SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – No. 11/13 Endicott defeated Western New England, 41-7, in Conference of New England (CNE) action on Saturday afternoon at Golden Bear Stadium.
Today’s contest was broadcast on the Northeast Sports Network (NSN) as the first-ever CNE “Game of the Week” for the league.
Trailing 7-0 early in the first quarter, sophomore wide receiver Kennedy Charles (Portland, Maine) produced a highlight reel play to spark the offense and the Gulls never looked back in the contest (WATCH THE PLAY: HERE).
Charles hurdled a Western New England defender around the hosts’ 39-yard line on a jet touch pass and took it to the house to send the Endicott faithful into a frenzy.
The speedy wideout also benefitted from some great blocking up the right sideline before he juked a defender to spring free for the score (5:13, 7-7).
From there, the Gull scored once more in the first quarter on a 60-yard rushing touchdown from Clayton Marengi (Lynnfield) at 1:29 (14-7) and used a Yavier Cosme-Diaz (Stratford, Conn.) one-yard TD rush with 11-seconds remaining in the first half to go into the locker room ahead 21-7.
Both teams exchanged zeroes in the third quarter then Endicott rattled off 20 points in the fourth to stay undefeated in CNE play (2-0).
Jacob Ward (Coventry, R.I.) connected with Marengi on a three-yard TD catch via a leaping grab in the right corner of the end zone following a play action rollout (14:18, 28-7).
Adam Goodfellow (Wayland, Mass.) extended the lead to 34-7 at 12:23 with a 36-yard TD reception, while Bryan Metayer (Norwood) capped the scoring at 9:53 on a 12-yard TD rush.
Marengi finished the contest 20-for-25 passing, 312 yards of total offense (218 passing, 94 rushing), three passing touchdowns, and zero interceptions.
As a team, the Gulls outgained Western New England 427-313 and averaged 6.5 yards per play.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Endicott held the Golden Bears to a season-low seven points and their second-fewest yards on offense this season.
- Matthew Licciardi (East Greenwich, R.I.) paced the Gulls in tackles with nine (5 solo, 1.5 TFL, 1 QBH).
- Ryan Guilfoyle (Simsbury, Conn.) compiled six tackles (one short of tying his career high), one sack, and two tackles for a loss.
- Zachariah Twardosky (Merrimack, N.H.) filled the stat sheet with six tackles (three solo), one forced fumble (sixth career), and one interception (also sixth career, 49 yards, career-long).
- Joe Tirrell (Franklin) wreaked havoc defensively with five tackles (4 solo, 1.0 TFL), one interception, and a game-high/career-high three pass breakups.
- Will Shannon (Topsfield) forced his second career fumble at the goal line to keep Western New England off the scoreboard with 1:52 remaining in the contest.
- Mike Greene (Wolcott, Conn.) blocked his first career field goal at 5:54 of the second (EC 14-7 lead, at the time).
WHAT’S NEXT
No. 11/13 Endicott (6-1, 2-0 CNE) hosts Nichols on Saturday, November 2 at 12 PM. Western New England (4-3, 1-1 CNE) visits Husson next Saturday at 12 PM
