Springfield, Mass. - September 2, 2023 - The Springfield College football team opened up the 2023 season with a 28-14 victory over Western New England on Saturday afternoon.
The contest was the 10th time that these two rivals met in the Pynchon SAW Game, which is derived from city founder William Pynchon and the acronym of "SAW" is for the first initial of both schools, Springfield And Western New England. With the win, Springfield held onto the trophy as it earned its fifth victory in the series and bested the Golden Bears for the second season in a row.
Springfield outgained WNE by a 491-275 margin on offense and dominated the time of possession as it had the ball for nearly 38 minutes. The Golden Bears were just 4-of-15 on third down and the Pride also forced three turnovers.
Springfield ran for 331 yards, led by Arsen Shtefan (West Hartford, Conn.) who totaled 106 yards on the ground. Dante Vasquez (Rockland, Mass.) tallied 75 yards and a score, Blane Hart (East Lyme, Conn.) added 66 and a touchdown, and Joseph Cannizzaro (Lincoln Park, N.J.) tallied 62 rushing yards.
In his first career start under center, Jacob Silvester (Lancaster, Mass.) ran for 36 yards, but threw for 160 yards and two scores. Bradley Barcello (Weston, Conn.) hauled in two passes for 134 yards to highlight the Pride's aerial attack.
Aiden Lewin (Orlando, Fla.) registered a team-best 11 tackles and recovered a fubmle, classmate Billy Carr (Southington, Conn.) added 10 stops and two pass breakups, while Will McKay (Tewksbury, Mass.) finished the afternoon with eight tackles, including two for loss, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery.
Springfield struck first in the game as Christian Hutra (Holmes, N.Y.) connected on a 39 yard field goal with 10:23 left on the clock in the first quarter. Springfield appeared poised to double its lead when a Barcello 47-yard catch and run brought the Pride to the WNE one-yard line. However, the Golden Bears defense held strong and would eventually block a 21-yard field goal attempt to keep it a 3-0 game.
WNE scored their first touchdown of the game at the 10:35 mark of the second quarter on a 16-yard strike, only to have the Pride answer back when Silvester found Craig Connell (Goshen, N.Y.) all alone up the middle for a 26-yard touchdown. The Golden Bears took advantage of some great field position on their next drive, needing just six plays to cover 54 yards in just over 90 seconds as a one-yard rush up the middle put the hosts on top, 14-9, with 5:14 remaining in the half.
Springfield's defense came up big to start the third quarter on WNE's first drive as Quinn Sweeney (Hanson, Mass.) popped free a fumble that Bryan Feliciano (Clifton, N.J.) fell on. Four plays later, Silvester found Barcello down the sideline for an 87 yard reception that resulted in six points. The rush attempt was failed, but Springfield would regain a 15-14 lead it would not relinquish with 10:22 left in the third. Springfield would have the ball for over 12 minutes in the quarter and headed into the fourth with a one-point edge.
Vasquez gave the Pride some breathing room with a sensational run, as he broke a number of tackles before escaping free for a 58 yard scamper that make it a 21-14 game with just over 10 minutes left in regulation. The Golden Bears answered with a 12-play drive as they moved the ball all the way to the Pride's one-yard line. However, McKay was able to force a fumble and recover it to keep the hosts off the scoreboard. Nine plays later, Silvester found Hart on the edge, and he turned the corner for a 53-yard touchdown run with 2:06 on the clock to make it 28-14. On the final WNE drive of the day, McKay pounced on a loose fumble that Lewin forced to seal the Pride's win.
Springfield will play in its home opener next Saturday when it hosts Husson at 12 pm.
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