Panther Football Drops Senior Game

Elijah Johnson (28), Ryan Bellerose (56), Ryan Bentley (73) and teammates look to push the ball forward this past weekend during Senior Day. CLOCK PHOTO/ ALEX CROSSLEY

Panther Football Drops Senior Game

Red Zone Turn Over Seals OT Victory for Worcester State

Kameron Towle
For The Clock

Coming off of a tough loss to Framingham State, the PSU Panthers found themselves moving on to their senior game on Saturday, October 31. They brought in Worcester State University, who had an equivalent record of 2-5. This was a game that featured a well-balanced attack from the Panthers, scoring in all four quarters and only giving up a big second quarter of scoring to Worcester State, where they gave up 20 points. However for the Panthers, this game would go into OT, where they came up empty.

PSU started this game with a spark, when on WSU’s first possession they were forced to punt and Zach Ziemba (Manchester, NH) came up with a blocked punt, recovered it, and ran 15 yards for a PSU touchdown. The extra point failed and Plymouth saw an early 6-0 lead with 12:20 remaining in the first quarter.

The next score came from Worcester State just six seconds into the second quarter. Kemani Jones had a five-yard rush for the WSU score, and the extra point was good from Noah Hwang. 7-6 Worcester State.

After a quick three-and-out by PSU, they punted to Worcester State and on their first play, Dana Valentine (Roxbury, Mass.) rushed for a 54-yard touchdown to help the Lancers to a 14-6 lead with 12:57 left in the second period.

Then came more of the same for the Panthers. PSU was forced to punt after a quick three-and-out and the first play after the punt that sailed out of bounds was a touchdown. Terrence Gibson was on the receiving end of a 75-yard pass-play from Trevor Vasey that scored, and with a failed extra point, Worcester State had a 20-6 lead with just over ten minutes remaining in the first half.

Plymouth was able to get back on the scoreboard with 03:14 remaining in the half. On 4th and goal at Worcester’s one yard-line, Tyler Mahoney (Dracut, Mass.) was able to punch it in and Ryan Bentley’s (Charlestown, NH) A good PAT capped off a 5-play, 69-yard drive that took a little over three minutes.

Plymouth kept this momentum going in the second half as they scored on their opening drive. On 4th and three from the Worcester nine, Connor DiCesare (Hampton, NH) found Mitch Banuskevich (Milford, NH) for the nine-yard touchdown to finish a 13-play, 57-yard drive that took 08:33 off the clock. The PAT failed and Worcester held the lead at 20-19.

In the fourth quarter, Banuskevich found the end zone once more on a 10-yard rush with 07:29 remaining in regulation. Plymouth then called a timeout to talk over their 2-point conversion attempt and it ended up being successful as DiCesare found Chris Kelly (Belmont, Mass.) on a pass attempt, and the score came to 27-20 in favor of PSU.

However for Plymouth, Worcester would score on its next possession as Kemani Jones would find the end zone again, this time from one yard out, and with a good PAT, the score was knotted up at 27-27 and this is how regulation would end.

Worcester State University's Noah Hwang kicked a 23-yard field goal on the first possession in overtime. The Panthers chance to win the game was denied by WSU when Bennett Morgan (Springfield, Mass.) intercepted Panther quarterback Connor DiCesare at the one-yard line to seal their victory. The Lancers held off PSU for an exciting 30-27 win in MASCAC football action in Plymouth, NH. With the win Worcester State improves to 3-5 overall and 3-3 in the MASCAC. Plymouth State falls to 2-6 and 1-5 in conference play.