Box Score DUDLEY, Mass. – Freshman quarterback Chris Mullins threw a pair of touchdowns and ran for another in the first ten minutes of the game as Nichols jumped out to a 21-0 and the Bison held on for a 24-14 win over Coast Guard in a New England Football Conference (NEFC) game.
Mullins was 22 of 49 for 238 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions in the win, a game which featured ten turnovers. The Bison turned the ball over six times in the win.
Nichols had 450 yards of total offense, 238 passing and 212 rushing while Coast Guard finished with 356 total yards, 329 passing and 27 rushing.
The Bison snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the NEFC, their first NEFC win since 2012, while Coast Guard dropped to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the conference.
Mullins threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to junior Mike Abbruzzese with 9:31 left in the first quarter.
On the Bears next possession, junior Brett McEvoy returned an interception 65 yards to the Coast Guard 3-yard line and two plays later Mullins scored on a 2-yard run to make the score 14-0 with 7:40 left in the opening quarter.
Nichols again got excellent field position as Coast Guard mishandled the snap on a punt and took over on the 1-yard line and after three straight runs for no gain, Mullins threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Brenden Massey for the 21-0 lead with 4:56 left in the first quarter in the pouring rain.
As the driving rain halted, Coast Guard got on the board following a Nichols fumble as the Bears drove 44 yards and junior Darius Adams caught his single-season record tenth touchdown pass, a 28-yard strike from Victory on 4th-and-16 to make the score 21-7 with 12:57 left in the first half. He broke the record of nine touchdown receptions set by Al Thompson in both 1996 and 1997.
The Bears forced a punt, but then fumbled at the Nichols 22 on its next possession. Junior Matt O'Donnell got an interception as Coast Guard got the ball back, but again were forced to punt.
Coast Guard's special teams came up big with a blocked field goal with 4:34 left and later the Bears defense had a few stops late as junior Will Daniels recovered a fumble to stop a Nichols drive at the Bears 22-yard line before sophomore Jake Behne had an interception also at the Bears 22-yard line and the score remained 21-7 at the break.
Nichols had 262 total yards in the first half, 180 passing while the Bears had 212 total yards, 201 of those passing. Victory was 13 of 32 for 214 yards in the first half.
Senior Grant Klimeck's 63 yard run set up his own 21-yard field goal increasing the lead to 24-7 with 8:31 left in the third quarter.
Following an interception by sophomore Patrick Crowley, sophomore Ethan Goldcamp came in for Victory and fired an 18-yard touchdown to Adams with 3:17 left as the Bears cut the deficit to 24-14 following the extra point by sophomore Cole Austin.
There would be six straight punts, three by each team following the Adams touchdown, before O'Donnell registered his second interception of the game in the end zone with 47 seconds left. Goldcamp's heave toward the end zone was intercepted Camacho with 12 seconds left to ice the game.
Victory was 19 of 41 for 270 yards while Goldcamp finished 6 of 13 for 72 yards and a touchdown in relief. Adams had another huge game with ten receptions for 152 yards and two touchdowns to improve his single-season record to 11 scores while junior tight end Cody Bain had six receptions for 126 yards.
Junior Ryan Robertson led the Coast Guard defense with 13 tackles.
The Bears are back in action on Oct. 29th at MIT with kickoff set for noon.
