By Nick Pantages
@nick_pantages22
With a second and goal from the two-yard line, the winless Norwich Cadets were looking to keep its upset bid alive deep into Springfield territory. The Cadets chose to give it to the up-man out of the “I” formation, gaining a yard and taking the ball to the one.
They tried the same play to the opposite side on the next snap, with the Pride’s defensive line trio of Aaziah Scott, JT Kinsey and Tyler Sordillo holding strong once again.
It was now fourth and goal from about a foot from the endzone, and the Cadets tried to pivot their strategy, putting two receivers on the field. They handed it to the halfback on the next snap, who was stuffed by senior Will McKay, giving the Pride a goal-line stop right on the brink of halftime, as the offense took over 99 yards from the end zone with a minute and change on the clock.
The Pride offense put the ball in the hands of their veteran running backs, with Arsen Shtefan and Sean Brown alternating carries over the first four plays to give the Pride some breathing room.
On the fifth play they went back to their bruising fullback, as Shtefan picked up nine yards, but was wrestled down by his facemask and the Pride picked up 15 extra yards.
Now it was their time to strike.
The Pride play-faked an option to the right side as quarterback Jacob Silvester dropped back to pass. Silvester got to the top of his five-step drop, settled his feet, and hit wide receiver Bradley Barcello, coming right to left, on a deep over route just past the 35 yard line. Barcello settled after catching the pass, taking two hard steps towards the middle of the field before bursting back to the left sideline. One huge block by fellow receiver Noah Wagnblas and a stiff-arm later, Barcello was into the end zone with five seconds left in the first half, giving the Pride a 28-7 lead just 56 seconds after it looked like Norwich was about to cut the lead to 21-14.
“The defense stood tall right there, and they’ve been doing that all year,” Pride head coach Mike Cerasuolo said. “It was a great job by the defense holding them down there, and then the offense turning it into points.”
This stretch gave the Pride all the momentum that they needed, cruising to a 56-14 victory on their senior night, and pushing their record to 8-0.
The Pride’s senior class put on a show in their last regular season home game. Silvester accounted for 93 yards through the air and another 48 on the ground, along with three total touchdowns. Classmates Logan Schneck, Sean Brown and Dante Vazquez also found paydirt, while defensively, McKay, Colby Richardson and Billy Carr all had at least four total tackles.
“[This win] is a culmination of four years of work, time and effort that we put into this,” Silvester said. “It feels so good.”
The Pride’s senior class has had unprecedented success over the past four years. To date, they are a perfect 24-0 in conference play, and have qualified for the Division III Championship Tournament in each of their first three years. But to Cerasuolo and the rest of the team, their impact goes well beyond the legacy they have left on the field.
“Obviously they’ve had a ton of success on the field, but I think it’s more of what they brought to the team, the culture, the program and the college in general,” Cerasuolo said. “This is a great group of seniors and they’ve provided so much leadership, the growth of this team has been a direct reflection of them.”
“They are tremendous people and leaders, and they’re going to do great things when they get out of here. They’ve had success here, but they are going to carry that success over to their lives.”
To start the game, the Pride forced a punt early and took over at their own 20. The Cadets forced the Pride offense into a third and nine, where they reached into their back of tricks. Silvester started right and flipped the ball to receiver Bradley Barcello on an end-around, who raced down the sideline for 49 yards. Silvester and Shtefan did the rest from there, with Shtefan punching it in from a yard out to give the Pride an early lead.
Sean Brown scored on the next drive, and they forced another punt after that. On the ensuing punt, Joe Maurer fumbled the ball, and lost his plea with the referees that his knee was down. The Cadets took advantage of the field position, as Aidan Sullivan and Henri Bourque connected for a 10-yard touchdown through the air.
Springfield marched down the field again on eight plays – all runs – as Dante Vazquez scored on his first carry of the game. The option offense looked unstoppable at points today, with 10 ball-carriers having at least 10 rushing yards.
“Every time a team comes in, they get to decide what they want to try and take away,” Silvester said. “Today it was a lot of taking away the perimeter, so the ball ended up in my hands. But everyone has got to do their jobs in order for that to happen, and they did that.”
After halftime, the Pride methodically worked their way up the field with a series of runs, before Silvester hit Schneck on another deep ball for a 22-yard score to put them up 35-7.
“We did a lot of stuff in terms of motioning our halfbacks, getting their safeties to move, and that let us get the ball to Bradley and Logan on both of those touchdowns,” Silvester said.
Springfield kept their control over the game from there, with Shtefan, Bode Dunn and Cam Pedro running for touchdowns. For Norwich, Sullivan and Bourque linked up for another passing score.
The Pride have two more games left on their slate this season, both road games. They take on Merchant Marine on Nov. 9, who will have had extra time to prepare for the Pride after being idle this week. After that it will be SUNY Maritime on Nov. 16. The Pride can clinch a NEWMAC conference victory with a win over Merchant Marine.
Photo courtesy of Springfield Athletics.