Fourth-Quarter Field Goal Pushes Spartans Past AMCATS, 17-14

PAXTON, Mass.—A fourth-quarter field goal proved to be the difference for the Castleton University football team, who picked up a road win against the AMCATS of Anna Maria on Saturday afternoon in Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) action.

The win marks the fourth-straight for the Spartans, who improve to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in league play, while the AMCATS remain winless at 0-8 overall and 0-5 in ECFC action.

TOUCHDOWNS  

First Half: Following a scoreless first quarter, the AMCATS scored first as the team used seven plays to travel 64 yards on their first drive of the quarter, resulting in a 31-yard touchdown completion from Malik Faison (Bowie, Md.) to Trai Weaver (Waterbury, Conn.) with 11:59 remaining in the half. Francis Cole (Maspeth, N.Y.) was successful on the extra-point to put Anna Maria up 7-0.

Three drives later, the Spartans evened the score as wide receiver Sorren Pelz-Walsh (Dummerston, Vt.) ran back-to-back identical routes to the end zone. The first pass was caught out-of-bounds, but Pelz-Walsh stayed in for the second one for the 16-yard completion from quarterback George Busharis (Mansfield, Mass.). Bobby Lineberger (Warwick, R.I.) hit the extra-point to even the score at 7-7.

On their ensuing drive, Anna Maria used 10 plays to travel 65 yards. The drive concluded with a three-yard touchdown run by St. Clair Ryan (South Easton, Mass.). Cole was on-par again, and the AMCATS carried a 14-7 lead into halftime.

Second Half: Castleton evened the score again at 14-14 on their second drive of the third quarter. The Spartans used three-straight Busaris-to-Pelz-Walsh completions to travel 64 yards, setting up the Spartans for a first-and-10 from the AMCAT 11-yard line. Harris rushed for 10 yards and was brought down just short of the goal line, but he made up for it on the next play, breaking through the AMCAT defense to score the touchdown.

GAME-CHANGING MOMENT

After forcing Castleton in a three-and-out with 12 minutes left in the game, a costly roughing the kicker penalty gave the Spartans a fresh set of downs. Castleton took advantage of the situations, using eight plays to travel 50 yards to set up Lineberger for a 20-yard field goal attempt, which he buried with 6:57 left to play.

AMCAT RESPONSE

Anna Maria responded with their sights set on the end zone but went to the ground to get there, completing five rushing plays to travel from their own 21-yard line all the way to Castleton's 48 yard. Facing fourth-and-two, the AMCATS called timeout to set a play, but had to burn an additional timeout when 12 men took to the field for the play.

Castleton's Darren Callan (Fairfield, Vt.) was ready with the blitz but Faison evaded his first tackle, eventually throwing the ball off of Callan for the incomplete pass. With no timeouts left, the AMCATS could only sit and watch as Castleton used three rushes to get a first down and then took a knee to run off the remaining seconds of the game.

DEFENSE DOMINATES

The AMCAT defense held Castleton to 280 yards of total offense. The unit was paced by Jake LeBlanc (Ipswich, Mass.) with eight tackles, while Edward Jankowski (Billerica, Mass.), Baily Braga (Foster, R.I.), and Stefano Marziale (Cranston, R.I.) all finished with six. Charles Dickerson (Randallstown, Md.) finished with an interception and two pass breakups for Anna Maria, while Tyler Jacobs (New Bedford, Mass.) and Kai Nero-Clark (Wheatley Heights, N.Y.) both recorded sacks.

FANTASTIC FAISON

Faison had his best appearance of the season at quarterback for the AMCATS, completing eight-of-14 passes for 104 yards while also running for 62 yards on 10 carries.

Ryan added 64 yards on 13 carries for the Anna Maria offense, while Christopher Bettano () added 35 yards.

Weaver tallied 61 receiving yards on three catches, followed by Kolin Matthews () with 27 yards.

SPARTAN NUMBERS

Busharis completed 13-of-27 passes for 192 yards and a touchdown on the day. Pelz-Walsh was the recipient of 149 of those yards, catching 10 balls, while Makai Hawkins () caught three passes for 43 yards.

Harris rushed for 91 yards on 21 attempts.

Castleton's defense gave up 286 yards to the AMCATS and were led by Callan with 12 tackles. Leo Audy (Danby, Vt.) finished with eight, followed by Jay Morgan () with seven tackles. Grant Cummings (Colchester, Vt.) finished with six tackles while also forcing and recovering a fumble early in the second half.

WHAT'S NEXT

Anna Maria travels to Washington, D.C. next Saturday to take on Gallaudet University, while Castleton will host Becker. Both games kick off at noon.