Van Alstyne Eclipses 4,000 Yards as Football Wins Second Straight Bogan Division Title

New London, Conn. - Junior running back Melikke Van Alstyne (Salem, Mass.) eclipsed the 4,000 rushing yard mark for his career as he rushed for 126 yards and a touchdown as Framingham State wrapped up its second straight New England Football Conference (NEFC) Bogan Division championship with a 39-3 win over Coast Guard.

Coast Guard senior quarterback Jon Resch, who was ranked 10th nationally with 337.3 yards of total offense per game and led the NEFC with 314.3 passing yards per game, was knocked out of the game with a concussion on the Bears first possession of the second quarter. He finished 7 of 14 for 79 yards in the loss.

The Rams, the #2 team in New England, improve to 8-1 overall and 6-0 in the division while Coast Guard drops to 4-4 overall and 3-3 in Bogan play.

Coast Guard actually scored first, a 35-yard field goal by freshman Tyler Henning on the Bears first possession of the game for a 3-0 lead with 10:47 left in the first quarter.

Van Alstyne, who finished the game with 4,045 career rushing yards, gave the Rams the lead for good on a 22-yard touchdown run with 6:58 left in the first quarter.

Sophomore Matt Mangano (Winchester, Mass.) scored on a 3-yard run with two minutes left in the opening quarter and after the extra point was blocked, the score was 13-3.

Coast Guard missed a 43-yard field goal with 9:35 left in the half, but Resch left the game for good on the play before the missed field goal.

A bad snap on a punt, set the Rams up on the Coast Guard 16-yard line and freshman Matt Silva (Dracut, Mass.) threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Randall Kelleher (Swampscott, Mass.) for a 20-3 lead with 5:04 left in the half and Framingham sophomore Phil Clain (Swampscott, Mass.) booted an 8-yard field goal with 1:51 left in the first half for a 23-3 halftime lead.

Framingham had 278 of its 485 yards of offense in the first half while Coast Guard finished with 178 total yards, 109 in the first half. The Rams finished with 211 yards passing and 274 yards rushing while Coast Guard had 160 passing yards and just 18 yards rushing.

Coast Guard junior backup quarterback Aaron Corn (6 of 12, 26 yards, 1 INT) was sacked in the end zone on the second possession of the second half pushing the lead to 25-3 with 11:14 left in the quarter.

Junior Kevin Donahue (Norfolk, Mass.) picked off Corn and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown pushing the lead to 32-3 with 7:35 left in the third.

The Rams closed the scoring on 16-yard pass from Silva to senior Alex Avery (Milford, Mass.) with 1:15 left in the third.

Silva was 19 of 30 for 191 yards with two touchdowns and one interception for the Rams.  Donahue finished the game with four tackles, three solo, one for a loss to go along with the interception returned for a touchdown.  Junior Michael Altavesta (Tewksbury, Mass.) racked up a team-best eight tackles including seven solo stops with an interception, while Jeff Touron (Brockton, Mass.) chipped in five tackles including a pair of sacks.

Sophomore Jake Wawrzyniak had 11 carries for 40 yards to lead the Bears on the ground while third-string quarterback freshman Troy Nunes was 7 of 14 for 26 yards with one interception in his collegiate debut. Freshman Drew Londo, the Bears fourth quarterback of the game, was 3 for 4 for 29 yards in his first collegiate action.

Senior Pat Meggers went over the 1,000 yard mark for receiving yards in his career as he had four catches for 44 yards to finish the game with 1,038 yards.

The Rams close out the regular season next Saturday when they host Worcester State at noon.

Release courtesy of Coast Guard Sports Information.