Bumpus Helps Lead Worcester State Past Anna Maria, 34-6

Telegram & Gazette Recap

Paxton, MA --- Junior Kevin Bumpus (Bridgewater, MA) aired out a school-record 427 yards passing to go with four touchdowns as he propelled Worcester State to a 34-6 victory over Anna Maria in non-conference football action this afternoon.

Bumpus, who went 20-for-35 for the contest, eclipsed the previous mark (419 yards) set last season by Corey Spencer in win over Fitchburg State.

The Lancers (1-0) were also led by junior Casey Hippert (Douglas, MA) hauled in five receptions for 104 yards and one touchdown while classmate Jack Sprague (Maynard, MA) caught four balls for 113 yards.

Senior AJ Scerra (Marlboro, MA) finished with two catches for 103 yards and one score.

Junior Dana Valentine amassed 92 all-purpose yards and found the end-zone twice in his first game since transferring from Salisbury University.

For the AMCATS (0-1), senior Robert Small (Sleepy Hollow, NY) scampered for 140 yards and one touchdown to pace the hosts.  

After Anna Maria failed to take advantage of a fumble on the opening kickoff by the Lancers, Bumpus wasted little time by hitting Scerra in stride on a 66-yard scoring strike with their first play from scrimmage to put the visitors ahead 7-0 early with 12:20 on the clock in the first quarter.

Both squads then traded possessions before the Lancers went on an 11-play, 83 yard drive that culminated in a two-yard plunge by Valentine with 14:32 left in the second quarter.

The Lancers scored twice more in the opening frame when Bumpus fired a seven-yard touchdown flick to junior Dana Barry (Hudson, MA) at the 7:23 mark (PAT blocked) and a 23-yard scoring reception by Hippert with 3:05 remaining for the 27-0 lead at the intermission.

Coming out of the locker room, the AMCATS broke the shutout on an 84-yard burst by Small on their first play of the third quarter (PAT failed).

But the scamper, which became Anna Maria's second-longest run in program history, marked the only score of the third stanza as both squads were unsuccessful on getting into the red zone on their next three possessions.

With under three-minutes to go in the third, the Lancers had a great chance to increase their margin, but a pass interference penalty on the 11-yardline set-up a long field goal try that was missed by senior Alex Blakeslee (Shrewsbury, MA).

The Blue and Gold, however, held the hosts in check on their next series to set-up a nine-play, 62-yard drive that ended with a 14-yard touchdown screen pass from Bumpus to Valentine for the 34-6 edge.

The AMCATS had two more chances in the fourth quarter to get back into the game, but they were stopped both times by the stingy Lancer defense who only yielded 59 yards of total offense in the final period of play.

To pace the Blue and Gold defensively, junior Bryan Narcisse (Medway, MA) collected 13 tackles (nine solo) for an eye-popping seven tackles for a loss – including four sacks for 34 yards.

Junior Zack Skerry (Milford, MA) chipped in with eight tackles (six solo), one sack and a forced fumble as teammate Matthew Begley (E. Bridgewater, MA) notched four solo stops and two tackles for a loss.

In the secondary, rookie Rafael Guzman (Cambridge, MA) had a day with a pair of solo tackles, one interception and two pass deflections.

Sophomore Tyler Rocha (Cranston, RI) led Anna Maria with six tackles, 2.5 TFL and one sack while freshman Deon Brown (Dunellen, NJ) impressed with three solo tackles, one caused miscue and a pair of break-ups.  

Second-year Chris Bettano (Tewksbury, MA) did a little bit of everything with 123 all-purpose yards – 89 coming off of five kickoff returns. Blakeslee averaged 35.8 yards on six punts – with three inside the 20 yard line – and he was four-for-five on PAT's.

Worcester State led in first downs (19-13) and had nearly twice as much total offense as their opponents (462-239), but the AMCATS actually controlled time of possession (35:20-24:40).

With his touchdown, two receptions and yardage this afternoon, Scerra moved into a tie with Jeremy Gaucher (2002-05) with 143 catches, into sole possession of third place with 20 career touchdowns and he moved past Jeremy Frisch (1999-01) into fourth with 1,934 yards.

In the next week the Lancers will host WPI this Friday at 7 PM while Anna Maria takes a road trip to Maine Maritime on Saturday for a 12 o'clock meeting with the Mariners.

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