KINGS POINT, N.Y. — Newport’s Salve Regina football team spent most of Saturday afternoon chasing unbeaten Merchant Marine and nearly caught it, closing to within a touchdown late before falling 28-21 at Brooks Stadium in Kings Point, N.Y., in a NEWMAC game.
The Seahawks dropped to 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the league. The Mariners stayed perfect at 6-0.
Merchant Marine led 14-0 at the half after Ben McQueen picked off Salve quarterback Padraig Brown in the end zone with under a minute left in the second quarter. Brown answered in the third with a 56-yard scoring strike to Jamie Andrews, and after the hosts stretched the margin to 28-14, Brown capped an 87-yard march with a three-yard run with 2:38 left to make it a one-score game.
Salve got one last shot from its own 17 with 1:03 to go, but McQueen intercepted Brown again with 40 seconds remaining to seal it.
Brown threw for 209 yards and two touchdowns on 11-of-22 passing. Andrews finished with six catches for 137 yards and both scoring receptions, Michael LaRusso ran for 76 yards on 17 carries, and Colin Morley made 14 tackles. For the Mariners, Bubba Mustain had a hand in all four touchdowns, running for 131 yards and throwing for two scores.
The hosts won the numbers battle, piling up 351 yards of offense to 314 for Salve and holding the ball for 38:26. Merchant Marine went 5-for-5 when it gambled on fourth down, which kept drives alive and kept the Seahawks offense on the sideline for long stretches. A wind-aided kickoff that the Mariners recovered at the Salve 26 set up the touchdown that made it 28-7 early in the fourth quarter.
The loss evened the all-time series between the schools at two wins each.
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