Bryant Stays Unbeaten at 5-0 as Maine Fumbles Three Times in a 17-14 Loss
Maine lost three fumbles, outgained Bryant 352 yards to 293, and lost by three. Bryant did not turn the ball over once, and that was the entire difference. The Bulldogs held on 17-14 to move to 5-0 while Maine fell to 1-4.
It started with a field goal. Samuel Tremblay kicked a 41-yarder to put Maine up 3-0, and Bryant took over from there: Brennan Myer hit Jose Leon for a 30-yard touchdown with 7:18 left in the first quarter, and OJ Ross scored from three yards out in the second to make it 14-3. That was the whole first half.
Maine came back in the third. Caden Drezek threw an 11-yard touchdown to Rashawn Marshall, and Noah Carpenter ran in the two-point conversion, which cut the score to 14-11 with 11:49 left in the quarter. Bryant answered with a 26-yard Nicholas Stoyanovich field goal to go up 17-11, and Tremblay hit a 32-yarder with 9:46 left in the fourth to make it 17-14. Nobody scored again. The lead changed hands once all day, and Bryant never trailed by more than that opening 3-0.
The fumbles are where this one got away. Nick Laughlin lost two of them (and still had 7 catches for 86 yards), and Drezek lost the third. Maine threw no interceptions, ran 37 times for 118 yards and threw for 234. Bryant ran 37 times for 136 and threw for 157. Three lost fumbles in a three-point game is the kind of thing that sticks.
Drezek had 18.9 points on 18 of 34 for 234 yards, one touchdown, and 35 yards on the ground, his best game of the season.