NEWPORT, R.I. — Salve Regina leaned on its ground game and a string of short fields Saturday afternoon, beating Norwich 34-6 in a NEWMAC football game at Toppa Field in Newport, R.I.
The Seahawks piled up 382 yards of offense, 213 of them rushing, and kept the Cadets to just 109 yards all day. Two Salve Regina scoring drives started inside the Norwich 10, a big reason the home side was never seriously threatened.
Padraig Brown opened the scoring late in the first quarter with a 1-yard run that capped a 44-yard march. Early in the second, a blocked punt handed the Seahawks the ball at the Cadet 4, and they scored on the next play to go up 14-0. A 23-yard field goal made it 17-0 at the break.
Michael LaRusso punched in that short score after the blocked kick, and Nathan DiRado handled the kicking all afternoon, adding a 26-yard field goal in the third quarter along with every extra point.
Crisean Williams ran 7 yards for a touchdown late in the third to stretch the lead to 27-0. Early in the fourth, Brown threw a 64-yard scoring strike to Michael Fulton, the longest play of the day.
Norwich avoided a shutout with about nine minutes left when Landon Beecher found Anderson Guerrero for a 3-yard touchdown pass. The Cadets missed the extra point.
The numbers told the story of the afternoon. Salve Regina earned 20 first downs to eight for Norwich, ran the ball 46 times and never lost a fumble. Norwich finished with minus 15 net rushing yards and lost two of its five fumbles.
A crowd of 1,032 watched under sunny skies with the temperature at 52 degrees and a stiff north-northwest wind. The game kicked off at noon and wrapped up in two hours and 51 minutes.
Norwich next plays Nov. 7 at Springfield College.
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