Silva Leads Football to Season Opening 42-6 Victory over Endicott
Beverly, Mass. – Senior quarterback Matt Silva (Dracut, Mass.) threw for five touchdowns as the Framingham State University football defeated Endicott College 42-6 this afternoon in the season opener for both schools.
The Rams are now 1-0 on the year and have defeated Endicott (0-1) to open the season for the third straight year.
Silva completed 29 of 35 passes for 261 yards with the five touchdowns and no interceptions. Silva completed touchdown passes to three different receivers with the seniors Jared Gauthier (Dracut, Mass.) and Tevin Jones (Springfield, Mass.) each catching a pair. Gauthier finished the day with 11 catches for 92 yards, while Jones made eight for 78 yards.
After punting on their opening possession of the day, the Rams punched in touchdowns on their next three drives to take a commanding 21-0 lead. Silva connected with Gauthier from 19 yards out to cap a six play, 57 yard drive with 9:05 left in the first. Sophomore Mike Calicchio (Chelmsford, Mass.) caught a 16 yard pass from Silva with 4:38 left in the first extending the lead to 14-0 after senior Sean Wlasuk (Peabody, Mass.), who went 6 for 6 on PATs in the game, converted the extra point.
In the second quarter, the Rams went 71 yards on 10 plays capped by a four yard pass from Silva to Guathier with 12:55 on the clock. Endicott answered going 80 yards on 12 plays with Chris Lipscomb catching an 11 yard pass from Joe Picard for the Gulls only touchdown in the game. After the extra point attempt failed, the Rams led 21-6 with six minutes left in the half. The Rams drove down the field and added one more score before the break as Jones and Silva connected from 10 yards out with less than a minute remaining in the half.
Senior Matt Mangano (Winchester, Mass.) extended the lead on a one yard touchdown run in the opening minutes of the third quarter and Silva hit Jones with a nine yard touchdown strike with five seconds left in the third to cap the scoring for the game.
The Rams racked up 473 yards of total offense in the game to just 220 for the Gulls, who rushed for just 60 yards in the contest. The Rams defense was paced by sophomore Svenn Jacobson (Cumberland, ME) who racked up a game-high 11 tackles including five solo stops with a forced fumble. Mangano and sophomore Kenneth Bartolo (Malden, Mass.) picked up an interception a piece in the game.
The Rams are back in action next Saturday when they host Cortland State at Bowditch Field with kickoff slated for noon.