Turnovers doom Minutemen in Maine
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ORONO, Maine - Turnovers continued to kill the University of Massachusetts football team. After giving the ball away seven times in the loss at Richmond Oct. 24, six was enough to send the Minutemen home unhappy from Maine on Saturday.
For the second straight week, UMass coach Kevin Morris replaced struggling starting quarterback Kyle Havens with Scott Woodward. But the senior could not rescue the Minutemen, who fell 19-9 at Alfond Stadium.
Other than turnovers, the game statistics were virtually even as both teams had 19 first downs. The Minutemen ran one more play than the Black Bears, and UMass (4-4, 2-3 Colonial Athletic Association) totaled 315 yards to 308 for Maine (4-4, 3-2 CAA).
"We didn't get (the turnover) problem fixed as much as we would have liked," Morris said. "It's something we work on every day. Our kids are working real hard, but it didn't work out tonight."
Neither quarterback was effective. Havens started the game and completed seven-of-12 first-half passes for 99 yards. But he was intercepted once and lost a fumble, leading Morris to summon Woodward again.
The senior left-hander moved the offense more effectively, completing 15-of-28 passes for 149 yards, but Woodward threw three interceptions.
Morris said he was not sure who would be under center when the Minutemen host Northeastern at noon Saturday.
"We have two quarterbacks who have played now," Morris said. "We'll evaluate it as we go."
Woodward said he was disappointed with himself.
"Coach put me in to get the ball in the end zone. I didn't do that. Our offense didn't do that today," Woodward said. "It's frustrating."
Maine coach Jack Cosgrove said the takeaways turned the game.
"They struggled last week and we got in their heads," Cosgrove said. "That's something we talked about defensively. In their last five plays of the first half they had an interception and a strip for a fumble."
After Havens turned his ankle on the fifth play of the game, Woodward led UMass to the Maine 7-yard line. But kicking into a difficult wind. Armando Cuko missed a 23-yard field goal, by far his shortest miss this season.
Using that same wind to its advantage, Jordan Waxman kicked a 25-yard field goal on the ensuing drive to put the Black Bears ahead 3-0.
Havens returned for the Minutemen's next drive, a three-and out, as UMass punted into the wind on the final play of the first quarter.
But Maine could not take advantage of good field position. The Black Bears drove to the Minuteman 22-yard line, but two penalties and a sack left them at third-and- 42 which they did not convert.
Highlighted by a 30-yard pass from Havens to Matt Silver, UMass marched 77 yards. It was capped by a one-yard leap over the pile by Jonathan Hernandez (31 yards on 14 carries) for a touchdown that put UMass ahead 7-3 with 3 minutes, 40 seconds left in the half.
The turnover problems that plagued Havens at Richmond resurfaced after that. The Minuteman defense forced a three-and-out and a Maine punt into the wind, giving the offense the ball at the UMass 40. But Havens overthrew Chris Zardas and the pass went right to Maine linebacker Donte Dennis with 2:55 left.
Maine, which had not trailed at halftime all season, took advantage of the momentum swing to keep that streak alive. Quarterback Warren Smith led the Black Bears 46 yards and lofted a seven-yard TD pass to Tyrell Jones who outjumped Ke'Mon Bailey to give Maine a 10-7 halftime lead.
Havens fumbled the ball on UMass' last possession of the half .
"We had an opportunity to go in and score and we turned the ball over and they scored," Morris said.
After Hernandez fumbled a pitch on the Minutemen's first drive of the second half, and Waxman hit a 32-yard field goal to stretch the Black Bears' edge to 13-7.
UMass could not answer as its next three drives ended in two punts and a missed 54-yard field goal by Cuko.
A five-yard touchdown run by Smith made the score 19-7, but Bailey intercepted a two-point conversion pass and ran it back 100 yards to give the Minutemen two points.
Woodward threw interceptions on the last three UMass possessions.
"Not much to say. We turned the ball over and Maine played well," Morris said. "Any loss is frustrating, but that was certainly a frustrating loss."
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. For more UMass coverage, including a UMass sports blog, go to http://www.gazettenet.com/blog/umass-sports.
