Pioneers Close Season at New England Bowl

Playing in their first NCAA Bowl game, Alfred State couldn't put everything together and fell 42-16 at UMass Dartmouth in the 2021 New England Bowl.

The Corsairs scored on two of their first possessions to take a 16-0 lead. Dawson Fontaine (Bensalem, PA) got the Pioneers on the board late in the 1st quarter when he connected on a 29-yard field goal.

The Pioneers intercepted three passes in the 2nd quarter but couldn't turn them into points. The lone points of the 2nd came from UMD with 2:48 left in the half to make it 22-3 at half.

Aaron Jenkins (Canfield, OH) connected with Roman Napoleon (Allegany Limestone) on the first drive of the 3rd quarter to cut the lead to 22-9 but the Pioneers wouldn't get any closer.

Two touchdown drives pushed the Corsair lead to 34-9 midway through the 3rd. Jake Palmer (Voorheesville) rushed in from two yards out to make it 34-16 with 5:10 left in the 3rd.

The only scoring in the 4th came on a pair of touchdown passes from Dante Aviles-Smith to cap the scoring.

Jenkins finished the game 11 for 31 for 215 yards and a score. He rushed for 72 yards on 22 carries. Shy'rel Broadwater (Cicero North Syracuse) caught five passes for 98 yards while Napoleon had two catches for 62 yards and a score.

Aviles-Smith finished 15 for 28 for 316 yards and four scores. Douglas Machado had five catches for 151 yards and a score while Marvens Jean had 129 yards on 17 carries.

Nuhsar Mike (Syracuse/Leadership Academy) had a season best 21 tackles (9 solo) to lead the Pioneer defense. Silas Egenlauf (Spencerport) had 11 tackles, Joel Smith (Livonia) had nine, and Brock Weist (Harpursville), Joseph Alvarado (Queens/John Adams) and Anthony Allen (Staten Island/New Dorp) all had interceptions.

Logan Chappell and Sam Alicea led the Corsairs (9-2) with five tackles while Trell Best had two picks. UMass Dartmouth recorded four sacks.

The 2021 season (6-5) was the most successful for Alfred State since the move to NCAA Division III play. The Pioneers six wins is a new NCAA era record and the this was the first trip for the program to a postseason contest.