Endicott snaps Husson football's 4-game winning streak
Oct. 17—Endicott College's Mike Ingraffia tossed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Shane Aylward with 15 seconds left in the third quarter to snap a tie and a late Husson University drive was thwarted with an interception as the Gulls collected a 24-17 victory in Bangor on Saturday.
Endicott (Mass.) improved to 6-1 overall and 3-0 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference with its fourth straight win. Husson had its four-game winning streak snapped and is now 4-2 and 1-1, respectively.
Ingraffia's pass to Aylward capped a 14-play, 87-yard drive after Husson had tied it on a 73-yard touchdown pass from Nic Visser to Tyler Halls.
Ingraffia and Aylward had connected on an 11-yard pass on a third down and six play at Endicott's 44-yard line to extend the drive and Tyler Bridge's eight-yard run at Husson's 30-yard line enabled Endicott to convert a third-and-seven.
Endicott's defense did not allow the Eagles to move the ball beyond Husson's 41-yard line on their first three drives after the Aylward touchdown reception, but Husson finally strung together a drive on its last possession after Josh Ladipo and Derek Barden tackled Bridge for a two-yard loss on a fourth-and-one at Husson's 23-yard line.
Visser completed passes of 32 and 14 to Halls to move the ball into Endicott territory and a six-yard pass to Shawn Noel Jr. on a third-and-one advanced the ball to Endicott's 27 yard line.
Halls rattled off a 15-yard run to the Endicott 12-yard line but it was nullified by a 10-yard holding penalty and Visser threw two incompletions before being picked off by LeFebre.
Husson opened the scoring with Aaron Paradis' 28-yard field goal after a false start penalty had pushed the Eagles back to the six-yard line from the one-yard line. An incompletion on third down prompted the field goal.
Former Wells High School star Tyler Bridge, a running back who won the Fitzpatrick Trophy given to the best senior football player in the state for his play during the 2018 season, scored on a five-yard run to give Endicott a 7-3 lead.
A 35-yard pass from Visser to Noel Jr. helped set up Garrett Poussard's one-yard plunge as Husson regained the lead at 10-7 but Ingraffia came back and threw a 27-yard TD pass to Geoffrey Ingrando with 1:56 left in the first half to give Endicott the lead.
Endicott's Tim Russell intercepted a Visser pass in the waning moments of the second period but David Redmond blocked Ryan Smith's 56-yard field goal attempt to close out the half.
Smith connected on a 33-yard field goal in the third quarter after Aylward's 56-yard punt return but Husson tied it on the 73-yard pass from Visser to Halls.
Ingraffia completed 18 of 27 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns. Aylward caught nine passes for 72 yards and Bridge, a Bates College transfer, carried the ball 27 times for 100 yards, both career-highs.
Russell led the defense with 13 tackles, tying a career-high. He set a career high with nine unassisted tackles. Sam Opont had 10 tackles and Tyler Davis was involved in nine.
Visser completed just 14 of 33 passes for 225 yards. Jon Bell caught five for 44 yards, Noel Jr. snared four for 52 and Halls had three catches for 119 yards. Poussard rushed for 59 yards on 18 carries and Noel Jr. added 44 on nine. Visser gained 42 on four carries.
Kaleb Caron had a game-high 17 tackles, Tucker Buzzell had 10 and Frank Curran and Josh Hoy had nine each. Caron and Curran had sacks.
"We didn't make enough plays," said Husson coach Nat Clark. "We had our opportunities. We moved the ball. They made a few more plays than we did."
Husson will travel to play the University of New England in Biddeford on Saturday at 1 p.m. and Endicott will travel to play Salve Regina (R.I.) at noon.
