FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Mansfield picks off school-record seven passes to beat Franklin Pierce 32-14

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MANSFIELD – Freshman Casey Huff caught three touchdown passes while sophomore Jeremy Estremera rushed for 113 yards and the Mountaineer defense recorded a school-record seven interceptions to lead Mansfield to a 32-14 win over Franklin Pierce in Senior Day at Karl Van Norman Field Saturday afternoon.

“We stuck with our game plan going in and knew we could run the ball,” said head coach Graham Johnson. “Estermera did an outstanding job of running the ball for us but it was the offense line that should also get a lot of credit for opening the holes and protecting Pepper all day.”

Mansfield, which had struggled offensively after losing its top two quarterbacks and leading rusher over the last three weeks, got a solid performance from quarterback Ben Pepper. The freshman completed 23-of-36 passes for 267 yards and three touchdowns. Although he did throw four interceptions, none of them resulted in points for Franklin Pierce.

While Pepper had a strong performance through the air, it was Estermera's stellar running that really established the Mountaineers offense that compiled a season-high 370 yards in total offense.

The sophomore running back tallied 113-yards yards on the ground on 36 carries while also pulling down 10 passes for 108 yards to compile a season-high 221 all-purpose yards. Huff was the big-play receiver for the Mountaineers catching six passes for 120-yards including touchdowns of 36, 4 and 6 yards from Pepper.

But for all Mansfield's offense, it was the defense, especially the secondary, which really decided the course of the game.

Franklin Pierce scored the game's first touchdown on a 23-yard run by DJ MacDonald late in the first quarter before Mansfield tied the game 7-7 when  Estremera capped off a 10-play, 58-yard drive with a 1-yard run on the ensuing possession.

The game remained tied at halftime before Pierce took the opening kickoff and went 47-yards on four plays to take a 14-7 lead on a 3-yard run by MacDonald.

But it would be all Mansfield from that point on.

The Mountaineers, who recorded four of its seven interceptions on the day in the second half, tied the game up on their next offensive play when Pepper hit a speeding Huff down the right sideline for a 36-yard TD pass.

Two series later, freshman Da' Shawn Serrano picked off a pass at the Franklin Pierce 30-yard line  and Pepper found Huff on a third and goal from the four for a touchdown and a 20-14 lead after the conversion attempt failed.

Mansfield scored again on its next drive, again set up by an interception this one by senior Troy Taylor, with Huff pulling in a 6-yard pass from Pepper to increase the lead to 26-14 early in the fourth quarter.

The game's final score came on a 54-yard interception return for a touchdown by freshman Anthony Colon with a little over nine minutes remaining.

“The biggest thing that contributed to today's win was our ability to execute,” said Johnsen. “We made big plays when we needed both offensively and defensively and that built confidence.”

Mansfield held a 370-208 advantage in total offense and ran a season-high 79 plays including 43 of them on the ground.

Seniors Michael Wang and Justin DiMatteo each had seven tackles with fellow seniors Cody Croasdale and Tory Taylor recording five and four stops respectively. Taylor, Serrano, and Colon each had two interceptions each.

Seniors Doug Bauer, Brandon Couse, Cody Croasdale, Justin DiMatteo, Matt Maciejewski, Eudene Parson, Troy Taylor, Nick Rutherford and Michael Wang were all honored in pregame ceremonies.

Mansfield improves to 2-4 on the year and concludes the 2012 season at Cornell next Friday night.