Mangano Scores Go Ahead Touchdown as Football Defeats Western Connecticut 39-34
Danbury, Conn. - Senior quarterback Matt Silva (Dracut, Mass.) completed 28 of 45 passes for 450 yards and five touchdowns to lead Framingham State University to a 39-34 come-from-behind victory over Western Connecticut State University in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action at the Westside Athletic Complex on Saturday afternoon.
The Rams, the two-time MASCAC champions, drove 82 yards in 1:16 late in the fourth quarter. Silva completed three straight passes and rushed for another five yards to put Framingham State at Western's 45-yard line with a fresh set of downs.
On the ensuing play, Jalen Green (Brockton, Mass.) ran off the right tackle and went 43 yards down to the Colonials two yard line. He finished the day with 48 yards on 10 carries.
After Silva spiked the ball to stop the clock, senior safety Matt Mangano (Winchester, Mass.) took the direct snap from center and plunged over the goal line for the game-winning score.
Western was left with 34 seconds to go 75 yards after the kick off from Sean Wlasuk (Peabody, Mass.). A 20-yard completion from senior signal caller Will Arndt (Sandy Hook, Conn.) to Jason Piontkowski (New London, Conn.) and a rush out of bounds for an additional five yards by Arndt brought the Colonials to midfield.
Arndt's desperation heave to Dimitrios Tsesmetizis (Hopewell Junction, NY) was deflected away by Kenneth Bartolo (Malden, Mass.) to preserve the visitor's victory.
Framingham State, now 3-1 overall and 2-0 in league action, raced out to a 19-0 lead following a 32-yard pass from Silva to Jared Gauthier (Dracut, Mass.) in the opening seconds of the second quarter.
The Rams were just coming off a first quarter where they maintained the ball for 11 of the 15 minutes of action and appeared to be running away with the victory.
The veteran group of Colonials had other thoughts and scored three of the game's next four touchdowns to draw within six points, 27-21 following a 53-yard touchdown run by junior running back Micheal Nicol (Wolcott, Conn.) with 7:38 left before intermission.
Western, now 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the MASCAC, took its first lead when Nicol plowed through the middle from two yards out with 8:11 remaining in the third stanza. That was the first of four lead changes over the final 22:37.
The Rams went back up 33-28 after Silva connected with Travis Hayes (Framingham, Mass.) with a 20-yard strike 2:14 into the final quarter.
Senior Connor Falaguerra (Milford, Conn.) and Arndt hooked up from 15 yards out with 8:13 left and the Colonials hung on to a 34-33 advantage.
The Colonials were able to hold Framingham to a three-and-out on its next possession and took the ball at its own 29 yard line with 7:08 to go.
Nicol, who finished with 205 yards on 38 carries, was called on seven times in the drive and amassed 38 yards, but he was stopped on fourth-and-one on the Rams 18 yard line by Campbell Marchant (Longmeadow, Mass.) and Nicholas Olivier (Medford, Mass.).
Silva's top targets on the afternoon were Tevin Jones (Springfield, Mass.) and Marus Grant (Carver, Mass.) who collected 187 and 106 yards respectively. Jones had seven catches and a pair of touchdowns while Grant pulled in nine tosses and hit paydirt once.
Arndt, a fifth-year senior, completed 20 of 31 passes for 274 yards and three scores.
Alex Altermatt (Branford, Conn.) led the Colonials' receiving corps with eight catches for 120 yards and a 52-yard touchdown.
Defensively, Kenneth Strecker (Uncasville, Conn.) led Western with 10 tackles while FSU sophomore Svenn Jacobsen (Cumberland, ME) led all players with 11 take downs.
Kareem Patterson (Milton, Mass.) and Bobby Durham (New Haven, Conn.) each had an interception for Western in the loss
The Colonials take to the road next Saturday to take on host Bridgewater State University for a 1 p.m. start. The Rams host UMass Dartmouth at noon on October 3rd at Bowditch Field.
Release courtesy of WCSU Sports Information.