Bridgewater State Handed 36-7 Football Loss in Season-Opener

By Jim Fenton, The Enterprise (Brockton)

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. -- Opening day of the 2013 season will not be remembered fondly by the Bridgewater State University football team.

After going 9-2 and reaching the NCAA Div. 3 tournament a year ago, the Bears were overwhelmed by Salve Regina University in their season debut on Saturday afternoon at Gaudet Field.

In a matchup of teams picked to finish second in their respective conferences, Bridgewater State never presented a challenge to the Seahawks and was sent back to Massachusetts with a stinging 36-7 defeat.

“I knew they were this good, I knew they were a great football team and I knew they were going to be fantastic,’’ said BSU coach Chuck Denune of Salve Regina. “I hoped we would be playing at a higher level at this point, though.

“I wasn’t surprised that they were that good. I was maybe a little surprised that we did not play as well as I hoped we would.’’

Right from the start, it was evident that the Seahawks were going to be a difficult assignment for the Bears, who were behind, 14-0, in the first quarter and 21-0 by halftime. BSU had a pair of punts blocked, one leading to a safety, and committed 10 penalties for 121 yards.

Salve Regina had the edge in field position early and took full advantage while BSU could generate very little on offense, scoring its lone touchdown with only 38 seconds to go in the game.

“We lost the line of scrimmage at the first snap,’’ said Denune. “We were playing on the wrong side of the line of scrimmage from the first quarter.

“Our defense started to kind of improve and held up, but little mental mistakes killed us. Offensively, we were just not able to control the line of scrimmage and get anything accomplished, really.’’

Salve Regina scored on its second possession, going 67 yards on seven plays with Dan Buonocore (four touchdowns) going in from two yards out with 8:37 left in the first quarter, and the lead went to 14-0 less than five minutes later with Buonocore adding a 3-yard TD run.

The Seahawks made it 21-0 with 5:23 to go in the half on a 15-yard run by Khari Halliburton after a pass by Mike McCarthy (6-for-16, 44 yards) was intercepted by Salve Regina captain Joshua Burnett of Whitman at the BSU 44.

Burnett, a senior cornerback, had a team-high 12 tackles and blocked one of the punts.

With BSU’s frustrations mounting on offense, Salve Regina opened the lead to 36-0 by the end of the third quarter as Buonocore had TD runs of 32 and 2 yards sandwiched around the safety when the blocked punt went out of the end zone.

The only score by the Bears came in the final minute when Matt Green of Stoughton caught a 22-yard TD pass from backup quarterback Danny Higgins to avoid the shutout.

“They covered our guys up, and any time we did have guys open, there were people in the face of the quarterback pretty quick,’’ said Denune of the trouble on offense. “You’ve got to give them a lot of credit. They’re a good program, but we’ve got to look at ourselves in the mirror. We’ve got to improve because we’re going to face good opponents again.’’

“At this point right now, everybody wants to go undefeated and obviously we’re not. At this point, we want to win a football team and we’re concentrating on that next weekend (the home opener against William Paterson). That’s all we can do at this point and try to go into conference play with positive momentum.’’

Green was BSU’s top receiver with five catches for 66 yards while Blaise Branch of Brockton had five carries for 66 yards, making him the top rusher.