NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Castleton University football battled back-and-forth with Norwich in the Battle for the Maple Sap Bucket Trophy on Saturday afternoon, but came up on the short end of a 26-21 final score at Sabine Field.
 
Norwich (1-2) scored the first two touchdowns of the game to take a 13-0 lead before Castleton (1-2) answered with two unanswered scores of its own to take a one-point edge, 14-13. The Cadets then tacked on a pair of field goals to push the lead to 19-14 in favor of Norwich before an 18-yard rushing touchdown by the Cadets extended the lead to 26-14. Castleton scored quickly to stay in contention, 26-21, but the Cadets got the ball back and never relinquished as the clock ran out of the Sap Bucket Game.
 
Evan Smith completed 15-of-20 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns. Jackson Brand and Evan Keegan were on the receiving end of the scores, Brand finishing with two catches for 40 yards and Keegan catching two passes for 17 yards. Saijon McIntosh caught four passes for a team-high 52 yards. Simon Davis Jr. was the team's leading rusher with 52 yards on 10 carries.
 
Jacob Griggs racked up 12 tackles in the contest, followed by Kevin McDonough with 11 stops. McDonough was one of four Spartans who made a stop for negative yardage on the day. Andrew Genier was one of those four as well, amassing seven total tackles in the contest. Noah Crossman helped put the Spartan defense in good positons, averaging 40.3 yards per punt with three inside the Norwich 20-yard line and a long of 54 yards. He also made all three extra-point attempts.
 
Norwich's Mitchell Theall connected on just 15-of-31 passes but totaled 195 yards and a touchdown through the air. Trevor Chase caught 10 of those 15 passes for 116 yards and a score. Nate Parady rushed for 148 yards and a touchdown, while Jehric Hackney added 91 yards and a touchdown. Ethan Amburn had 10 tackles for the Cadet defense, while Imari Milton made three tackles for a loss with a sack.
 
Both sides were scoreless for their first two drives of the game, but Norwich got on the board first late in the opening quarter with a nine-play, 70-yard drive that ended in a 12-yard passing touchdown to Chase. The Cadets extended the lead to 13-0 midway through the second quarter when a nine-play, 80-yard drive concluded in a one-yard touchdown run by Parady.
 
Castleton answered in a big way, using 12 plays to go 70 yards and bleed 6:27 off the clock with its first touchdown of the afternoon. The Spartans converted on three third downs on the drive before scoring on 3rd-and-Goal from the 11-yard line from Smith to Keegan. A 31-yard completion from Smith to Lucas Morse set up the scoring opportunity down to the Castleton 10-yard line. After a run for a loss of one and an incomplete pass, the Spartans found paydirt on the following play. Crossman knocked in the extra point to make it 13-7, a score that held into the halftime break.
 
The Spartans opened the second half with a go-ahead touchdown, taking the ball 71 yards in just seven plays over a 3:47 span. Davis Jr. opened the second half with a 12-yard rush before Smith helped Castleton pick up six yards on each of the next two plays—once with his feet and once a completion to McIntosh. A rush for no gain preceded two carries by Davis Jr. that totaled 11 yards and a first down before Smith found Brand for a 36-yard touchdown on first down. Crossman's extra point made it 14-13 Castleton early in the third quarter.
 
The lead was short-lived, as Norwich answered with a field goal on the ensuing drive to regain a 16-14 lead. Zach Buchy put through another field goal on Norwich's next drive as well, extending the gap to 19-14. Castleton's ensuing drive stalled out on its own side of the field, and Norwich took advantage with a 15-play, 89-yard drive that chewed 7:43 seconds off the clock to open the fourth quarter and ended in a Hackney touchdown and a 26-14 Norwich lead.
 
The Spartans continued to grind with 6:11 left on the clock, getting a 10-yard completion to McIntosh before a pass interference penalty advanced the ball 15 yards to midfield. A sack moved the ball back four yards before Hunter Swan caught a 16-yard pass for a first down. McIntosh followed with a 30-yard grab to get the ball inside the 10-yard line. A 6-yard completion to Keegan and a two-yard rush by Morse finished the drive with seven points after Crossman's extra-point attempt. With 3:56 to play, Castleton was within one score, 26-21.
 
Castleton attempted an onside kick to get a final possession, but Norwich recovered at its own 45-yard line. Parady immediately broke off a 26-yard run to get into Spartan territory, and a few plays later Theall sealed the game with a 12-yard scramble on 4th-and-7.