Football Suffers Setback at Castleton

CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton State College defense dominated today's game, scoring three touchdowns and forcing seven turnovers on the way to a record-breaking 65-9 victory over Anna Maria College on Saturday at Spartan Stadium. 

Castleton put up a program-record 65 points and blocked a punt on Anna Maria's opening possession to set the tone just minutes into the game. The team didn't look back, tying a program record with five interceptions just a week after recording a school-record seven sacks. 

Junior Nicholas Romeo blocked that first punt and intercepted a pair of passes, including one for a touchdown to lead an all-around effort as 34 different players recorded a tackle. The defensive was also disruptive, making eight tackles for a loss with seven quarterback hurries and eight pass breakups. 

Offensively, quarterbacks and George Busharis and Tyler Higley split time on the day, going 9-for-17 for 184 yards and four touchdowns. Busharis completed just five passes but three went for touchdowns and he had 145 yards through the air. The junior also added a rushing TD. Corey Brimmer needed just one half of football to rack up 87 yards on 15 carries while Tyler Combs led the receiving corps with two catches for 30 yards and a pair of touchdowns. 

Gregory McGoldrick (Brooklyn, N.Y.) started and completed just six passes for 41 yards while throwing three interceptions in the first half. He was replaced by Ty'Shon Ashe (Pawtucket, R.I.), who went 6-for-18 for 91 yards and two interceptions in the second half. Christopher Bettano (Tewksbury, Mass.) rushed 20 times for 58 yards and one touchdown. Ryan McCarthy (Deer Park, N.Y.) led all receivers with nine catches for 95 yards. 

In the opening minutes and on fourth down for Anna Maria from its own 24-yard line, Romeo came around the left side of line and blocked the punt attempt. The junior then picked up the ball at the 21 and brought it all the way down to the one-yard line before being tackled. Busharis took it himself for the score to make it 7-0 just 3:51 into the contest. 

Castleton forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff to take over on the AMCAT 20-yard line. Brimmer rushed it to the three-yard line and then on fourth down Busharis found Combs in the back of the end zone for the 14-0 lead with 9:23 left in the first. 

The Spartans kept the offense rolling on their next possession, going 66 yards in seven plays. Alberque capped off the drive with a three-yard run around the left side to make it 21-0 with 5:30 remaining. 

On Anna Maria's next possession a bad snap on fourth down forced punter to tuck the ball and he fumbled it, which was then pounced on by Isaac Bendavid at the AMCAT 28-yard line. On first down Busharis found wide-open Combs up the middle for the 28-0 lead. 

Castleton pushed its lead to 31-0 on the first play of the second quarter as Bobby Lineberger connected on a 26-yard field goal. 

Anna Maria received on the ball at the 12-yard line on its ensuing possession and on first down Romeo jumped the route and took McGoldrick's pass back 16 yards to the end zone to extend the lead to 37-0 with 14:41 left in the half. 

Romeo ended the next AMCAT drive with an interception and brought it to the 50-yard line. Six plays later, Higley connected with Kevin Alberque for a 21-yard score as the senior managed to catch the ball on the sideline and make a diving attempt to the near pylon. 

With just over seven minutes left in the opening half, Castleton extended its lead to 51-0 on its second interception for a touchdown. Mike Perrone, read the pass and ripped the ball away from the wide receiver before weaving through the defense for the 23-yard score with 7:00 remaining. 

Anna Maria finally got on the board with just 3:23 left in the first half. On first down from its own five-yard line, the snap went over Higley's head and through the end zone for a safety to cut it to 51-2. 

The AMCATS received the ball to start the second half looking to score. However, on third down Ryan Stanek stepped in front of a pass and went 42 yards down the near sideline to extend Castleton's lead to 58-2 just 1:11 into the quarter. 

Bettano gave Anna Maria its only touchdown with a two-yard run midway through the third quarter to cut the deficit to 58-9.

Castleton ended the scoring on a 34-yard catch and run by Anthony Porcelli. The sophomore caught Busharis' pass at the 25 and made a few defenders miss on his way to the end zone for a 65-9 lead with 4:23 left in the third. 

The defense did the rest, recording multiple fourth down stops in the final 19 minutes of action to preserve the 56-point margin of victory. 

The 4-1 start marks the best in program history and Castleton is now 2-0 in the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) for the second time in the last three years. Anna Maria falls to 0-5 with the loss and 0-2 in conference play. 

The AMCATS will be back in action next Saturday when they host Maritime (N.Y.) in a 3:00 p.m. tilt as part of Alumni and Parents weekend. 

Recap courtesy of Castleton Sports Information