College Football: Ojo, Bolarinho Help BSU Win MASCAC Title

By Jim Fenton, The Enterprise (Brockton)

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- There were roughly 180 plays during the game that decided the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference football championship earlier this month.

In a stretch of about five minutes, it was two special teams' plays made by Bridgewater State University against Framingham State University that proved to be the difference.

Had sophomore linebacker Olubiyi Ojo not blocked an extra point try in overtime and had junior Russell Bolarinho not converted a game-winning conversion kick, the Bears might not be conference champions for the first time since 2000.

Thanks to the special teams plays executed by Ojo, a transfer from the University of New Hampshire, and Bolarinho, a former soccer player in his first season of football, Bridgewater State edged Framingham State, 28-27, in OT on Nov. 5.

That earned the Bears a spot in the NCAA Division 3 tournament, which they will open Saturday afternoon at 15th-ranked and unbeaten Alfred University.

"They always say there's five or six plays in a game that determine a win or loss,'' said BSU coach Joe Verria, "and there's two right there.''

After Framingham State, bidding for a fourth straight MASCAC title, took a 27-21 lead on the first possession of overtime, Ojo found an opening and blocked the point-after try.

Ojo, a starting linebacker who is fifth on the team with 38 tackles in eight games, said he had never blocked a kick.

"I usually don't try to block them,'' said Ojo. "I usually take the outside guy's attention so (linebacker) Steve Jacobs can get in there.

"We switched it up. I saw the gap and I decided to go through it and no one touched me. I came through unblocked.''

The block opened the door for BSU, putting it in position to win the title by scoring a touchdown and adding the conversion.

"I knew it was a critical moment,'' said Ojo, a Boston resident who played at Weston High School. "I knew that if we could score and get the point after, the game would be over.''

Bridgewater State needed six plays to tie the game on a 1-yard run by Malik Garrett, giving Bolarinho a chance to clinch the championship.

Bolarinho, who is from Acushnet, played soccer at Bishop Stang High and tried out for the soccer team at BSU as a freshman in 2014.

This past summer, some of his friends on the Bears' football team suggested he try out for the squad as a kicker.

"The first time I touched a football was a few months ago,'' said Bolarinho. "Before this year, I never got into football. Now I watch the Pats, watch the games on TV.''

Framingham State called a timeout as Bolarinho was lining up for the extra-point try, giving him time to think about the circumstances.

"Mentally I was ready to take the kick, and then they called a timeout,'' said Bolarinho, who is 26 for 32 on extra points this season. "I kind of had to take a breath and go to the side. I talked to the holder (Brandon Giles), and I went back and it's just like muscle memory.

"I want to say about 10 seconds before I kicked, I replayed (Framingham State having its kick blocked) in my mind. I was like, 'This is it.' I just went out there and went back to practice and just kicked it like normal and it was over.''

The ball went through the uprights and Bridgewater State celebrated a conference title for the first time in 16 years.

Ojo and Bolarinho came through on special teams to make it possible.

"That was the most nerve-racking moment of my life,'' said Bolarinho. "Just having everyone watching me, it was very nerve-racking.''