BANGOR, Maine (November 2, 2013) – The Maritime Privateer football team fell in its final regular season road contest of the season to the Husson Eagles by the score of 39-17 on Saturday afternoon. The loss was just the second for the team in league play against its three victories in ECFC games.

The game started out well for the Privateers after taking a 14-6 lead in the early going of the second quarter, but the Eagles scored 33 unanswered to pull away for the victory in the second half.

"I was proud of how our team fought today," said Maritime head coach Clayton Kendrick-Holmes after the game. "Losing our quarterback was a tough blow but everyone still battled through the end of the game. Give Husson credit though for taking advantage of our turnovers and miscues in the special teams game."

Maritime opened the game with the ball and picked up where it had left off a week ago against Castleton State…rushing the ball with authority. Freshman quarterback Ryan Heizman (Commack, N.Y./Commack) picked up eight yards on the first play from scrimmage. Junior fullback Kyle Gardner (Amityville N.Y./St. Anthony's ) picked up the next three yards, and senior Frank Laino (Rockaway, N.Y./Fort Hamilton) grabbed the next six yards.

Junior running back Greg Caneparo (Nanuet, N.Y./Nanuet) rushed for 10 yards on the next play, as the quartet of backs drove down the field to complete the 70-yard drive. Heizman finished off the drive with a four-yard touchdown to put the Privateers up 6-0. Sophomore kicker Diogo Dietrich (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/DePaul Catholic) tacked on the extra point to complete the touchdown.

A Maritime ensuing kickoff went out of bounds coupled with a penalty set up Husson at the Privateer 17-yard line. Four plays later, Byron Jackson picked up nine yards for the score to pull the Eagles within one. The extra point attempt failed as Maritime held on for its one-point lead.

The next Privateer series began on their own 21-yard line. The running game was again the focus of the series as the Privateers chewed up yardage and clock with each run. The drive was started with an 18-yard run from Laino, who brought the ball forward to the 39-yard line. Gardner and Laino alternated runs as Maritime marched its way deeper into Husson territory.

Towards the end of the drive, Heizman kept the ball while looking for the end zone and lost control of the ball, but senior Andrew Cosby (Babylon, N.Y., Babylon) recovered it and the ball was replaced at the one-yard line since a forward fumble cannot be recovered in the end zone.

After the first quarter had exprired, the Privateers flipped the field and attacked the opposite end zone to start the second quarter. The first hand-off in the period was to Gardner, who followed the right end of the offensive line into the end zone to put the Privateers up 14-6.

Husson answered right back with a rushing touchdown as McIntosh picked up his second score of the game. After a Maritime encroachment penalty moved the PAT attempt to the one-yard like, the Eagles decided to go for two and Byron Jackson converted to at 14 to tie the game.

After senior Chris Klass (Nanuet, N.Y./Nanuet) had a kickoff return in which he broke a few of tackles and picked up 28 yards, the Privateers fumbled the ball on the first play to give the ball back to the Eagles.

The defense responded and caused a turnover on down after forcing the fourth down play just short of the first down marker.

On the next possession, freshman quarterback Isaiah Covington (Brooklyn, N.Y./FDR) took over as the signal-caller after Heizman was forced to the bench following an injury suffered on the fumble during the previous offensive series.

Caneparo picked up the first down of the series on second play of the drive with an 11-yard dash. The offense used a hard snap count to draw All-American defensive lineman Ernest Wiggins offside numerous times on the drive to help along the drive as well. However, the Privateers lost the handle on the ball once again and possession was returned to Husson.

Three plays later the Eagles took their first lead of the game at 20-14 as Ryan Dorso pushed through the defensive line for the score. The extra point hit the left upright and bounced out to keep the Husson lead at six.

Maritime's next possession resulted in a punt by freshman John Arny (Metuchen, N.J./Metuchen) that was touched by the punt-returner and was a live ball. However, the Eagles recovered and started its drive with just over three minutes to go in the half.

It took about 90 seconds for Husson to score its third touchdown of the game, the two-point conversion again failed and the score remained at 26-14. Husson took its 12-point lead into the halftime break.

Husson picked up two more touchdowns out of the gate in the second half, and took a 39-14 lead with 10:48 to go in the third quarter.

Both team's offenses failed to put any successful drive together as the two sides exchanged punts through the remainder of the quarter and send the game to the final 15 minutes of play.

In the 4th quarter, Maritime put together a long drive that included a pair of 4th down conversions, resulting in a 11:04 coming off the clock. Dietrich ended the series with a 21-yard field goal just inside the right upright to put points on the board for the Privateers and end the scoreless drought.

Maritime attempted an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff that hopped into the air and out of bounds to give the ball back in Privateer territory at the 45-yard line. A quick three-and-out for the second string Husson offense gave the ball back to the Privateers.

After the following drive started off well, Covington dropped back for the pass and was intercepted by the Eagles to seal the win for the home team with 49 seconds left on the clock.

Offensively, Laino led the team with 74 yards on eight carries followed by Gardner with 59 yards and one rushing score. Heizman also had a rushing touchdown, while picking up 43 yards on the ground. In the air, Covington completed one of his two passing attempts to senior wide-out Sean Belsky (West Islip, N.Y./St. John the Baptist ) for 12 yards.

For the defense, junior Nick Coffiey (Wilmington, Del./Delaware Military Academy) led the team with 12 tackles including 1.5 tackles for a loss. Coffiey also had the team's only sack of the game for five yards. Sophomore linebacker Kameron Knight (Clayton, N.C./West Johnson) was second on the team with six tackles, followed by linemen Andrew Auriemma (Melville, N.Y./St. Anthony's) and Hugh O'Brien (Westbury, N.Y./Westbury), with five and four each respectively.

Maritime (3-5, 3-2 ECFC) will look to get back in the win column a week from today on Reinhart Field when it hosts Mount Ida for a 1 p.m. kickoff. Husson (5-3, 4-1 ECFC) will look to win its second straight conference game next weekend on the road at Norwich for a 1 p.m. start.