Husson football holds off Springfield for Homecoming victory
Sep. 26—Junior quarterback Nic Visser completed 19 of 30 passes for 325 yards and three touchdowns and the Husson University Eagles hung on for a 26-21 Homecoming victory over Springfield College at the Winkin Sports Complex in Bangor on Saturday afternoon.
Husson improved to 3-1 after posting its third straight win while Springfield fell to 1-3.
The Eagles scored all of their points in the second period including 20 unanswered points to erase a 7-6 deficit.
Tim Callahan's 4-yard touchdown run with 10:25 left in the first half and Christian Hutra's ensuing extra-point gave Springfield a 7-6 lead after Visser's 37-yard touchdown pass to Jon Bell had opened the scoring. Husson missed the extra point.
But Visser connected on a 54-yard touchdown pass to tight end Aidan Hogan just 1:16 after Callahan's touchdown to give Husson the lead for good.
Wide receiver Bell expanded the lead on a 12-yard run with 4:43 remaining in the second period and the Eagles made it 26-7 on a 1-yard pass from Visser to Tyler Halls with only two seconds remaining in the half.
Halls' reception capped a nine play, 65-yard drive and was his third catch of the drive. His previous two catches covered 34 and 8 yards.
"That was a big play in the game. It was a quick slant pass," said Husson University head coach Nat Clark.
The Pride cut the lead to 26-14 with 13 seconds left in the third period when Aiden Lewis intercepted a Visser pass and returned it 55 yards.
While the Eagle offense sputtered in the second half, the defense stymied the Pride offense until Springfield strung together a 12-play, 67-yard drive late in the fourth quarter that resulted in an Isaiah Cashwell-Doe 14-yard touchdown run with 1:03 remaining.
But on the ensuing onsides kick, Springfield was called for a kick catching interference penalty when Halls called for a fair catch and the Eagles ran out the clock.
The Husson defense forced four fumbles and recovered three of them and also had two sacks.
"It was a great win. We played well in all three phases of the game" said Clark.
"Offensively, we had a great second quarter. But we couldn't run the football in the second half and that's something we have to work on," he added. "[Visser] had a good game. He made some big plays in the passing game."
Husson racked up 450 total yards to Springfield's 302.
Husson had 125 rushing yards to go with Visser's 325 passing yards. Springfield ran for 263 yards but managed just 39 passing yards.
Skowhegan's Bell wound up with eight receptions for 130 yards; Halls had five catches for 106 yards and Hogan added three catches for 66 yards.
Garrett Poussard was Husson's leading rusher with 48 yards on 20 carries.
Callahan ran for a game-high 90 yards on 18 carries to pace the Pride. Quarterback David Wells added 64 yards on 18 carries.
Tucker Buzzell's 13 tackles paced the Husson defense. Kaleb Caron and Frank Curran each had eight tackles. Buzzell and Caron each recovered a fumble and Antwan Turner also recovered one.
Lewin's 14 tackles, D.J. Brown's 10 and Thomas Evans' eight tackles led Springfield.
Husson has next weekend off and will then open Commonwealth Coast Conference play when it hosts Curry on Oct. 9.
