To commemorate the 10th anniversary of UMass' Division I-AA Championship in 1998, I'm rerunning the game story from each game from that season in its corresponding week this year. I'll add some commentary on the old articles in in italics. In a season filled with dramatic moments, this game didn't have many of them. 

Pointed win for UM

AMHERST _ There was no suspense and no last minute dramatics this time for the University of Massachusetts football team, just a whole lot of Todd Bankhead and Marcel Shipp.

Scoring their most points in 10 years, the Minutemen stomped Atlantic 10 rival Maine, 55-34, in front of 10,355 at McGuirk Stadium Saturday.

"We played very well today. Our kids did a really good job preparing this week," said UMass coach Mark Whipple. "I saw a little more concentration in practice. We really haven't practiced poorly all year, but there was a little something extra."

Bankhead broke out of his two-game slump by completing 20-of-29 passes for 353 yards and five touchdown passes against a Black Bear defense that entered the game ranked first in the conference against the pass.

"He did a great job," Whipple said. "Every time somebody has made a mistake, they've come back and really responded. Last week Todd had a terrible day and he came back and had a great day today."

Bankhead's performance earned him the Atlantic 10's Offensive Player of the Week.

His top competition for that honor likely came from within his own backfield as sophomore tailback Shipp rushed for 270 yards (196 in the fourth quarter) and three touchdowns on 38 carries.

"In the first quarter we passed a lot which really opened things up," Shipp said. "The line did a great job."

The win improved UMass to 8-2, 6-1 in the Atlantic 10, on the season. A win next Saturday against Connecticut at McGuirk would clinch the Atlantic 10 title and an automatic bid to the Division 1-AA Playoffs.

The Minutemen never trailed in the contest and led 20-14 at halftime. They scored 14 unanswered third quarter points that turned a tight game into a blowout.

The Minutemen moved the ball on their first drive of the game. Launched by a 41-yard kick-off return by Adrian Zullo, UMass drove from the Maine 48 to the Maine 20, but holder Andy Maclay fumbled the snap to prevent Jason Cherry from trying a 37-yard field goal.

The Black Bears concentrated on stopping Shipp early, opening the door for Bankhead, who put UMass on the board with a 37-yard touchdown pass to Zullo with seven seconds left in the first quarter to put the Minutemen ahead 7-0.

After the Maine offense quickly went three-and-out, a 41-yard pass from Bankhead to Jimmy Moore that moved the ball into the red zone, set up a 12-yard TD connection between the two one play later, making it 14-0.

The Black Bears narrowed their deficit to 14-7 on a seven-yard pass from Mickey Fein to Drew O'Connor but UMass responded almost immediately as Bankhead hit fullback Matt Jordan for a 36-yard touchdown pass on the right side line. Cherry missed the PAT leaving UMass ahead 20-7.

Agawam native Phil McGeoghan made it close before halftime with an eight-yard TD reception to make it 20-14.

Moore and Kerry Taylor each caught touchdown passes to make it 34-14 before a wild fourth quarter.

Maine started the fourth quarter by turning the ball over on downs to the Minutemen on their own 34-yard line. That marked the only time in the final 15 minutes that a drive didn't end on a touchdown until Bankhead took a knee to run out the clock at the end of the game.

In that time period Shipp had an 82-yard touchdown and scoring runs of three and two yards as well.

...10 years since that game...