Maine sets up for a third quarter play during their game with Bryant on Saturday, October 1, 2016 in Orono. Photo by Chris Lessner.
ORONO, Maine- The University of Maine Black Bear football team needed a spark during their non-conference matchup with Bryant Saturday afternoon. And they got just that from freshman running back Josh Mack, to rally from a 21 point first half deficit and capture their first win of the season 35-31 before 7,266 fans at Morse Field at Harold Alfond Sports Stadium.
Bryant (2-3) had built a 21-0 first half lead behind the arm of quarterback Dalton Easton who tossed three touchdowns passes, two of them to wide receiver Matt Sewall. Maine quarterback Dan Collins had a tough first half with three interceptions. “I didn’t change anything. These guys have confidence in me to be able to get the job done”, Collins said after the game.
Maine (1-3) got their first score though at the every end of the first half. Mack had a big run of 20 yards to bring the ball into Bryant territory at the 45. Three plays later, Collins found Micah Wright for 31 yards to the Bryant 3 yard line. With no timeouts and only two seconds left, Collins threw a pass to Wright in the corner of the endzone, that Wright made a great catch on over his defender as time expired to put Maine on the board at 21-7 going into halftime. “That was just good coaching. We work on that in practice. You can’t spike the ball and have any time left if there is only two seconds on the clock”, added Collins.
An early third quarter field goal by the Bulldogs made it 24-7, but Mack responded with a two yard touchdown run just over three minutes later to make it 24-14. Bryant came right back though two minutes later, when Easton found Sewall again for an 18 yard pass and catch to extend the lead to 31-14.
Just 1:14 later, Collins made a great throw to receiver Jaleel Reed in the left corner of the endzone and the 38 yard scoring play made it 31-21. And after a three and out forced by the Maine defense, Wright would return a punt 53 yards to the Bryant 25. The very next play Mack would make a great run around the left end. Mack looked as though he would be stopped at the 22 yard line but seemed to have a burst of energy to get past the defender and then broke past three other Bryant defenders on his way to the endzone to get Maine within three at 31-28 headed to the fourth quarter.
Maine continued to tighten their defense to get Bryant out of what had been successful in the first half and when Mack scooted into the endzone for a 9 yard touchdown run the Bears had their first lead of the game at 35-31 with 10:36 left in the game. Collins helped Mack get into the endzone by laying a punishing pancake block on a defender near the goal line to ensure his running back got in.
The Black Bears would put the finishing touches on the victory when DeAndre Scott made a diving interception with just 1:48 left. With the Bulldogs out of timeouts, Maine was able to run out the clock.
Bryant Coach Marty Fine said after the game, “I thought we had moments of being competitive. I don’t think I called a particular good game tonight. I thought our kids played hard. The speed and agility of their players was hard for us. We were unable to get them on the ground at times. We were unable to get away from them. I thought the Maine kids and coaches did a terrific job of playing, and playing, and playing and never flinching. I thought it was a terrific college football game. Obviously there is disappointment in losing. But someone has to lose, and sometimes that is us and sometimes it is them”.
Maine Coach Joe Harasymiak said, “Obviously very excited to get our first win of the season. The first half that wasn’t us and we knew that. Came in at halftime put a charge into them a little bit. Then they showed who they are. Told them this may define who we are this season cause being 0-3, 21-7, obviously that score before halftime was huge. But facing that adversity this early on, we were gonna see who we were. And I think we showed you who we are. We stuck together. We played better football in the second half. Huge stops for the ‘D’. Offense, they couldn’t stop us. Just going down the field everytime. I am just proud of these guys. They just showed who they are”.
Mack finished the game with 151 yards rushing on 21 carries, and three touchdowns. Maine outrushed Bryant 225-35 in the game. Collins finished 14-30 passing for 180 yards, two touchdowns, and three interceptions. Wright had five catches for 53 yards and a score while Reed caught four passes for 81 yards and a touchdown. The defense was led by Jason Matovu, Christophe Mulumba Tshimanga and Pat Ricard who all had eight tackles. Picard also had 3 sacks.
Bryant was led by Easton who was 27-53 passing, 318 yards, four touchdowns, and an interception. Sewall had seven catches for 89 yards and three touchdowns. Taylor Barthelette had five catches for 83 yards. Easton also tied the Bryant school record for touchdown passes in a career with his 56th in the contest. The defense was led by Jesse Nemerowicz who had 13 tackles.
Maine will return to action next Saturday at 3:30 p.m. when they swing back into conference play when they travel to Delaware. Bryant has next week off before traveling to St Francis University for a noon kickoff on Saturday, October 15th.
BRY 14 7 10 0- 31
UME 0 7 21 7- 35
Total Yards- Bryant 353 Maine 405
Time of Possession- Bryant 31:04 Maine 28:56
Turnovers- Bryant 1 Maine 3
