October 17th, 2004: Gerard Festa Records First 200-yard Rushing Performance
The Endicott football program enters its 10th year of varsity existence and in that short amount of time there have been numerous highlights, accomplishments, and milestones reached by the student-athletes wearing Blue and Green. In the days leading up to Endicott’s first game of the 2012 season, we’ll tell the story of a few historic moments of the Gulls gridiron.
Top Ten Moments in Endicott Football History
The Endicott football program enters its 10th year of varsity existence and in that short amount of time there have been numerous highlights, accomplishments, and milestones reached by the student-athletes wearing Blue and Green. In the days leading up to Endicott's first game of the 2012 season, we'll tell the story of a few historic moments of the Gulls gridiron.
October 17th, 2004: Gerard Festa Records First 200-yard Rushing Performance
After his freshman season in 2003, Gerard Festa put up 204 rushing yards on 55 attempts.
In one single game in the fall of 2004, Festa doubled his season total from the year before with a 200-yard, two touchdown outburst against Salve Regina on the road on October 17th, becoming the first Endicott running back to rush for 200 yards in program history.
Festa's career day couldn't have come at a better time as the Gulls and Seahawks battled through four quarters of football and the sophomore's 14-yard scamper with 10:48 remaining in the game put the nail in the coffin of a 23-14 victory for Endicott. Salve Regina had pulled to within three points at 17-14 after a 60-yard touchdown pass dramatically shifted momentum in their favor.
In the six games leading up to the Endicott-Salve Regina match up, Festa had never broke the century mark for rushing yards in a single game. He ran for 74, six, 48, 57, 43, and 38 yards before breaking out for 200 yards on 34 carries against the Seahawks. Festa would end the year with three 100+ yard rushing games in the final four weeks. After a tough 32-7 loss to Curry, Festa ran for 166 and 134 yards in wins over Nichols and MIT, respectively, to help Endicott to their first winning season in program history at 6-4 overall, 5-1 in conference play.
Festa went on to finish his Endicott career with a program record 2,258 rushing yards on 428 attempts, an average of 5.3 yards per carry. He totaled eight games of at least 100 yards on the ground, but only broke the 200-yard plateau that one time.
The record would stand until the 2010 season when Mike Lane exploded for 222 rushing yards against MIT at home on November 6th. Lane would go on to break his own record with 226 yards on September 10th, 2011 at Westfield State and take over the all-time rushing mark with 4,337 yards.