By Nick Pantages
@nick_pantages22
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – After a heartbreaking loss on the final offensive snap of the game against its crosstown rivals Western New England, the Springfield College football team needed to get back on track. They did exactly that, cruising to a 38-6 victory over Husson University and improving to 1-1.
For the Pride and head coach Mike Cerasuolo, the message to his team was simple.
“We said all week long just to play like an SC guy,” Cerasuolo said. “[Play] with passion, pride and purpose, and they go to work every single day.”
From the opening kick, it was almost a flawless start. The Pride stopped Husson on its opening drive, and after a series of rushing plays to work down the field, junior quarterback TJ Welch faked a dive, dropping back and hitting wide receiver Austin Studley down the field for a touchdown, with Studley making a full-extension diving catch for his first career touchdown.
Welch used his legs for the next score following another Husson punt, taking the third snap of the drive 70 yards to the end zone, and capping off a dominant first quarter that saw Springfield total 170 total yards and lead 14-0.
The Pride’s experienced defensive unit held strong, as they limited Husson to 121 total yards in the first half. Junior defensive lineman Tyler Sordillo was a key factor for Springfield, totaling career-bests with seven total tackles and a sack on the afternoon. He credited the group’s experience and familiarity playing with each other as a factor leading to the unit’s success.
“We’ve all been here since our freshman year, a group of three or four juniors,” Sordillo said. “We are older guys now, and we make sure the younger guys are ready too.”
Springfield added one more score before halftime, with fullback Stanford Davis scoring his first career touchdown. Davis was the Pride’s leading rusher on the day, turning 17 carries into 121 rushing yards.
After halftime, Welch added another touchdown on the ground after the Pride embarked on a clock-killing, 7:48 second drive to begin the second half. Cerasuolo praised Springfield’s offensive operation, with a fairly inexperienced group totaling over 400 yards rushing.
“It’s getting better every day,” Cerasuolo said. “It’s been great to see the development these guys have been doing each day, getting better with communication, better with blocking and better with their reads. It’s been cool to see the growth every single day.”
The Pride’s defensive dominance was on full display in the third quarter, with the Eagles offense only mustering a single yard of total offense.
“Coach Keene and his staff did an unbelievable job,” Cerasuolo said. “The point was to take [the run] away, force them to be a little bit one-dimensional, and take the run game away. And we have very good defensive pursuit, we knew we could rally up to some of that underneath stuff.”
The defense was the story for Springfield, holding a shutout deep into the fourth quarter, and limiting Husson to just 20 rushing yards and 1.2 yards per carry. For Sordillo and the defense, that is not something to boast about, but rather a weekly expectation.
“That’s a standard for us,” Sordillo said. “We’ve been harping on keeping them to under 2.5 yards per carry.”
With all three phases of the game excelling for the Pride, they are riding into what figures to be one of the games of the week in all of Division III on a high note. The Pride will travel into the Midwest to take on Wisconsin-Plateville, a team that was ranked right below the Pride in the preseason polls, and is pushing close to the top 10 of the d3football.com poll, at 11.
“I think both sides of the ball and our core teams, it’s been great because there’s a lot of guys getting opportunities, and they are taking advantage,” Cerasuolo said.
The Pride will play the Pioneers in Wisconsin on Sept. 20 at 1 p.m. EST.