It took some time, but Tyler Ward landed on the Western New England football team. The Golden Bears are glad he did. Photo by Bill Sharon

Listen to Western New England coach Keith Emery describe quarterback Tyler Ward's performance in a scrimmage against SUNY-Maritime a couple of years ago and it conjures up certain images, not pretty ones. You might have a flashback of a certain field goal kicker trying throw a pass in the 1973 Super Bowl.

"Tyler had two of the worst picks you have ever seen," Emery said.

And that was all just within three passes.

Today Ward is the starting quarterback for a WNE team that is 7-0. This week he had 268 passing yards and threw for three touchdowns in a 35-3 win over MIT.

He is a graduate student who took a circuitous route to the Golden Bear football program. He went to the College of Charleston and then transferred to Western New England where his brother had played baseball. But Tyler first went out for the basketball team at WNE.

"He is a talented kid. The biggest leap he has made is in his decision making," Emery said.

His maturity has been a big asset.

"We are extremely young offensively and his maturity means a lot to us," Emery said.

He has been giving defenses fits because he is able to produce with both his arm and legs.

If you think Ward came out of nowhere, you have got to hear the story of Curry quarterback Riley Cote.

He came to Curry from Bridgton Academy, a school in Maine that has been a pretty good football pipeline for a number of colleges. But Cote did not play football at Bridgton, arriving there after football season was over for the second semester.

Then at Curry he was No. 5 on the depth chart.

"We moved our fourth quarterback to defense. That's how far down he was," Curry coach Skip Bandini said.

It was the defense playing against Cote in practice that went to Bandini and told him that Cote was showing them something.

"They said, 'This kid is slinging the ball all over. You ought to give him a shot,'" Bandini said.

Curry pinned the first league defeat on Coast Guard with Cote throwing for 351 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for two scores in the 42-14 victory.

"It wasn't just Riley. It was the first time we played well as a team. It was like the old days around here," Bandini said.

Accounting for six touchdowns. Now that's a day.

"He's just a playmaker," Bandini said.

Out of the shadows

Nick Connell had not had many chances to run the ball for Western New England before this season. That's because the Golden Bears' all-time leading rusher Kevin Cook was getting the ball. Cook piled up program records of 4,094 yards rushing and 49 rushing touchdowns before graduating.

"Nick just didn't get his carries," Emery said.

He is now and this week he rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown in helping the Golden Bears to the best start in their history.

Norwich's Canadian club

Norwich pushed its mark to 4-0 in the ECFC as Philippe Bazinet threw for 177 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. He also ran for 101 yards and another score.

Quincy Williams added another 102 yards on the ground.

Bazinet and Williams are both from Quebec.

"You draw lines around your recruiting territory. The first is a 50-miles radius and the next a 100-mile radius. When we draw that line we're in Canada. It's a proximity thing," Norwich coach Mark Murnyack said.

The Cadets' 47-6 win over Anna Maria was their fourth in a row after an 0-3 start against three very good Liberty League teams.

"It was really frustrating," Murnyack said of that start. "We could see we were getting better. We could see it in the games and on the practice field but we didn't have anything to show for it.

"I said to (assistant coach) Mike Stone at lunch that we just needed something good to happen."

It's happening now.

The Cadets made all four of their field goal attempts in the game. Wes Medeiros nailed three of them and Robbie Harrison the other.

It allowed the Cadets to keep pace with Husson, also 4-0 in the league. The Eagles defeated Gallaudet 54-8 with Joe Seccareccia throwing three TD passes and John Smith running for 135 yards and three touchdowns.

Winning up and down I-91

The teams are perfect along one small stretch of I-91. WNE is 7-0 and down the road to the south in Hartford, Conn., Trinity is 5-0. Just to the north of WNE, Amherst is 5-0.

Amherst did it by getting past Wesleyan 27-18 with Reece Foy throwing three touchdown passes. Jackson McGonagle caught two of those. Linebacker Tom Kleyn was a tackling machine for the Lord Jeffs. He rang up 18 tackles and had a fumble recovery.

Trinity toppled Bowdoin 28-7 as Max Chipouras ran for 155 yards and three scores.

Defensive playmakers

Castleton University's Tyler Higley has a nose for the ball. He got his first start on the defensive side of the ball three weeks ago and made that debut with two interceptions. Three games later, Higley has six picks in three games.

His latest two came as the Spartans outgunned SUNY-Maritime 49-34.

Connor McLaughlin had 14 tackles and an interception for Endicott in the Gulls' 37-14 win over Maine Maritime and Castleton's Darren Callan had 14 tackles while forcing two fumbles and recovering one of them. Kyle Dance had an interception and forced a fumble for Bridgewater State in a 48-20 win over Westfield State. And Western Connecticut's Kenneth Strecker had 15 tackles along with an interception in a 44-41 loss to Worcester State.

Quick kicks:

Sam Pascale had 265 yards rushing with two touchdowns and James Dawson added another 143 yards on the ground with two more scores to lead Salve Regina to a 35-6 win over Nichols. ... Kyle Regan made all three of his field goal attempts for Endicott. ... Freshman Moe Harris ran for 157 yards and a school record five touchdowns for Castleton. ... Becker pushed its record to 4-3 by whipping Mount Ida 48-13 behind Nas Sinkfield-Shelton who threw for 287 yards and three touchdowns. ... Matt Silva fired three TD passes and had 350 passing yards for Framingham State as the Rams remained unbeaten in the MASCAC with a 34-3 win over Plymouth. .... Mass. Maritime edged UMass-Dartmouth 35-34 with Kenny Pierce's second touchdown in the fourth quarter providing the winning score. ... Worcester State's Trevor Vasey had three TD passes in the Lancers' big win and Kemani Jones added 130 yards rushing and two scores. Noah Hwang made both field goal attempts for the Lancers. ... Alex McLaughlin ran wild for Bridgewater: 162 yards and four touchdowns. ... Middlebury's Matt Milano just keeps adding to his impressive numbers. He threw for 405 yards and five touchdowns in the 41-27 win at Bates. Matt Minno caught two of his TD throws and had 138 receiving yards. ... Colby got its first win as Gabe Harrington threw for a score and ran for another in the 24-19 victory over Hamilton. Jabari Hurdle-Price added 107 yards on the ground. ... Tufts got its first win at Williams since 1981, 30-15. Chance Brady ran for 162 yards and two scores and Alex Snyder rushed for a touchdown and threw for another.

The big games

The most attractive game in the NEFC finds Endicott at Western New England. Endicott might be hitting its stride and could pose a threat to the Golden Bears as they try to stay unbeaten through eight games.

There are two very big games in the NESCAC. Trinity risks its 5-0 record at 4-1 Middlebury. The Bantams must deal with Milano and that prolific passing game.

Amherst takes its 5-0 record to 4-1 Tufts.

Both unbeaten NESCAC teams on the road against worthy opponents should make for a very interesting Halloween.