SPRINGFIELD – Plymouth’s, John DeMarco and Jeff Mack were involved in six of the seven Panther’s touchdowns as PSU remained unbeaten, finishing off Western New England 49-29, Saturday, at Golden Bears Stadium.
With the victory, PSU improved to 4-0, overall, and 2-0 in conference play for the first time since 1998, when they started 4-0 under head coach Mike Kemp. With 2700 fans in attendance, WNE dropped to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the NEFC Boyd Division.
Senior Jeff Mack led all rushers with 157 yards on 24 carries and two touchdowns in the win. Quarterback John DeMarco finished his day completing 46 percent of his passes for 140 yards and two touchdown strikes as well as rushing for 45 yards on 10 carries and two touchdowns. A single interception was seemingly the only blemish on the afternoon of DeMarco and the PSU offense.
WNE’s sophomore quarterback duo of Justin Waltz and Tim Hegarty combined for 265 yards, completing 34 of 40 passes and a touchdown on the day. Waltz finished 23-33 with 174 yards and a touchdown and Hegarty was 11-17 for 91 yards for WNE.
WNE struck first with 10:49 left in the first quarter after a 12-play, 62 yard opening drive culminated in a two-yard touchdown run by Waltz, putting the Golden Bears up 7-0. Not to be behind for long, the resilient PSU offense was able to answer on the next possession as DeMarco hooked up with senior receiver Drew Richardson on a 34-yard touchdown pass to tie the score at seven a piece. Richardson finished the day with two catches for 92 yards and a touchdown, becoming PSU’s leading receiver on the season, in the process.
The offensive outburst on both sides continued throughout the first half as both teams combined to score 44 points through two quarters including 27 points in the first quarter alone. WNE would make the score 13-7 later in the first quarter after a Chris Vaillent five-yard touchdown reception from Waltz and a blocked point after attempt by PSU. Brandon Clough’s 16-yard touchdown run would then give the panthers the 14-13 lead after a three minute and ten second, eight-play drive at the end of the first quarter. Clough finished four yards shy of 100 yards on the ground and posted 5.6 yards per carry in the win.
Jeff Mack’s first rushing touchdown of the day would give PSU the 21-13 lead early in the second quarter before the Golden Bears were able to score again. A James Farrell 30-yard field goal capped off a 12-play drive that fizzled out in the red zone and brought WNE to within a touchdown at that point 21-16.
The Panther’s well orchestrated, ball-control offense, was able to kill the second-quarter clock by chewing up almost five minutes of the second quarter en route to DeMarco’s first touchdown run of the day and a 28-16 lead at halftime.
The scoring slowed for the second half on both sides with both teams combining to score 10 less points than in the first half. WNE’s junior Jordan Capitanio started the second half scoring with a 17-yard run to cut the PSU lead to 28-23. Farrell’s second field goal of the day also cut the PSU lead to two with 8:13 left in the third quarter. From there, the WNE offense could only manage one field goal to PSU’s 21 points as they pulled away in the blink of an eye. DeMarco and Mack’s second touchdown runs and a 41-yard touchdown pass to Brad Largy finished off the Golden Bears on the afternoon and sent the Panthers into second place behind Curry in the NEFC Boyd division lead. WNE fell to sixth place in the division at the same time and are in need of a win to stay in the race.
WNE will take their 2-1 record on the road to take on the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth on October 6. The Panther’s return home on the 6, putting their 4-0 record on the line as they take on Endicott at 1:30 p.m.