The Maritime College football team's home game win streak of six games came to an end Friday night against USMMA as they fell by a score of 34-21. The Privateers led at half by a score of 14-12, but were unable to overcome a flurry of offense by the Mariners in the second half.

Maritime College got off to a hot start as they took the opening kickoff and drove down the field to open the game with a touchdown. The Privateers faced a fourth down with 15 yards to go from the 31-yard line and first-year head coach Vincent DiGaetano made the gutsy call to go for it. Quarterback Thomas Wright (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) remained calm in the pocket and delivered a dime over the top to Christian Castle (Felton, Pa./Red Lion) who made it a 31-yard touchdown catch as Maritime College swung all of the momentum in its favor.

The Privateers defense took the field and shut down the option offense of USMMA as they forced a three and out to give the offense a shot at taking a larger lead. William Patsakos (Staten Island, N.Y./Susan E. Wagner) gave Maritime College the start they were looking for on the drive with three carries for 14 yards. However, as the offense continued to drive down the field, the Mariners came up with the momentum change they needed by forcing a fumble on a 10-yard catch from Castle. 

The defense once again came up big for the Privateers and forced a punt, but Maritime College had lost it's rhythm on offense and neither team could put points on the board by the end of the quarter. 

USMMA started to slowly chip away at a drive by pounding the run game, but with a fourth and five from the Maritime 32-yard line, it was 14th-year head coach Mike Toop's turn to go for it. The Mariners stuck with the ground game and picked up seven yards to keep the drive alive. Joseph Bellomo and the USMMA offense continued to drive down the field and eventually capped it off with a two-yard Bellomo touchdown. However, a missed extra point kept the Privateers in the lead. 

The Mariners had found the rhythm they were looking for on offense and put together an eight-play drive for another touchdown after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty gave them great field positon. USMMA decided to go for two and make it a seven-point lead, but fell short and put the score at 12-7.

Following the kickoff, the Privateers took possession of the ball at the 27-yard line with 4:24 remaining in the half. Nicholas Morman (Covington, La./Northlake Christian) got the drive rolling as he maneuvered his way to a 27-yard run on first down. Maritime kept the chunk plays coming two snaps later as Wright found Brandonn Drumgole (Mt. Sinai, N.Y./Mt. Sinai) for an 18-yard gain to put the ball on the Mariners 28-yard line. Three plays later, the Privateers faced another fourth down situation, this time with two yards to go from the 20-yard line. DiGaetano trusted his offense again and it paid off as the back-to-back ECFC Offensive Player of the Week, Wright, found Khalil Lewin for a six-yard gain. Maritime decided to take a shot at the end zone on the next play as Wright lofted up a ball for grabs towards Drumgole. The senior wide receiver made an incredible play on the ball and jumped over the defender to make the grab while keeping his feet in bounds to give the Privateers the lead before half. 

The second drive of the third quarter for USMMA resulted in a one-yard touchdown run as the Mariners took control of the lead for the second time in the game. Wright and the Maritime offense looked to answer right back, but after a deep pass intended for Curtis Smith (Brooklyn, N.Y./New Utrecht) fell through his hands, the Privateers were forced to punt. Two plays later, a play-action pass fooled the Maritime defense and USMMA completed a 43-yard touchdown pass to take a commanding 28-14 lead after two successful two-point conversions. 

The Privateers just weren't able to get anything going offensively and couldn't close the gap before USMMA added another touchdown to make it 22 unanswered points as they took a 34-14 lead with 10:23 remaining in the game. 

Maritime was able to come up with another fourth-down miracle on the ensuing drive as Wright connected with Castle again, this time for a 37-yard touchdown pass on fourth and 10 to cut the lead to 34-21 with 8:48 remaining. However, the Mariner offense was able to continue pounding the run and take too much time off the clock for the Privateers to put together any type of comeback and Maritime's three-game win streak against USMMA came to an end.

Wright finished 26 of 53 with 340 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. Castle finished with seven catches for 153 yards and two touchdowns while Drumgole finished with seven catches, 103 yards, and one touchdown. Liam Bailey (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) was all over the field on defense as he chipped in on 20 total tackles with nine solo and 11 assists. USMMA finished with 280 yards rushing.

The Privateers enjoy a bye week before opening up conference play with Husson at home on Sep. 29 at 1:00 p.m.