Westfield Welcomes WNE In Home Opener

The Westfield State University football team hosts Western New England University on Friday, Sept. 13, in the annual game between the Western Mass. rivals. The New England Football Conference non-divisional clash kicks off at 7:00 p.m. at Alumni Field.

WEB TV: The WNE-Westfield game is being video streamed live. There is no fee to watch the game. Westfield State students Matt Stover and Mike Drew will provide the play-by-play. In addition, there will be Live Stats for the game. Go to www.WestfieldStateOwls.com to access the videostream and Live Stats links.

THE SERIES:Westfield State holds a 14-10 lead in the Presidents Trophy series, but the Golden Bears have won the last three games, including a 35-10 home victory over the Owls in 2012. Westfield won the coveted cup the three consecutive years (2007-2009).

THE RECORDS: Westfield and Western New England enter the game with 0-1 records. The Owls sustained a tough 28-27 overtime setback at Nichols in the 2013 season opener. The Owls went for the two-point conversion after scoring a touchdown on their first possession in overtime but were unable to convert the option pass. Western New England lost a 49-40 City shootout to Springfield College in front of an overflow crowd of 3,400 at Golden Bear Stadium.

SCOUTING THE OWLS
It's a new look for familiar foes as Westfield State University kicks off it inaugural season in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletics Conference (MASCAC).

The Owls depart the New England Football Football Conference (NEFC) -which they were members of since the Westfield State football program began in 1982 - and join eight other public universities in the MASCAC, with an NCAA automatic bid awaiting the regular season champion beginning in 2015.

"Not much has really changed," said Westfield veteran head coach Steve Marino. "We have always been playing the MASCAC schools, so there is a lot of familiarity there. And we have played the other (non-MASCAC) schools before."

Framingham State, Bridgewater State, and Massachusetts Maritime Academy are pre-season favorites to capture the MASCAC championship. The conference also includes Fitchburg State, Worcester State, and affiliate members Plymouth State, Western Connecticut State, and UMass Dartmouth of the Little East Conference.

A significant change is - unlike the NEFC - there will be no conference championship game during the final week of the regular season. Therefore, Westfield's regular season now concludes a week later. The Owls have a bye week (Sept. 28) and open their 10-game schedule with non-conference opponents Nichols (Sept. 6) and Western New England University (Sept. 13). MASCAC play begins the third week of the season when Westfield hosts UMass Dartmouth on Sept. 21.

Here's a look at the Westfield team in its inaugural MASCAC season.

OFFENSIVE LINE
Returning starters are senior guard Joe Kreinsen, a team captain, and junior center Wayne McGillicuddy. Tackles Mike Calamare and Eddie Fallon, and guard Kyle Seidnitzer, complete the starting unit. Offensive line reserves include Jon Bradway, Anthony Metzler and Greg Brown, along with first-year players John Turner and Tim Malo.
"Our offensive line is experienced, but size-wise we are not that big; we have to see how it holds up," said Marino. "We have good skilled people, but the key is how our offensive line holds up. That's the linchpin for the whole thing."
Marino projects that his two talented tight ends - seniors Jeff Winchell and Jake Storey - will be on the field a lot at the same time to help shore up the offensive front. The big tight ends are major offensive threats as they have combined for 77 catches and 1,038 receiving yards (13.5 yards per catch average) the past two seasons.

OFFENSIVE BACKS
Junior running back Michael Mercadante is one of the best in the conference, according to Marino. The hard-charging 6-0, 228-pound halfback led the Owls with 548 rushing yards and nine touchdowns despite missing three games last season with injuries. Mercadante also led the Owls in rushing (637 yards) and touchdowns (8) during his freshman year. Mercadante's capable backup is senior Brian Beauchemin, who has rushed for 500-plus yards the past two seasons. The Owls have three talented underclassmen at tailback - sophomore Colby Bostek and freshmen Alex Valente and Ryan Wilder. The starting fullback is sophomore Tanner Ford, a converted linebacker.
Westfield also has depth at quarterback. Returning are sophomore Erik Washburn and senior Tim Rich, and sophomore Steve Guercio, who sat out last season. Washburn took over for Rich as the starting signal caller early in the 2012 season; he completed 57 percent of his pass attempts (94 for 165) for 1,089 yards and eight touchdowns. Rich completed 66 of 121 attempts for 939 yards and seven scores. "All three quarterbacks have looked good and all had good camps," said Marino. "They are pretty equal but we are going with Washburn right now."

