College Football: Bridgewater State, Stonehill Seek First Wins

By Jim Fenton, The Enterprise (Brockton)

BROCKTON, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University and Stonehill College football teams followed a similar script on the way to opening-night losses.

Both the Bears and Skyhawks had problems getting untracked in the first half, then made comeback bids in the final 30 minutes before falling just short.

Bridgewawter State and Stonehill will be looking for their first wins when they get back in action.

The Bears play the home opener Saturday at noon against Kean University of New Jersey at Swenson Field while the Skyhawks play tonight in their first Northeast-10 Conference game at Southern Connecticut State University.

BSU trailed Curry College, 16-3, at half and was behind, 22-3, in the third quarter before losing, 28-24.

"The first half was rough and the second half we definitely regrouped,'' said coach Joe Verria. "It was a physical game early, but they regrouped and played the way we should play and made it a game.

"We were close enough to win the game after playing poorly in the first half. I was very encouraged. That's the way we expected them to come out in the beginning. It just took a little while.''

The Bears will be playing a Kean team that handed them a 47-21 loss a year ago on the road.

The Cougars are coming off a 26-7 loss to Christopher Newport University in which they lost the starting quarterback and running back to injuries.

"They had some tough injuries in their opener, but the backups that came in are very good football players,'' said Verria. "We're going to have our hands full.

"They're a very good football team. They are big, physical and they run first and pass second and they have 10 of 11 players back on defense.''

Stonehill fell into a 24-10 halftime hole against Bloomsburg University, then dominated the second half.

The Skyhawks held the visitors from Pennsylvania scoreless after the break and limited them to only seven yards of total offense in 30 minutes.

Stonehill had the ball in the closing minutes with a chance to move in front but the Huskies' defense prevented that from happening.

Southern Connecticut State opened its season last week with a 31-9 road loss to Gannon University.

The Skyhawks dropped a 28-17 decision to the Owls a year ago in Easton.

Stonehill entered that game 4-0 but struggled against Southern Connecticut State with quarterback Matt Foltz getting sacked seven times.

Freshman placekicker Matthew Haite of Kingston was named the NE-10 special teams player of the week for the Skyhawks after converting field goals of 36 and 30 yards with two extra points in his collegiate debut against Bloomsburg.

The predictions:

• Boston College 27, UMass 13: The Eagles shake off their jet lag after a trip to Ireland.
• Pittsburgh 31, Penn State 21: The Panthers win the battle of Pennsylvania.
• Louisville 35, Syracuse 21: The Cardinals take care of the Orangemen.
• Bridgewater State 28, Kean 24: The Bears slip by for their first win.
• Stonehill 24, Southern Connecticut 17: The Skyhawks pick up a road victory.