Northfield, Vt. - November 4, 2023 - The Springfield College football team produced nearly 600 yards of offense, registered four defensive turnovers, and added a special teams touchdown as it handled Norwich, 58-7, on Saturday in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play.
Springfield pushed its record to 8-1, 6-0 against conference foes, while Norwich dropped its sixth-straight outing to fall to 1-8, 0-6.
The visiting Pride erupted for 42 points in the second half to pull away for the win as it finished the day with 586 yards on the ground, averaging more than nine yards per carry. Arsen Shtefan (West Hartford, Conn.) once again led the way as he totaled 177 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries and eclipsed the 1,000 yard total for the season. Shtefan became the 13th student-athlete in program history to reach the 1,000 yard milestone in a season and the eighth fullback to achieve the feat. Blane Hart (East Lyme, Conn.) continued his explosive play with 124 yards and two scores on just six carries, and Jacob Silvester (Lancaster, Mass.) added 76 yards and a score while orchestrating the offense.
Defensively, Aiden Lewin (Orlando, Fla.) had a game-high 12 tackles and forced a fumble and Colby Richardson (East Hartford, Conn.) notched an interception and six tackles. Norwich was just 3-of-13 on third down as the Pride held the hosts to only 57 rushing yards.
Springfield opened up the scoring at the 8:35 mark when Christian Hutra (Holmes, N.Y.) drilled a 39-yard field goal for what would account for the only points of the quarter. On the first play of the second quarter, Hart found room down the sideline for a 42-yard touchdown run at the 14:32 mark and the Pride tacked on another score at 6:33 as Shtefan made a defender miss and barreled his way down the field for a 55 yard touchdown which allowed the Pride to take a 16-0 lead into halftime.
The Pride opened up the second half with a 12-play, 64-yard drive which was capped off by Silvester scoring from four yards out at 9:29 for what would be the first of four third-quarter touchdowns by the visitors. On the ensuring drive, Sean Brown (Westford, Mass.) burst through the line to block the Cadets punt, and Hunter Hayes (Auburn, Maine) recovered the loose ball in the end zone for the special teams touchdown. However, Norwich answered right back with a 75-yard strike through the air on their next offensive play to pull within 30-7, with 6:50 left in the third. Springfield needed just over two minutes to find the end zone as Shtefan went untouched up the middle from 22 yards and Hart tacked on a 50-yard run inside the final minute of the quarter to help the Pride's cushion balloon to 44-7.
A Tyler Paladino (Cross River, N.Y.) interception thwarted Norwich's next drive, and Thomas Tini (East Northport, N.Y.) got around the edge for a four-yard touchdown that wrapped up a six-play, 59-yard drive with 11:09 left in regulation. Springfield added its seventh rushing touchdown of the game with 3:29 on the clock when Corbett Cimini (Tinton Falls, N.J.) delivered Springfield's third interception of the game, which set up Johnell Fillippini (Plymouth, Mass.) one-yard scoring blast.
Springfield will conclude the regular season next Saturday with a home game against Maritime at 12 pm.