Football, Cheer Celebrates Senior Day on Saturday

Westfield State University football will celebrate their 2025 senior class on Saturday as the Owls take on the Falcons of Fitchburg State for the 2024 season finale.

Westfield State would like to recognize 27 senior student athletes for their hard work and dedication to this program over the years. Jacob Applebee, Gavin Bullock, Dylan Clark, Curtis Dion, Dylan Disabella, Sean Ferguson, Gabe Fernandez, Justyn Gardener, Nikolaos Giotsas, Chris Greene, Jordan Lanoue, Adam Legere, Max Margeson,Anthony Messore, Cade Nelson, Tim O'Connor, Gilberto Rodriguez, Ethan Russell, Conor Schlittler, Blake Simpson, Jacob Swinehart, Casey Tang, Matt Varteresian, Nate Walton, Noah Will, Malachi Wright, and Alvin Yvon comprise the class of 2025 Westfield State football Owls.  We will also recognize the three senior cheerleaders - Ernesto Matos, Kirstyn Carrigan and Emma Heinemann - for their contributions and support of the Owls.

Fans should be in their seats by 11:40 for the senior day ceremonies.  The game kick

LAST WEEK: Westfield fell at the hands of the Corsairs of UMass-Dartmouth by a score of 56-14. The Owls played to their strengths as last week they rushed for 236 yards of their 260 total yards of offense. Westfield had two rushers over 50 yards - Dylan Disabella who rushed for 152 on 26 carries,  finding the end zone, while Aidan Patterson rushed for 53 yards on just five carries. Eric Lovell also intercepted MASCAC passing leader Dante Avilles-Santos to boost his season total to two.

Fitchburg State lost their senior day last Saturday to Plymouth State 26-21 as the Falcons had 248 yards of total offense with over 150 of it coming from the rush game. The Falcons had three rushers rush over 40 yards, headlined by a nine-carry, 63-yard performance by Rocky Marchitelli.

THE MATCHUP: Westfield is 27-11 all-time versus Fitchburg State including a six-game win streak over the Falcons.

WESTFIELD STATE ON OFFENSE: Westfield State is averaging 258.6 yards on offense per game with 160.2 coming from the ground. Disabella has taken over as the rushing leader with the injury to Sean Willis. Disabella has 525 total rushing yards through nine games with only 108 carries. He is averaging 4.9 yards per carry, the fifth highest average in the conference.

The Owls air offense is credited to Gabe Fernandez as he has thrown for over 600 yards and four touchdowns this season. Disabella is also the receiving leader for Westfield as he has 231 receiving yards on 13 receptions including two for touchdowns. Disabella is eighth in the conference for total yards with 756 total yards and an average of 84 yards per game.

WESTFIELD STATE ON DEFENSE: The Owls allow 288 yards per game -  which is the fifth best in the conference. Blake Simpson is the team leader in tackles as he has 51 total tackles and leads Westfield with ten tackles for loss. Budder Ferreira leads the Owls with 4.5 sacks this season and that is the third highest sack total in the MASCAC.

Eric Lovell tallied his second interception of the season last week within five minutes in the first quarter. Lovell set up the offense well for their first touchdown of the day with a 59-yard return on the interception. Westfield now has three defenders that have at least two interceptions on the season as both Lovells have two and Tafari Proctor has three. Proctor is tied for sixth in the conference in the interception category.

WESTFIELD STATE ON SPECIAL TEAMS: Cooper Harvey is fourth on the team for total points as he has made 14 extra points this season and a field goal. Harvey is 14-for-16 on extra points for 88 percent, this makes him tied for sixth in the conference in extra point percentage.

FITCHBURG STATE ON OFFENSE: The Falcons average 212 yards on offense this season with the majority coming from the ground, 112.4. Matthew Aguirre leads Fitchburg in rushing yards as he has 567 total yards with four touchdowns. Aguirre is fourth in the MASCAC in total rushing yards (567) and fourth in rushing yards per game (63).

The Falcons throw for just shy of 100 yards per game, the man at the helm for the Falcons is Marchitelli. Marchitelli has thrown for 612 yards and five touchdowns this fall. Like FedEx, Marchitelli gets it done through the air and on the ground, as he is the team's third-highest rushing leader as a sophomore. Emilio Cabey is Marchitelli's main target as he has 388 receiving yards on 38 grabs for just over ten yards per reception. Cabey has two touchdowns this season including one being a 99-yard full field touchdown reception.

FITCHBURG STATE ON DEFENSE: Cameron Monette is the tackle leader for the Falcon defense as he has tallied 62 total tackles, 12 of them include tackles for loss, and 5.5 sacks. He is second in the MASCAC in both tackles for loss and sacks.

The Falcons also have three defenders with at least two interceptions in Andrew Novak, Jordan Cummings and the leader with three, Elijah Zaire McKnight. The Falcons have 15 turnovers forced this season, which is the fifth highest amongst teams.

FITCHBURG STATE ON SPECIAL TEAMS: Jonah Costa handles kicking responsibilities for the Falcons as he is six-for-eleven for extra points this year and two-for-three in field goals as he has a 39-yard field goal this season. That 39-yarder was the longest thus far in the MASCAC this season.

COVERAGE:  Live stats and video are available at WestfieldStateOwls.com.  The game is also live streamed via the MASCAC.tv app on AppleTV, Roku, AmazonFire, and most major streaming devices. Westfield State University students Zach Bianco and Brayden Cutler are on the call for the stream.