SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Football game day is always exciting, especially when it’s the season opener.
On Saturday (Sept. 4), Western New England College opens its 30th season at 1:30 p.m. against Norwich in a non-league contest at Sabine Field in Northfield, Vermont.
The Golden Bears and Cadets are both coming off successful campaigns, which saw both squads finish 2009 with a combined 13-game winning streak.
WNEC opened last year with a thrilling 28-27 win over Norwich, then dropped four in a row before posting a school best five consecutive wins for a 6-4 record. Norwich compiled an 8-3 record after capturing its last eight outings highlighted by a 49-14 victory over Mount Ida in the inaugural Eastern Collegiate Football Conference championship game.
“Norwich has a lot of returning players and are big up front on both sides of the ball,” said Western New England College coach
Keith Emery. “Northfield, Vermont is a tough place to travel to. We have our work cut our for us.”
Sophomore
Josh Lamson (Southington, CT) will start at quarterback replacing four-year starter Justin
Walz who graduated after setting almost every school record for passing. Lamson will split time with junior
Bryce Brown (Guilford, CT).
Also on offense, the Golden Bears have a top player in sophomore
Mike Graham (Norwalk, CT) who rushed for a team best 426 yards on 50 carries (8.6 avg.) and four touchdowns in eight games as a rookie. He also caught eight passes for 221 yards (13.8 avg.) and two scores, including a 35-yard reception that proved to be the game-winner in his college debut against Norwich.
Graham also was a New England Football Conference All-Boyd Division selection.
Western New England College will look for its defense to lead the way until the offensive unit gains more experience.
The Golden Bears feature a strong linebacker corps with seniors
Dylan Chandler (Durham, ME) and
Justin Bailey (Northborough, MA), and junior All-Boyd Division performer
Todd Krolikowski (Bristol, CT) ranking among the best in the region. They combined for 257 tackles a year ago.
Emery is counting on the defense to continue its stellar play after the unit allowed opponents only an average of 15.0 points and 128.2 yards rushing (with seven interceptions) in the final five contests.
Norwich returns 17 starters from last year’s team that captured its final eight contests after starting the year with three losses. The highlight was a 49-14 victory over Mount Ida in the championship game of the inaugural Eastern College Football Conference (ECFC).
One of the key reasons was the play of sophomore quarterback
Kris Sanbourin (Georgia, VT) who compiled an 8-1 record after being pressed into action following injuries to the Cadets’ top two signal-callers. He ran for 581 yards and two touchdowns, and passed for 507 yards and five TDs.
Another player to watch for Norwich is senior linebacker
Rocco DiMeco (Holden, MA) who compiled a team high 86 tackles.
Senior Brian Segit (Fly Creek, NY) earned All-Conference honors after averaging 33.4 for 64 punts with 24 landing inside the 20.
The Northeast Sports Network will televise the contest via streaming video.
Fans can watch the contest free starting at 1:00 p.m. at the link below.
http://www.nsnsports.net/norwich/