BANGOR- Brayden Trombly came up with a late fourth quarter interception in the endzone, and Jed Lober scored on an 11-yard run in overtime on Saturday afternoon at the Winkin Complex as Husson University picked up a huge 49-42 Conference of New England football win over Western New England University. It is just the second win for the Eagles over the Golden Bears in eight meetings all-time (2-6), as junior quarterback Max Clark had five touchdown passes in the victory.
There was alot of offensive fireworks in this one, along with six lead changes and seven ties. Clark threw for two touchdown passes for Husson in the first half, both to Nason Berthelette of 47 and 18 yards. Clark completed a 22-yarder to Ja’Quan Myles on fourth down and 10 at the Western New England 23-yard line near the end of the second quarter, and Lober punched it in on a 1-yard run as it was 21-21 at the break.
Husson took their first lead of the afternoon after an interception and 21-yard return by Branardo Forine. Clark hit Cam Holmes for a 24-yard touchdown to push the Eagles in front 28-21 just over six minutes into the third quarter. The Golden Bears took about three minutes to knot it back up on a 3-yard scoring run by Ryan Carlson. The Clark to Holmes connection came through again for Husson, as a 55-yard TD and the second of the period between the two gave the hosts the advantage once again heading into the fourth.
Western New England quarterback Brady Rafferty tossed a 31-yard touchdown to Callaghan Daskam two minutes into the final period of regulation to make it 35-35. That was short lived though, as Berthelette returned the ensuing kickoff 64 yards to the Golden Bears 27-yard line. Husson capped off that drive with a 13-yard TD pass from Clark to Dom Wilson. Matt LaMontagne had a 33-yard run for WNEU on the next possession, and that culminated with an 18-yard scoring play from Lafferty to De’Andre Harris as it was 42-42 with 6:11 left. After the Eagles were forced to punt, the visitors had a chance to win it with 3:17 left on the clock. They drove to the opposing 17-yard line, but with 16.7 seconds remaining Lafferty was intercepted by Trombly in the endzone to force overtime. In the extra session, Husson got the first possession and Lober scored his 11-yard game winning run after Clark had used his legs to pick up 10 yards on third down and six. They sealed it when Lafferty threw incomplete on fourth down and eight at the Eagles 13-yard line with the Golden Bears overtime possession.
Clark went 21-29 passing for 319 yards and five touchdowns in the Husson win. It was a tough day for the ground game, as Lober was the leading rusher with 25 carries for just 48 yards but did have two touchdowns. Berthelette (92 yards), Myles (61 yards) each had five receptions, while Holmes brought in three for 86 yards. Berthelette and Holmes had two touchdowns each. Ricky Hendrix led the defense with 14 total tackles, Walker Lenz had 12, and Trombly had 10 also coming up with his huge timely interception. Jahmye Tyson (1.5 sacks), DJ Wilson (1 sack), and Issac Bergeron (1 sack) also played solidly. Lafferty threw for 464 yards (29 for 49) with four touchdowns in the loss for Western New England, but also had three interceptions. Carlson ran for 88 yards and a score, while Harris pulled in five catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns. The Golden Bears fall to 4-4 and 1-2 in the Conference of New England. The Eagles are now 6-2 and 3-0 in the CNE, and will travel to Massachusetts to battle nationally ranked Endicott (7-1, 3-0) next Saturday for what could turn out to be a game for the conference title.
Max Clark drops back to pass for Husson during their CNE game against Western New England University on Saturday, November 2 in Bangor. Clark threw five touchdown passes, as the Eagles outlasted the Golden Bears 49-42 in overtime. Photo by Chris Lessner.
