Milton, Mass.—The Panthers were unable to capture a win in their regular season conclusion on Saturday afternoon at Katz Field against Curry College in NEFC Boyd Division action. The Colonels won, 38-14.
Even with the loss, Plymouth State had impressive performances on both sides of the ball. Junior Andrew Foglia (Montauk, N.Y.) led the game for both teams in rushing with 169 yards. For the defense, senior Derek Lussier (Ellington, Conn.) recorded nine solo tackles.
Curry College put the first points of the game on the board following a PSU fumble in the opening minutes of the first quarter. Senior Mark Gilson tossed a touchdown to junior Rob Bambini. In the second quarter of play, Curry senior Anthony Carnevale added to the Colonels’ side of the scoreboard with two touchdown passes. Junior Bruce Vieira caught one touchdown pass while Bambini collected the other score to give Curry a 28-0 lead going into halftime.
The Panthers came out reinvigorated for the second half. “I wish we were able to come out every game this season with the fire that we did in the second half. If we did, it would be a different record up on those stat sheets,” said senior defensive back Bobby Lombardo (Stow, Mass.) who recorded four tackles in Saturday’s game. After recovering an on-sides kick to start out the half, the Panthers put up their first points of the game with a drive that ended with a six-yard touchdown run for senior Chad Croteau (Weare, N.H.). In the final quarter, junior quarterback Chris Rigoli (Wantagh, N.Y.) connected with senior Joel Mignault (Billerica, Mass.) for a 19-yard touchdown. “We came out in the second half a lot more fired up and played with determination,” Lombardo said. Plymouth State wasn’t able to complete their comeback, due to the Colonels’ continued offensive aggression. Curry tacked on ten points in the second half to finish the game with the victory.
Curry College completes their season with a record of 5-5 overall and 3-4 in the Boyd Division, while the Panthers fall to a 4-6 overall record (2-5 within the division). Lombardo, like most of the other seniors on the team, has left the collegiate gridiron for the final time. “We put in so much time and did the best we could, but the record doesn’t reflect the effort that was put in this season.” Overall, Lombardo will reflect back on his career with the PSU Football program fondly, “I enjoyed every day I was with my team.”