Endicott Defense Leads Gulls to Win
Sept. 30, 2006
Dudley, MA - In a game where both defenses not did allow a single touchdown, the Endicott Gulls pulled out a 7-3 victory over the Nichols Bison on Saturday at Vendetti Field.
The Gulls scored the only touchdown of the game off a fumble by senior quarterback Michael Carven (Hanover, MA) in the second quarter. The Bison scored on their very first drive of the game, a 35 yard field goal by freshman Kyle Gilson (East Waterboro, ME), but Endicott shutdown Nichols offense on its next 12 drives. The Gulls move to 3-2 on the year and 2-0 in Boyd Division play while the Bison fall to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in Boyd play.
Gilson's 35 yard field goal with 8:45 left in the first quarter was the longest Bison field goal at Vendetti Field this decade. Endicott threatened on the ensuing drive, getting down to the Nichols eight yard line but a fumble by Angelo Ortiz (Manshantucket, CT) gave the Bison the ball back.
The Gulls scored the lone touchdown of the game when Mike Egan (West Hartford, CT) took Carven down out of the shot gun. Carven attempted to get rid of the ball but Joe Leaver was able to snatch it up in the back field, easily running in 37 yards for the score.
The Bison offense struggled in the second half, getting into Endicott territory on just one of its seven drives. Nichols last chance came with 1:12 left in the game but Carven threw his second interception of the quarter on just the second play of the drive.
While Nichols offense may have struggled the Bison defense was superb, totaling seven sacks for a loss of 43 yards on the day. Senior Bryan Meuse (Billerica, MA) and junior Matt Parkinson (Coventry, CT) each tallied ten tackles, including eight solo hits by Parkinson. Meuse had two tackles for a big loss of 24 yards and two and a half sacks for a loss of 24 yards.
Junior Brenden Bonn (East Haven, CT) totaled 6.5 tackles, four of them for a loss of 14 total yards. In addition, Bonn registered one and a half sacks, including a sack which resulted in an Endicott fumble.
Carven threw for 134 yards on 11-22 attempts. Sophomore Joshua Harris (Northbridge, MA) had a game-high four receptions for 84 yards. Mark Killinger led the Gulls offensively with 111 yards rushing.
Nichols will play at Salve Regina next Saturday, Oct. 7, at 12 p.m., while the Gulls will host Plymouth State at 5:30 p.m. in Beverly.
Courtesy of Nichols College Sports Information Department