RECEIVERS
One of Westfield's six returning starters on offense is senior receiver Kane Terilli, the Owls' second leading receiver in 2012 with 30 catches for 461 yards and five touchdowns. Senior receiver Kevin Nicol saw extensive action the past two years when he had 50 receptions for 628 yards and four touchdowns. Reserve receivers include sophomore Sam Laurin, Evan Hopson, a talented 6-0, 215-pound freshman from Johnston, R.I., and senior Tommy Leung, a former quarterback. "Tommy Leung had a great camp and looks good catching the ball," said Marino.

DEFENSIVE LINE
The defensive front took a big hit as junior Mike Mizzoni - Westfield's 2012 lineman of the year - and senior end Cam Willcox are sidelined with season ending injuries. Junior tackle Cam Green and junior end Billy Greene are listed as starters, along with junior tackle Jonathan Lytle and sophomore end Marcus Pettigrew, transfers from Western New England and Mount Ida, respectively. The second unit is junior Jim Keedy, a 6-5, 240-pound first-year player from Belchertown, freshman end Tom Aitken, sophomore tackle Trevor Garofano, and junior tackle Justin McGrath, a converted offensive lineman. "We have a lot of new people on the defensive line, no question about it," said Marino. "We like them but we don't know a lot about them. We will just have to find out more about them as the season progresses."

LINEBACKER
The returning starter is junior Troy Cutter, who Marino says "is a good, solid player." Cutter was Westfield's third leading tackler in 2012 with 60 stops. Completing the starting unit are senior Kevin Duffy, who has seen plenty of action the past few seasons, and Nick Adams, a former fullback. Also expected to see action are sophomore Drew Brigner, junior Dave Burnham, and junior Julon McCoy, a transfer from Nichols College. "We will be playing a lot of guys at linebacker to see who can do the job," said Marino.

DEFENSIVE BACKS
The Owls do have depth and experience in the defensive backfield led by senior strong safety Gregg Jackson, who posted 60 tackles in 2012. Senior cornerback Joey Shisler, senior free safety Steve Laraia, and sophomore cornerback Breno Pessanha all saw extensive action last season. The second unit consists of sophomores Greg Sheridan and Chris Storey, sophomore Travon Godette, a first year player, and Kyle Roy, a promising freshman.

SPECIAL TEAMS
Evan Hopson, the talented freshman from Rhode Island, is the punter. Junior Mike Bortolussi is booting extra points and Michael Orellana, a former soccer player with a strong leg, is kicking off. The kick returners are Terilli and Laurin. The punt returners are Terilli and Valente. The long snappers are David Driscoll (extra points) and Scott Nye (punts).

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN BEARS:
This year, WNE will face its toughest schedule in the 32-year history of the program since it joined NCAA Division III in 1981. The revamped New England Football Conference has the Bears traveling to New London, Conn., to face the Coast Guard Academy and Maine Maritime Academy coming to Golden Bear Stadium. WNE also faces Liberty League foes Springfield and Union colleges. In all, seven of the 10 opponents this season had winning records last fall.

While Springfield, Coast Guard and Union are all new opponents on the WNE football schedule, Golden Bears head coach Keith Emery (Dickinson College '94) hopes the former will become a series fixture as the first game every year. Emery last season became the school's winningest coach during the NCAA era and owns a 45-36 record in his ninth year.

"It just makes sense", he says, "since this could turn into one of the best rivalries in the region between the Pride and Golden Bears. This season will be a great challenge...we've been getting ready for it."

The offense will set the tone early as a young defense gets their bearings. Senior co-captain John Krafick (176 of 306, 2046 yards, 14 TD) returns to lead the Golden Bear offense from the quarterback position. As a junior, Krafick set school records for pass completions, attempts and tied another benchmark for touchdown passes in his first full season as a starter. Emery is also confident with the Krafick's backups, as Tyler Ward and Kevin Peabody return with two talented freshmen looking to challenge for spots on the depth chart.

"Krafick is a poised and confident signal caller. I am excited to see how he improves from his junior campaign," says Emery. "You're only as good as your backup QB," so there will be competition among the four back-ups.

