Cambra's Two Touchdowns Pace Football to win at USMMA
Manny Cambra
WPI 23, Merchant Marine 10
Worcester, MA --- WPI used a dominating defensive performance to improve to 5-1 on the season and 2-1 in Liberty League action with a 23-10 road victory over the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Saturday evening.
The Engineers held the Mariners -16 yards rushing and had possession of the football for over 43 minutes.
The Crimson and Gray jumped out to a 16-0 halftime lead with a John Graziosi (Attleboro, MA) safety sandwiched between short touchdown runs from Manny Cambra (Bethel, CT) and Scott Guzman (Acton, ME). Merchant Marine got to within 16-10 early in the third quarter following a Geoff Troy (Gainesville, FL) 31-yard field goal and a J.J. Watson (Doylestown, PA) two-yard touchdown jaunt following a long interception return by Karl Heimbrock (Greenwood Village, CO). WPI quickly regained control of the contest when Cambra capped a 10-play, 61-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown plunge late in the third quarter.
WPI quarterback Justin Wells (Jay, ME) completed 25-of-34 passes for a career-high 298 yards. Wide receivers Cody McGregor (Westfield, MA) and R.C. Grady (Shirley, MA) each had strong games combining for 15 catches and registering 108 and 94 receiving yards respectively. Cambra led all rushers with 61 yards on 14 carries while Aaron Champagne (Fairfield, ME) chipped in with 46 yards.
Michael Toto (Agawam, MA) paced the WPI defensive attack with six solo tackles, including two for loss. Defensive lineman Hal Reader (Bel Air, MD) contributed a pair of sacks while Jonathan Shoemaker (East Norwich, NY) added five tackles and preseason All-American Andrew Sides (Acton, MA) was credited with three tackles and a pair of pass break-ups.
Mike Gallucci (Orlando, FL) and Patrick Hehir (Lindenhurst, NJ) both collected nine tackles for the Mariners. Gallucci's fine day was enhanced with a forced fumble, a pass break-up and a blocked field goal. Quarterback Derrick Ventre (Cincinnati, OH) completed 18-of-35 passes for 192 yards while Mike Mitchell (Mt. Pleasant, SC) hauled in six catches for team-best 86 yards.
After a week off, WPI returns to action on Saturday, October 25 by hosting Rochester in a key Liberty League contest. Kickoff is slated for noontime.