WASHINGTON – It was a tale of two halves for the Gallaudet University football team here on a picturesque Saturday afternoon in the nation's capital as the Bison dropped its home opener to University of New England, 31-10.

Gallaudet (0-3) set the tone early with a 77-yard touchdown drive to score first against the Nor'easters. First-year running back Zion Ortiz (Frederick, Md.) dove in from a yard out to cap a five-play drive that took two minutes and 47 seconds.

University of New England (3-0) took over from there and took advantage of three Bison turnovers to score four touchdowns in a 14-minute span.

The two teams traded 40+ yard field goals before the half as the visitors led 31-10 before a sundrenched crowd of 633 at Hotchkiss Field.

Defense was the name of the game in the second half as both teams were held scoreless. The final 30 minutes of play featured four punts, three times the offense turned the ball over on downs and one interception made by GU sophomore defensive back Andrae' Green (Washington, D.C.) in the 3rd quarter to stop a Nor'easters drive deep in GU territory.

New England finished with 430 yards of offense (290 passing) while the Bison compiled 290 yards (273 rushing). GU held the time of possession battle with nearly 35 minutes.

Junior quarterback Brandon Washington (Citronelle, Ala.) ran for a game-high 146 yards on the ground on 21 carries. First-year quarterback Trevin Adams (Riverside, Calif.) ran for 58 yards on 11 carries and completed one pass for 17 yards.

Senior kicker Jonathon Waterman (Redding, Calif.) made a 43-yard field goal at the 4:22 mark in the second quarter for the Bison.

Junior linebacker Jacob Hartman (Petersburg, W.Va.) led the Bison defense with two sacks for a loss of 14 yards and one forced fumble to go with four tackles. Defensive backs Antonio Mendoza (Waco, Texas) and Joshua Saaty (Ada, Okla.) led the buff and blue with eight tackles each followed by five by Green.

New England quarterback Jarrett Henault finished the day 24-for-31 for 277 yards and two touchdowns. Henault was the leading rusher for the Nor'easters with 96 yards on 11 carries and one touchdown. The Nor'easters were able to spread the ball around as 10 different players had at least one reception. Wide receivers AJ DeFilio (92 yards) and Shane Laporte (50 yards) both caught six passes and scored one touchdown.

UP NEXT
Gallaudet is off next week. The Bison will next play in Dudley, Mass., against Nichols College (1-2) on Saturday, Sept. 30.