Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
Cambridge, Mass. – October 7, 2023 – The Springfield College football team handled MIT, 38-10, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Saturday afternoon at Steinbrenner Stadium.
Springfield is now 5-1 this season, including 3-0 in conference play, while MIT lost its fourth-straight game to fall to 1-4, 0-3.
The Pride entered the game with the top-ranked rushing offense in all of college football and topped the 400-yard plateau for the third time in 2023 as it rushed for 437 yards and averaged more than six yards per carry. Jacob Silvester (Lancaster, Mass.) totaled 134 yards and two scores, Blane Hart (East Lyme, Conn.) eclipsed 92 yards and a score, while the fullback duo of Arsen Shtefan (West Hartford, Conn.) and Joseph Cannizzaro (Lincoln Park, N.J.) combined for 148 yards and two scores. Defensively, both Joe Maurer (Wilbraham, Mass.) and Tyler Pohlman (St. James, N.Y.) each had eight tackles as MIT the offense was held to 246 yards of offense, 5-of-15 on third down, and was only on the field for 23:32.
Springfield would get on the board on its second possession of the game as Shtefan plowed his way in from four yards out to make it a 7-0 game with 5:48 remaining in the opening quarter. The hosts benefitted from a Springfield personal foul call on 4th and 20 to extend its drive which would ultimately end in a 34-yard field goal with 58 seconds on the clock left in the first.
The Pride would find the end zone again midway through the second following a Tyler Paladino (Cross River, N.Y.) interception as Silvester found daylight from nine yards, capping off an 11-play drive that lasted nearly six minutes. Springfield's special teams came up with another blocked kick, its fourth of the season, as Colby Richardson (East Hartford, Conn.) elevated over the line to snuff out MIT's 30-yard field goal bid. Springfield then marched 10 plays before Christian Hutra (Holmes, N.Y.) would connect on the second-longest field goal in program history when he unleased a 51-yard strike through the uprights as time expired to give the Pride a 17-3 halftime lead. For Hutra, it was his career long and marked the longest field goal for Springfield since John Welling connected from 51 yards against Lowell in 1985.
Hart found the corner for a three-yard touchdown to make it a 24-3 game with 6:40 left in the third, only to have MIT string together four completions for their only touchdown of the game on a 20-yard strike at the 2:41 mark. Springfield would put the game away in the fourth, with Cannizzaro bursting through the line for a 20 yard score inside the opening minute of the quarter before Silvester would later follow with a 54-yard scamper down the sideline at 7:49 to complete the scoring.
Springfield will take its bye week as it gears up for a Homecoming clash with Salve Regina on October 21 at 12 pm.
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