UMass Dartmouth Ready for Alfred State in New England Bowl

GAME 11 - NEW ENGLAND BOWL
UMass Dartmouth Corsairs (8-2, 6-2 MASCAC) vs.
Alfred State Pioneers (6-4, 5-1 ECFC) 
Date: Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021 – 1 PM 
Location: Dartmouth, Mass. –Cressy Field
LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | DIGITAL PROGRAM | PREGAME INTERVIEWS

NEW ENGLAND BOWL
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth football team hosts Alfred State in the New England Bowl Saturday at 1 p.m. at Cressy Field. This is the first bowl appearance for the program since 2004, and first New England Bowl for either team. The team is looking for its ninth win of the season, which would tie the second most victories in program history. The Corsairs finished the regular season with an 8-2 record and 6-2 in the MASCAC, while Alfred State went 6-4 and 6-1 in the ECFC to be crowned Co-Conference Champions.

HOW WE GOT HERE

• Sophomore Dante Aviles-Santos was forced into the starting quarterback role in the second quarter of the first game of the year at Husson where he led the team to a 21-14 comeback victory with a touchdown pass to Antonio Brown in the final minutes.
• Aviles-Santos took off from there. In his first-career start against Dean College, he threw for 325 yards and five touchdown passes to Douglas Machado twice, Brown, Mike Vincent and Thomas Zednik. Aviles-Santos, Luis Gonzalez and Marvens each ran one in as well.
• After falling in the MASCAC opener at eventual conference champion Framingham State, the Corsairs bounced back with a 52-7 win against Worcester State where the rushing game combined for 381 yards and five touchdowns.
• The last time UMassD lost a game was the following week at WestConn, 34-19. The team has since rattled off five wins over Mass. Maritime (26-10), at Westfield State (26-16), versus Fitchburg State (40-0), at Bridgewater State (26-20) and against Plymouth State (28-7).
• The biggest win in that stretch was on the road at Bridgewater State. Aviles-Santos threw for 236 yards and four touchdowns and Trell Best had a late interception on the Bears' potential game-winning drive.

CORSAIRS IN BOWL GAMES

• The Corsairs have played in three bowl games in the history of the program.
• UMass Dartmouth's first bowl game appearance was in 1994 under Head Coach William Kavanaugh. The Corsairs fell at Union, 34-14, in that contest.
• The lone bowl victory in school history came in 2003 when UMass Dartmouth defeated Worcester State, 21-7, at home in the ECAC Northeast Bowl.
• The very next season in 2004, the Corsairs earned a trip to the ECAC Northwest Bowl, where the team lost at Ithaca, 36-19.

MAKING HISTORY

• Saturday marks the first bowl game appearance since 2004 and first in program history under 15th year Head Coach Mark Robichaud, who's teams have been trending in the right direction after winning their most games since 2004 in 2019 with seven.
• With a victory on Saturday, it would go down as the second most wins in program history. Matching the 2003 squad that went 9-2 and won the ECAC Northeast Bowl.
• The only team in the 34 years of existence to win more games was the 2002 team that finished 11-1, won their conference, and made it to the NCAA Tournament.

BEST OFFENSE ALL YEAR

• Now that the regular season is over, we can look at where the Corsairs finished in offensive stats.
• UMass Dartmouth ranked first points per game (30.7), yards per game (425.8), passing touchdowns (26) and rushing yards per game (216.8).
• They also led the MASCAC with 4,258 yards of total offense and 425.8 total yards per game.
• Aviles-Santos led the conference with 21 touchdown passes with six more on the ground, and finished fourth in the league with 188.1 passing yards per game.
• Gonzalez finished second in the MASCAC in rushing yards per game (83.6), while Jean ranked fifth (77.2). 
• Machado finished the year ranked second in touchdowns with nine and third in yards per game with 76.0.

DEFENSIVE STATS

• UMass Dartmouth's defense had a strong end of the season to finish second in the MASCAC in fewest yards allowed with 269.5.
• The Corsairs led the MASCAC with 13 interceptions and sophomore Logan Chappell finished tied for first in the league with five INT's.
• JP Mason led the team with 8.2 tackles per game and was fourth in the MASCAC.
• UMass Dartmouth finished third in the conference with 22 sacks. Josh Lacerte was second in the conference with 6.5 sacks, freshman Sam Alicea was fourth with five and Marcus Elysee was eighth with four.

ALL-CONFERENCE RECOGNITION

• 11 Corsairs were awarded with All-MASCAC Postseason Honors headlined by Dante Aviles-Santos, who won the Offensive Rookie of the Year.
• Collecting First Team-Defense were 5th-year senior DB Chris Gomes and senior LB Javien Delgado. Earning First Team-Offense was sophomore OL Tyler Gmyr. Awarded Second Team-Defense were graduate student DL Marcus Elysee, senior LB JP Mason, junior DL Josh Lacerte and sophomore DB Logan Chappell. Taking home Second Team-Offense were Aviles-Santos, junior RB Luis Gonzalez and the freshmen duo of RB Marvens Jean and OL Kolby Stockwell.
• A full release can be found HERE.

SCOUTING ALFRED STATE

• Aaron Jenkins put together another offensive performance last week. He passed for 270 yards, rushed for 194, and accounted for four touchdowns. He has passed for 2,211 yards and 14 scores on the season and is nearing the 1,000 yard rushing mark (943 yards and 15 scores).
• Roman Napoleon took over the receiving yard lead last week with his big game. He now has 32 catches for 783 yards. Shy'rel Broadwater has 33 catches for 706 and Ben Ba has 34 catches for 445.
• Joel Smith, Brock Weist, Nuhsar Mike, and Rylie Van Fleet have been key to the Pioneer defense. Smith has 74 tackles and 5.5 sacks, Weist 41 tackles and 4.5 sacks, Mike 56 tackles and 4.5 sacks, and Van Fleet 56 tackle and four interceptions.
• Dawson Fontaine has been a weapon for the Pioneers. He is 8 for 11 on field goals and 32 of 36 on PAT's. He has also had two successful on-side kick.

ALL-TIME AGAINST THE PIONEERS

• Saturday marks the third all-time meeting between the programs.
• The Corsairs are 2-0 against the Pioneers.
• UMass Dartmouth defeated Alfred State, 49-21, in 2018 and 54-7 in 2019.
• Stephen Gacioch threw for 185 yards and four touchdowns in 2018 and 338 yards and six TD's in 2019.

FOLLOW ALONG
To keep up-to-date on all the action, you can visit the UMass Dartmouth football schedule by clicking HERE and finding the links for live video, live stats and the digital program associated with the games.