Perennial Power No. 15 Wesley Edges Endicott, 20-17

BEVERLY, Mass. – Senior kicker Nick Bruhn (Burke, Va.) drilled home a 27-yard field goal with two seconds remaining in the contest to lift No. 15 nationally ranked Wesley past Endicott, 20-17, on Saturday afternoon at Hempstead Stadium.

Tied 17-17 with 2:00 minutes left in the matchup, the Wolverines orchestrated a 10-play, 48-yard game-winning drive from its own 42-yard-line, mostly behind the arm of senior quarterback Jon Mullin (Bayonne, N.J.).

Mullin completed five passes for 41 yards and also added a four-yard run on 2nd-and-10 from Endicott's 14-yard-line to set up the clincher for Bruhn.

Today's game, which was the first-ever meeting between Endicott and Wesley, featured a tale of two halves as the Gulls raced out to a commanding 17-0 advantage at halftime. From there, the Wolverines chipped away in the second stanza with six points in the third and 14 more in the fourth to complete the comeback victory and remain undefeated on the season at 3-0.

In the first half, Endicott came out of the gate fast behind a 12-play, 71-yard scoring drive (4:44), which was capped by a Dylan Bonfilio (Burlington, Mass.) four-yard rushing touchdown, to open the contest.

Endicott also saw Riley Shanley (Simsbury, Conn.) haul in a three-yard touchdown pass from Bonifilio in the first (1:10) and Nick DiCairano (Trumbull, Conn.) add a 27-yard field goal with no time remaining in the second to claim its 17-0 lead at the break.

Meanwhile, the Gulls' defense limited Wesley to just 116 yards on 26 plays and held the Wolverines to a 2-of-6 showing on third down conversions in the first half. Endicott also won the time of possession matchup (19:59-10:01), forced the Wolverines into a pair of three-and-outs, and picked off one pass.

Conversely, in the second half, Wesley broke up the shutout via a 23-yard TD catch by Ruhann Peele (Linden, N.J.) at 12:15 of the third (kick blocked). The Wolverines then made it 17-14 at 8:41 of the fourth on a 10-yard TD catch from Mike Credle (Bear, Del.), and a successful two-point conversion before, Bruhn buried a 23-yard field goal to tie it (4:20) and later the eventual game-winner with two seconds to play.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Endicott's 17 points are the most a team has scored against Wesley in a regulation game this season (not counting overtime).
• Bonfilio finished the day completing 18 of his 27 pass attempts for one 149 yards and one touchdown (one interception) alongside his rushing touchdown on the game's opening drive. Bonifilio has now registered at least one rushing touchdown and one passing touchdown in two consecutive games.
• Defensively, Kevin O'Brien (Braintree, Mass.) notched a game-high and single-game career-high 13 tackles (four solo, nine assisted, 1.0 tackles for a loss) for the Gulls.
• Tim Russell (Stoneham, Mass.) also had 10 tackles (five solo), one forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and one pass breakup.
• Allen Gibson (Seymour, Conn.) had eight tackles (five solo, one for a loss) and one interception (fifth career), which came at 2:56 of the second quarter and led to DiCairano's field goal make.
• Wesley is ranked No. 15 in the latest D3football.com poll.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (2-1) hosts Becker next Saturday, September 28 as part of Homecoming and Family Weekend at 12:30 PM. No. 15 Wesley (3-0) welcomes conference foe Rowan to its campus on Saturday, October 5 at 1 PM. 

For the latest on Endicott Athletics, follow the Gulls on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

(Photo Credit - Nick Grace '20)