By Nick Pantages
@nick_pantages22
The Springfield defense faced a fourth and five deep into its own territory on the first play following the two minute timeout, and the MIT offense dialed up a quick throw to the sideline. The throw, delivered by Engineers backup quarterback Shaunak Joshi, sailed high and away, resulting in a turnover on downs.
The Pride inherited possession and ran out the clock, and with the score 48-0, Springfield secured its first shutout of the season.
“We’ve been really close this year a couple times of keeping teams off the scoreboard, and to get this one was really great for the defense,” Cerasuolo said. “They definitely earned it.”
The three starting running backs all touched the ball for the Pride on their first series, and that was all they needed. Arsen Shtefan carried it for six yards on the opening play, Vazquez for 19 following that, and Blane Hart capped off the drive with a 43-yard rushing score, fighting off a handful of MIT defenders in a highlight play.
After an Aaziah Scott sack to force an MIT punt, the Pride began to march back down the field. However, quarterback Jacob Silvester attempted to pitch the ball to Hart on a trademark option play, and delivered the pitch to Hart’s back shoulder. Hart ran right by the pitch, and the MIT defense easily rallied to the loose ball, recovering a fumble and giving them the ball in great field position just behind midfield.
But playing with their customary swagger and confidence, Colby Richardson and the rest of the Pride defense shut the door on the Engineers, forcing another punt.
“We had a great week of practice, the energy was high all week, so we just carried that over into the game,” Richardson said.
Springfield’s offense embarked on another long, clock-killing drive, and settled for a fourth down from the four yard line. It was assumed the Pride were going to extend their lead, especially when Hart scampered in for what everyone thought was his second touchdown. The referees disagreed, much to the dismay of the fans, calling a hold on Vazquez. The Pride were forced to turn to Ian Wernik to attempt a field goal, which he promptly missed wide to the left.
The Engineers looked to create some momentum, which they did by converting a third-and-five.
Two plays later, the Engineers center sent the snap flying over the quarterback’s head. The result was a third-and-35, which the Pride easily stopped and forced yet another MIT punt.
Shtefan and Hart pushed the Pride back into the red zone, and this time Hart found his way back into the end zone and extended the Pride’s lead to 14.
“These kids are resilient, and they know that we kind of stopped ourselves there,” Cerasuolo said. “It’s just a matter of cleaning that stuff up and they will, they know the number one thing of this offense is keeping the ball off the ground.”
After forcing the fifth MIT punt of the game, the Pride’s other key running back, Joe Cannizzaro, punched in a touchdown from one yard out.
On third down during the ensuing Engineers drive, quarterback Thomas Stueber looked down the left sideline, and challenged cornerback Tyler Paladino. He did not account for Springfield free safety Nick Gonzalez, who perfectly read his eyes and undercut the throw, coming down with his first career interception right before halftime.
Gonzalez was a standout performer today in an impressive showing by the entire defensive unit, posting seven total tackles along with the interception.
When the final whistle of the first half sounded, the Engineers had -9 total yards of offense, showcasing an incredible performance for the Pride defense.
“We didn’t plan on it, but once we saw that it could happen, we wanted it badly,” Richardson said.
The second half was much of the same for the Pride, responding with touchdowns after forcing MIT punts. They found the end zone on all three of their drives in the fourth quarter, with Shtefan scoring two and Thomas Tini getting his first touchdown of the season.
On their first drive of the fourth quarter, reserve fullback Johnell Fillippini busted off a spectacular 61-yard touchdown. He started right on a dive play, running into a pack of Engineers. He managed to spin out of the gang tackle, bursting free down the left sideline. The score pushed the lead to 48-0.
The Engineers put together a nice drive on their final series, but were unable to score, and the game ended after four Pride rushes.
“[A shutout] has been something we have been working at for a long time,” Richardson said. “We have had a lot of opportunities to get a shutout, and we just couldn’t do it, and this one felt really good.”
This was also homecoming weekend for the Pride, and as an alum himself, Cerasuolo knows the feeling of winning this specific game — but also knows it’s just another roadblock on the schedule.
“Every game is important obviously, but the effort these kids put in over the course of the week and the bye week, it’s great,” Cerasuolo said. “And to have alumni come back, it’s awesome to be able to see these kids put the culture on tape. And they did that today.”
Next up for the Pride is Salve Regina on the road in Newport, R.I. on Oct. 26.
Last season, the Seahawks finished right behind the Pride in their inaugural NEWMAC campaign, and this season equaled the Pride’s 3-0 conference record with a narrow 34-28 win over Coast Guard.
Despite the opponent, Cerasuolo and the Pride know that they don’t need to do anything special.
“We’re going to prepare for them the same way we prepare for any other game,” Richardson said.
“These guys can celebrate the victory tonight, they earned it,” Cerasuolo said. “And then we’ll get back at it tomorrow and start putting the pieces together moving forward.”
Photo courtesy of Springfield Athletics.