Krafick will again have the luxury of handing off to junior All-NEFC second team running back Kevin Cook in 2013. Cook battled through an early season injury in 2012 to rush for 815 yards on 187 carries with eight touchdowns. Junior Michael Ozzella added 226 yards to spell Cook. Fellow junior Alejandro Colon moves to the offensive backfield from his wing position to provide some talented depth. The role of the blocking back will be filled by a combination of Ozzella, some tight ends and an incoming freshman.

The receiver position group includes both the wings and wide receivers. Andrew Walz and Kareem Hines both return as wideouts. Walz led all receivers with 37 receptions for 463 yards and five TDs while Hines hauled in 15 catches for 207 yards and a TD in an injury-plagued season. Adam Dunne, Tucker Schumitz and Dan LaNoir all return at the wing position. The trio combined for 69 receptions, 813 yards and three touchdowns in 2012. Schumitz proved to be a dual threat by running for 139 yards and four TDs.

"We made the biggest gains in the off-season at this position, both in training and recruiting," says Emery, "so this will be a fun group to watch."

The offensive line looks to be a strength for the Golden Bears in 2013. Four starters, or significant contributors, are back up front. Andrew McManus, Gary Leroux II, Nick Vanoudenhove and Tyler Underwood are veterans who will open the running holes and protect Krafick in the pocket. Offensive coordinator Jason Lebeau will likely continue to rotate the offensive line as he has in the past. He has plenty of linemen to choose from as seniors Mike Primmer, Jake Butler, DJ Eberle, juniors Tyler Mills, Shane Mulcahy, Andrew Gatzogiannis and sophomore Nicholas Colasante all return for the Bears.

The Golden Bear defense will feature a dramatically different look with the loss of seven starters. Seniors Kevin Soule, a co-captain, and Scott Maille will hold down the run game as a brand new secondary focuses on the pass game. Soule finished with 34 tackles including 11 for loss and five sacks to earn All-NEFC honors for a second time, while Maille added 31 tackles and three for loss. Junior Myles Becker (21 tackles) will get significant playing time rotating in with the two seniors. Sophomores Sean Coverdill and Steve Melino will compete for the starting defensive end spot left vacant by three-time all-conference performer James Georges.

"Kevin and Scott are extremely athletic and play with great discipline", said Emery, who added that the rover position will likely be filled by sophomores Michael Stasiewicz or Kevin Degnan who had the lead coming out of spring drills.

Linebacker Nathan Fleming returns after his 101-tackle performance that netted him first-team All-NEFC and 2012 Eastern College Athletic Conference North Defensive Rookie of the Year accolades as a freshman. The competition is wide open to play alongside Fleming in the Golden Bears' 4-4 set. Seniors Oliver Gregan, Ryan Critelli and junior Kyle Jones have the inside track, with Jones having the most productive season in 2012 with 26 tackles and three for loss.

"Nathan is excellent at the point of attack and in pursuit", commented his position coach Brian Cain, and "we've been working on his pass defense this off-season, so he should be even better in 2013."

Junior Walter Lewis returns and moves to the zip position after a successful sophomore campaign. Lewis had 45 tackles including 4-1/2 for loss, three sacks and one interception. Junior Ryan Nolte and sophomore Blair Cook will push Lewis for playing time. The WILL position is in flux and could be filled by any combination of players, who also may figure into the safety position.

The defensive backfield will have a completely different look as all three starters graduated. Senior corner Ryan Connolly returns after missing the entire 2012 season to injury and is likely to man one of the corners position, while sophomore Adam Glynn will likely hold down the other. Look for junior Nathan Russell to challenge for playing time in addition to a few highly-skilled incoming freshmen. The safety position is up for grabs as senior Brandon Ormsby returns after missing 2012. He will compete with sophomores Kenny Strecker, Nicholas Andriani, Zac Cast and transfer Zachary Fleming for the safety and WILL positions. Freshmen again will be very competitive at both positions.

Junior Ian Kennedy will handle both kicking and punting duties to start the campaign. Kennedy finished a terrific 2012 season with 39.1 yards per punt, placing him 18th in the nation, and downing 15 punts inside the 20. Tucker Schumitz is also back to return both kicks (24.2 per attempt) and punts.

LOOKING AHEAD: Westfield hosts UMass Dartmouth in its inaugural MASCAC game on Saturday, Sept. 21; kickoff for the Family Weekend game is 1:00 p.m. Western New England is idle next weekend; the Golden Bears return to action on Saturday, Sept. 28, when they host Maine Maritime Academy at 1:00 p.m. in their New England Football Conference opener.