NU football loses lead, falls to Springfield

By Jason Leonard
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

The Norwich football team held a lead of 24-21 going into the third quarter in the game against Springfield College.

Norwich had its sights set on upsetting the number one ranked team in the Freedom Football Conference.

Norwich did not make any changes in their practice schedule during the week leading up to the game.

"We put in a few plays, which Springfield hadn't seen before, so we hoped it would confuse them a little, but for the most part we went into the game with the same preparation we always have," said Mark Winker, a senior communications major, from Nashville, Tennnessee.

Springfield had offensive tendencies which Norwich hoped to capitalize on. They loved to run the option with the quarterback and running backs; that is their bread and butter.

"We defended the option all week in practice. I'm confident we'll be ready for this game," said Rosa Mom, a senior nursing major from Massachusetts.

The Cadets went down to Sprinfield last year and beat them for the first time in 35 years.

"Last year, I think we surprised them when we beat them own their own field. This year, I'm sure they are going to be fired up," said Bradford Roy, a junior architecture major from Keene New Hampshire who is out for the season with a knee injury.

"During the team's preparations week, the temperature at times plummetted below 30 degrees. This last week was one of the coldest practice weeks I've ever been through. Wednesday and Thursday, it was so frigid we had to pracitce inside the fieldhouse," said Carlos Espinol, a junior from Peabody, Mass.

"In the first half of the game, Norwich held the lead by the score of 24-14. Our defense did an awesome job in the first half holding Springfield's high octane offense," said Winker. "Norwich scored on thier first two possessions, while the defense held Springfield on three consecutive possessions."

Josh Clark scored a 13-yard touchdown on a pass from his brother, Ben; that drive was a 62-yard drive in Norwich's first possession of the game.

On the ensuing drive, Norwich defense stopped Springfield with Anthony Purdy sacking the quarterback on fourth and three, giving the Cadets field position inside Springfield's 40 yard line.

The Cadets' offense had another great drive, ending it with a one-yard score by Moe Bennett. The Cadets led 14-0 with 3:30 left in the first quarter. Springfield had their longest drive of the game towards the end of the second period, when they went 85 yards for a touchdown.

Norwich answered back with a touchdown by Tom Kennedy, going 52 yards for the score, thrown by quarterback Ben Clark.

A field goal by kicker Rhett Soltas made the score 24-14 at the end of the first quarter. The kick was set up by a fumble forced by co-captain Chris Dewey that was recovered by Anthony Purdy.

The second half was all Springfield; their defense held Norwich at 24 points, and their offense blew the game up by scoring 41 points by the end of the game.

Eddie Sutton El' had another 100 yard game, making it six in a row. Gaining 141 yards, he surpassed the 1,000 yard mark for the season. Chris Dewey had a great showing in his last home game of his career, eating up 18 tackles, two forced fumbles, and a blocked kick.

Next week, Norwich will play their final game of the season at Western Connecticut on Nov. 16.

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