By Jim Fenton
WORCESTER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University football team has arrived at the bye week on a three-game losing streak.
The Bears fell to 1-4 at the season's midway point with a 19-10 loss to Worcester State University on Saturday afternoon at Coughlin Field.
BSU is now 1-3 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference and has dropped all three of its road games.
Worcester State, playing its home opener on Homecoming Weekend, is now 1-3 and 1-2 in the MASCAC.
The Bears had won 18 of the previous 19 games against the Lancers and six in a row before the loss.
After scoring 40 points in an overtime loss to Framingham State a week earlier, the Bears managed just a first-quarter field goal and a third-quarter touchdown against the Lancers.
Two BSU quarterbacks were each intercepted twice, and the Bears managed only 221 yards of total offense, with just 53 coming on the ground.
Freshman Joseph Dube-Garrett (Fort Myers, Fla.) started at quarterback for BSU and was 8-for-14 for 75 yards and two interceptions.
Sophomore Shamus Whiting (Plymouth, Mass.) replaced him late in the first half and was 9-for-17 for 86 yards and two interceptions.
The Bears held the edge in time of possession, 32:42-27:18, but were stifled by the turnovers.
BSU opened a 3-0 lead on the first possession of the game, taking the opening kickoff to the Lancers' 11.
After a third-down sack, the Bears got on the scoreboard when senior Joey Naso (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) made a 30-yard field goal with 8:26 left in the first quarter.
Worcester State took the lead at 7-3 with 2:42 to go in the quarter on a 6-yard TD pass from senior Cam Ayotte (Millbury, Mass.) to junior Noah Jodoin (Agawam, Mass.).
Ayotte completed his first six passes of the game as the Lancers moved 74 yards in 13 plays.
Worcester State had a 16-3 halftime lead after scoring twice in the second quarter.
Nine seconds into the quarter, sophomore Louie Freitas (Dartmouth, Mass.) made a 30-yard field goal after Worcester State drove to the BSU 10 and threw an incompletion on third down.
An interception by senior Nathan Winco (Sturbridge, Mass.), who had a pair on the day, gave the Lancers the ball at their 36. A 33-yard pass from Ayotte to junior Lance Williams (Westerly, R.I.) was the key to a four-play, 64-yard drive that ended with a 16-yard TD run by Jodoin with 7:59 left before halftime.
BSU scored its lone TD with 1:03 remaining in the third quarter to cap a nine-play, 77-yard drive.
The Bears were helped by a pass interference call and an unnecessary roughness penalty. Junior Everson Quissanga (Boston, Mass.) scored on a 2-yard run to make it 16-10.
In the fourth quarter, BSU moved to the Worcester State 22, but the drive stalled with 10:48 left.
An interception by BSU senior Brandon Medeiros (Somerset, Mass.) gave the Bears the ball at the Lancers' 38 with 9:59 to go. But a holding penalty and sack later moved BSU back to midfield, and Worcester State's Damian Mitchell (Lancaster, Mass.) intercepted a pass on second-and-35, returning it 43 yards to the Bears' 32.
The Lancers added a field goal with 1:10 to go, Freitas connecting from 42 yards.
Sophomore Josh Registre (Waltham, Mass.) and junior Colton Johnson (Mansfield, Mass.) had four catches each for BSU.
Senior Thomas Rocha (Barrington, R.I.), who had a sack, and junior Benjamin Wing (Oxford, Mass.) each had eight tackles to lead the Bears.
Junior Jorge Aquino (Bergenfield, N.J.) had two sacks and finished with four tackles for a loss of 18 yards. Sophomore Elijah Neal (Newport, R.I.) joined Medeiros in picking off a pass.
Ayotte was 16-for-30 for 191 yards for Worcester State while Williams had nine catches for 105 yards.
After taking next weekend off, BSU will host MASCAC newcomer Dean College at 4 p.m. on Oct. 18 in the Homecoming Game.
Worcester State hosts Fitchburg State on Saturday at noon.
-- Photo Courtesy of Frank Poulin --