts on nine previous occasions before losing in the third game in 1981 (5-4 overall), 1983 (4-5), 1992 (4-6), 1997 (4-3), 2006 (5-4), 2007 (3-7), 2010 (9-2), 2011 (10-2) and 2012 (6-4).
Not only did the WNE offense shine but the defensive unit also played well. The Golden Bears held the Mariners to 372 total yards and 16 points as the hosts were averaging 498 and 31, respectively, coming into the afternoon. Junior Dean Soucie had a career-best 14 tackles, followed by senior Kyle Jones with eight (4 solo) and freshman Sam Olsson also had eight (3 solo). The Golden Bears forced five fumbles, intercepted three MMA passes (sophomore Obi Etuka had two picks to go along with three stops) and held the Mariners to 34 yards through the air.
Ward tied a school record with four touchdown passes of 61, 6, 6 and 20 yards and he set a career high with 321 yards on just 15 completions in 21 attempts. N'Dabian rushed for a career-best 157 yards on just two carries, and Connell ran for 113 more on only seven attempts. Kevin Cook had a 1-yard TD run to give him sole possession of first place on the Golden Bears' career rushing TDs list with 40 and he also became the program's all-time leading scorer with 248. Marvin Langley had held both benchmarks of 39 rushing TDs and 246 points, set from 1998 to 2001.
As a team, Western New England established school single-game records for points (previous: 66 vs Maine Maritime, 2010), total yards with 769 (previous: 740 against Maine Maritime, 2013) and 64-point margin of victory (previous: 59-0 over Maine Maritime in 2013).
Despite WNE's record-setting afternoon on offense, Maine Maritime opened the scoring on its first possession after stopping WNE on a 3-and-out that resulted in getting good starting field position at the MMA 43. Jacob Doolan had a 38-yard touchdown run and Michael Fahey a successful two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead just 2 minutes and 14 seconds after the opening whistle. Doolan finished with 116 yards rushing on 12 carries and 34 receiving yards.
But that lead would be short-lived as the Golden Bears scored 18 unanswered points on three consecutive possessions to end the first quarter up 18-8. Western New England scored on a Mohamed Camara 17-yard run to immediately answer MMA's scoring drive, capping an 8-play, 70-yard drive of its own, at the 9:58 mark. Ward added a 3-yard plunge at the 6:30 mark and N'Dabian rushed 63 yards for another score with 2:42 left.
After the Mariners defense recorded a safety to cut the deficit to 18-10, WNE went on another long scoring string of 20 points to take a commanding 38-10 lead with 47 seconds left in the first half. The outburst was highlighted by Ward's 61-yard TD strike to N'Dabian with 3:42 remaining.
Maine Maritime scored its final points with 13 seconds left in the opening half on a Doolan 34-yard pass from Fahey. Western New England led 38-16 at the break.
In the second half, it was all the Golden Bears all of the time. Western New England scored the game's final 42 points, highlighted by a school-record 94-yard TD run by N'Dabian at 8:01 showing on the fourth-quarter clock and junior defensive back Adam Glynn's 23-yd fumble recovery for a TD just 49 seconds later. In addition, Connell added an 81-yard TD run to close the scoring at 2:41.
Ward completed passes to 11 different receivers, including senior Tucker Schumitz who had five catches for 85 yards and a 6-yard TD. Senior Andrew Walz added four receptions for 75 yards and a 6-yard TD catch.
John Doyon had 11 tackles (game-best 7 solo) for the Mariners, which also got eight stops from Johnny Weymouth and seven tackles by Thomas Kinton.
For the contest, the Golden Bears were very efficient with their offense evidenced by 9-for-12 on third-down conversions and 7-for-8 in Red-Zone opportunities.
Maine Maritime held the time of possession by a good margin, 35:02 to 24:58.
Western New England will have its NEFC home opener next Saturday when they welcome Coast Guard for a 1 p.m. start at Golden Bear Stadium.