After beating Springfield for first time since 1942:

NU football ends season at 4-6

By Paul May and Jason Leonard
Norwich Guidon Staff Writers

In 1942 there was a war going on overseas, and here in the States on one Saturday afternoon there was a war going on in the mountains of Vermont between Norwich University and Springfield College, a fight that would start a dry spell for Norwich that would last until 59 years later, according to the Alumni office.

The Norwich football team came into this year's game with a record of three and five and left the game four and five with the score of 14 to 13. "We needed to win this big game, and I knew that this was the team to do it," said Tri-Captain Steve Hare, 22, a senior communication major from Sasodia, New York.

Norwich was 38 for 98 yards for rushing and had 198 yards in passing. Springfield had 64 for 205 yards in rushing and only 26 yards for passing. For total yardage Norwich had 284 yards, compared to Springfield, which had only 231.

"Our team strength is our defense, and Springfield's strength is their offense. Their main offensive play is the option which our defense has been able to stop consistently all year," said Axel Hernandez, a 21, junior biology major from Durfee, Massachusetts.

Brian Carloni from Plymouth, Massachusetts, a 22 year old senior Tri-Captain and criminal justice major, said, "It was the best game I ever played in. Our defense was able to shut them down the whole game." The defense slowed down the Springfield offensive onslaught, allowing 205 yards on 64 carries.

"With hard work and the desire to win, this [Norwich Football] team can do anything when they can come together," said Tri-Captain Rob Robichaud, 22, a senior criminal justice major from Peabody, Mass. "We believed in the fact that we were the team to break the losing record with this team."

Springfield came into the game defending their Freedom Football Conference standing. This season, they were picked by the league coaches to repeat.

"I was always told that, on any given day, any team can beat any team no matter how good they where or even if they were national ranked," said Hare.

Norwich did not start the season out right. They had lost the first few games by only five points. "This put the team down. We were not sure what to do," said Robichaud "but I knew that once we could come together and work together, then we would have a great team."

"Springfield is a team that is always going to be a good game to watch," said Tom Kennedy, a 20 year old junior communications major from Weymouth, Mass., who had one catch for 47 yards. "Springfield was going to give us a run for our money. I knew that is what they were thinking, but we had other plans."

Matt Tucker, a 19-year-old sophomore criminal justice major from Natuan, NJ, who had four catches for 53 yards, said, "Norwich had played a great game; everybody stepped up, and the offensive linemen played unreal."

Tucker and Kennedy were the two who scored. Kennedy had a 47-yard pass from Junior quarterback Ben Clark. Tucker had a 31-yard pass from Clark

The receivers had made some "unbelievable catches", and the "team also made things happen, and the most important ingredient was that we knew in our hearts that we had this game won." said Tucker.

"I never saw determination like we had in that game, all season. Everyone wanted to win," said Carloni.

"Everyone had played great offense, defense, and special teams," said Hernadez. "Everyone needed to step it up, and usually you can single one person out and say that they had a good game, but in this game there were just too many players who played great." said Tucker.

Norwich ended their season with a game with Western Connecticut State University. The loss to WestConn by a score of 16-7 was a "rough one" said Kennedy.

With having the last game of the year on Sabine Field, "we felt bad that we could not give the seniors their last win at home," said Kennedy.

"We fought tooth and nail to the bitter end," said Tucker. "But I guess we just could not do it."

"This is a game that we will not forget, and we will win next year for the seniors that did not get the win this year," said Kennedy.

Norwich's offense had fought all day for only 19 yards. Clark threw for 144 yards and connected on only 9-of-25 pass attempts and gave up an interception.

WestConn never gave up; they kept punishing Norwich with 3:02 remaining in the half with a field goal kick from 26 yards out.

With the clock winding down, Norwich put together one of their best runs of the day. With 31 seconds remaining, Clark threw a punt fake from WestConn's 39 yard line. The pass was knocked down to end the half.

Sophomore wide receiver C. J. Daley scored the only touchdown with 12 seconds left. Freshman kicker Rhett Soltas scored the extra point to close the day's score at 16-7.

Back to Guidon index