BEVERLY, Mass.— Despite a pair of big plays late in the first half, Eastern University Football feel short in an early season test at No. 24 Endicott College. The two teams scored 28 of the 38 points in the game in the last five minutes of the first half.
After three fruitless drives to start the game, the host Gulls finally opened the scoring on a one-yard run on third down with 4:24 left in the first quarter. The big play of the drive, however, came four plays earlier. The Eagles had the Gulls behind the sticks when
Landon Blauch and
Nardo Murphy blew up a running play for an eight yard loss. The biggest loss on the play, however, was for the Eagles.
Jason Bateman left the game with an injury. The following play, Endicott quarterback Shea Lynch broke containment and scrambled for a first down.
The first quarter ended with the hosts up 7-0 and the two teams combining for less than 100 yards.
After the Eagles had a drive stall in the second, the hosts doubled their lead on 16-yard pass on a broken coverage with 4:53 on the clock.
Without much happening on offense, the Eagles got their first big play from an expected spot. On the second play from scrimmage,
Brett Nabb pushed his way through tacklers and scampered up the left sideline for a 74-yard touchdown to close the gap to 14-7.
With Endicott running a two-minute drill, the Eastern defense again seemed to be in a good spot with 4th and 1 at the 39 yard line with less than 40 seconds to play. Endicott back Markys Bridgewater broke a tackle behind the line of scrimmage and escaped into the clear for a 39-yard touchdown.
That 14-point lead proved to be short-lived. On the kickoff,
Chris Rivera broke a pair of tackles near the sideline and went 91 yards for a score. To close the gap to 21-14.
Incredibly, the game could have been even crazier. The Gulls got a long return the other way that forced
John Nolek to make a tackle at the Eastern 44 with eight seconds to play. The gulls completed a short pass but were still out of field goal range.
Saadiq Simpkins came up with an interception at the goal line to stop the drive. That was the only turnover of the game.
After halftime, the Gulls took advantage of a pair of big penalties to drive deep in the Eagles territory. The Eastern defense stiffened, but a 23-yard field goal put the hosts up two scores.
The Eagles had a great chance to cut into that lead when
Curtis Johnson put a punt inside the Endicott two yard line. ON the next play, the Eagles got into the backfield and had a shot at the running back in the end zone, but a the Gulls escaped and were able to build a drive from there.
Eastern outgunned the Gulls 97-53 in the fourth quarter, but some key penalties and solid defense by the hosts kept the Eagles from getting closer.
Nabb finished the day with 125 yards in the air and 70 yards running.
Jeremiah Avrilien caught three passes for 35 yards and ran for 67 yards.
Jamauri James made ten tackles and
Sam Scell added nine to lead the Eastern defense.
"We went toe-to-toe with a very good team today," Head Coach
Billy Crocker said after the game. "We had a few too many breakdowns to beat a team at that level. We started the year knowing we would not have the same 22 guys on the field. We saw that today. This was a good test for us to start the season, but the result today does not change anything for us in the league. We have a big home game next week."
The Eagles will host the Misericordia University Cougars at Radnor Street Road at 1:00 on Saturday.
