Courtesy Norwich Sports Information
NEWTON, Mass. – The Norwich University football team picked up its fifth straight Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) win after defeating Mount Ida College, 33-7 on Saturday afternoon.
Norwich scored two touchdowns within the first four minutes of the third quarter to seize control of the game and improve to 5-3 overall and a perfect 5-0 in the conference.
The Cadets jumped out to a quick lead on their first possession, with an 8 play, 93 yard drive that took just three minutes and was punctuated by a 5-yard touchdown run by running back Quincy Williams (Brossard, Quebec).
The only scoring of the second quarter was a Wesley Medeiros (Gilford, N.H.) 43 yard field goal, which put the Cadets up 10-0 at the break, but Mount Ida (2-6, 2-3 ECFC) managed to contain Norwich’s offensive attack in the first half, forcing four punts.
Momentum swung in the visitor’s favor almost immediately in the second half, as a Mount Ida fumble on the opening kickoff was recovered by Eleazar Rausseo (Cooper City, Fla.) at the Mount Ida 14, and one play later, Williams had punched the ball into the end zone.
On their next drive, the Cadets got two more big rushes from Williams, sandwiched around a Bazinet pass to Pierre Noel (Manchester, N.H.) for 16 yards to set up Nicholas Benoit (Saugus, Mass.), who found the end zone from two yards out, with a Medeiros kick making it 23-0 Norwich.
Noel finished the day with six catches for 108 yards, while senior Zach Allen (Boston, Mass.) was the leading receiver with seven catches for 50 yards. Junior Trystan Colaire (Pickering, Ontario) caught an 11 yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter to help the Cadets increase their lead to 30-0 before a fade in the back of the end zone from Mount Ida’s Travis O’Brien put the Mustang on the board and another Medeiros field goal for Norwich, this time from 30 yards, capped the scoring.
Mustang Running back Melquawn Pinkney (Springfield, Mass.) ran for 103 yards on the day for Mount Ida, but the Mustangs couldn’t stop the up-tempo attack of the Cadets, led by quarterback Philippe Bazinet (Otterburn Park, Quebec), who threw for 215 yards and a touchdown, and Williams, who rushed for 106 yards and two scores.
Defensively for the Mustangs, junior Sean Chinova (Watertown, Conn.) led the team with 12 tackles, and also had a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry. Seniors Dom Spaulding (W. Harford, Conn.) and Johnny Quinones (Hyde Park, Mass.) each had sacks, while Tyree Singletary (Newark, N.J.) and Chris Toyloy (Yonkers, N.Y.) had three tackles apiece, and Toyloy blocked an extra point, the only black mark on a great afternoon kicking and punting by Medeiros.
Benjamin Hummer (Annapolis, Md.) racked up 12 tackles for the Cadets, while Tyler Oppelt (Latham, N.Y.) had eight tackles, forced a fumble and had one of three interceptions for Norwich, another coming from Joshua Johnson (Trophy Club, Texas), who picked off Sheehan at the Norwich two-yard line as the Mustangs looked to punch in a score at the end of the first half.
Mount Ida hits the road for their final two games of the year, starting next Saturday when they meet SUNY Maritime at 2:00 pm in Throgg’s Neck, N.Y.
Norwich hosts Husson at 1:00 pm in Northfield, Vt. on Saturday in a battle of conference unbeaten.