CASTLETON, Vt. – The Castleton University football team dominated on both sides of the ball on Saturday against Alfred State, coming away with a 37-13 win on Senior Day in Eastern Collegiate Football Conference play.
 
The win moves Castleton to 5-4 overall and 4-1 in ECFC play, keeping alive the chance at the ECFC title. Alfred State sits at 4-4 overall and 2-2 in ECFC play with the loss. The Spartans rushed for 315 yards in the game—the second-most in a single game in school history—and amassed 467 yards of total offense. The defense forced two turnovers as well, both coming on interceptions. The game was the most lopsided time-of-possession game in favor of the Spartans in program history, with Castleton possessing the ball for 41:48 compared to just 18:12 for Alfred State.
 
The three-pronged rushing attack paved the way for Castleton's success as Simon Davis Jr., Lucas Morse and Devin Wollner each carried the ball 10-plus times on the day. Davis Jr. produced 110 yards and a score on the ground while Morse had 88 yards and Wollner added 79 and a touchdown. Jackson Brand had five carries for 28 yards and a touchdown while Caezar Williams had one touchdown rushing and one receiving. Williams finished the day with 94 all-purpose yards, 81 of those coming through the air. Evan Smith was 12-of-18 passing for 152 yards and a touchdown.
 
On defense, Jacob Griggs led the team with eight tackles, including two tackles for a loss and one sack. Andrew Genier spent the afternoon in Alfred State's backfield, racking up 2.5 tackles for a loss and half a sack while disrupting a number of other plays. Jordan Wright had six stops with a sack and Kevin McDonough made four tackles with an interception. Damiyr Martinez also had an interception. The interceptions were the second of the season for each player. Noah Crossman made his only field goal attempt—a 21-yard boot—and knocked home 4-of-4 extra-point attempts. His only punt of the day traveled 51 yards and pinned Alfred State inside its own 15-yard line.
 
Castleton held a stout rushing attack to just 46 net yards on the day, limiting the ECFC's leading rusher to a season-low 32 yards on the ground. The 46 yards as a team were also the lowest of the year for the Pioneers, and was only the second time the group has been held below 120 yards this season. Justin Horvath completed 12-of-25 passes for 233 yards with a touchdown, two interceptions and three sacks. Roman Napoleon accounted for nearly all of the receiving yardage for Alfred State, catching six passes for 175 yards and a touchdown.
 
Silas Egenlauf made 16 tackles in the contest with one going for a loss. Anthony Allen had a tackle for a loss and an interception while Rylie Van Fleet added eight tackles. Van Fleet also served as the team's punter, pinning Castleton inside its own 20-yard line twice.
 
The Spartans opened the game with a methodical drive, using 12 plays to cover 81 yards over a 7:02 span. The clock never stopped on the drive, as Castleton ran the ball seven times and Smith completed each of his pass attempts on the way to the end zone. The drive did not feature any big plays, but Castleton gained yardage in quality chunks to keep the chains moving with five first downs. The drive culminated in a 12-yard end-around to Brand, who crossed the goal line to give Castleton a 7-0 lead.
 
Alfred State responded quickly, putting together a polar-opposite drive to Castleton's. On the second play of the drive, Horvath hit Napoleon for 53 yards down the right sideline and into the red zone. Two carries later, Palmer found the end zone to knot the score at 7-7.
 
Castleton again went back to work, driving the ball slowly-but-surely down the field while eating yardage and clock. Each of the drive's 11 players were running plays. The Spartans covered 76 yards in 6:31, ending in a touchdown just seconds into the second quarter when Williams took a handoff and powered into the end zone for a 14-7 lead.
 
Three drives into the game, it appeared as if both teams were in for a shootout. Alfred State kept the theme going on its second drive, gaining 16 yards with consecutive run plays. On 2nd-and-9, Alfred State moved across midfield with a 20-yard completion to Napoleon. Palmer gained seven on the ensuing handoff before a wide-receiver screen went backwards thanks to a good open-field tackle by Kyle Ford. On 3rd-and-4, Alfred State dropped a pass at the sticks before Napoleon slipped up short of the line on fourth down, giving Castleton the ball back near midfield with a seven-point lead. Neither side would find the end zone again before halftime.
 
The Castleton defense came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders, registering interceptions on each of the first two drives of the third quarter. The first came on 3rd-and-9 near midfield when Martinez dropped into coverage and picked off Horvath to give the Spartans their first possession of the half. The possession stalled out, however, with Alfred State taking over on downs on its own 29-yard line. Again on 3rd-and-long Horvath tried to force the ball downfield, only to find McDonough making the toe-tapping interception on the near sideline.
 
The second turnover of the half led to points for the Spartans, as the ground game went to work one more time to get the Spartans into field-goal range. After being stopped at the goal-line, Crossman came on for a 21-yard field goal, knocking it through for a 17-7 lead midway through the third.
 
Neither side scored again until Castleton extended its lead in the fourth quarter with another lengthy drive. Despite receiving the ball in plus-territory at the Pioneer 48-yard line, Castleton took 11 plays and 6:30 to get the ball into the end zone, chewing up valuable time to prevent any chance of comeback from Alfred State. Wollner got two tries at the goal-line to get the ball into the end zone, proving successful on the second try and extending Castleton's lead to 23-7.
 
The Pioneers continued to fight back, needing just two plays to close the gap back to 10 points. Horvath ran for eight yards on the first play of the drive before finding Napoleon in stride for a catch. Napoleon made one defender miss and was free down the left sideline for a 69-yard touchdown. Alfred State elected to for the two-point conversion to make it an eight-point game, but came up empty, leaving the deficit at 10 points, 23-13.
 
Castleton predictably opened its next drive with a running play to take more time off the clock before an Alfred State timeout. Another rush had Castleton facing 3rd-and-12 with just over four minutes remaining in the contest. With the defense expecting a run play, the Spartan offense threw a curveball, with Smith hitting Williams over the top for a 61-yard touchdown pass and a 30-13 lead with 4:12 to play.
 
The score took away any momentum Alfred State had remaining from its touchdown drive, as the Pioneers went three-and-out and punted from their own end zone on the following drive. Castleton got prime field position from the defensive stand, beginning its final drive at the Alfred State 39.
 
Colin Ellsworth rushed for a yard to start the drive before Davis Jr. gained five on the next play. Another rush by Davis Jr. had Castleton facing 4th-and-4 at the Alfred State 33 with 1:22 to play. The Spartans looked to put the game away, needing a first down to finish killing the clock. The fourth-down handoff went to Davis Jr., who broke through the hole for the first down and more, racing into the end zone for a 33-yard touchdown. Crossman's extra point put the finishing touches on the 37-13 victory.
 
Before the game, Castleton honored its graduating seniors with a ceremony on the field: Quinten Asiedu, Kristopher Carroll, Zach Cluett, Caleb Condon, Crossman, Davis Jr., Grant diBenedetto, Thomas Donovan, Ellsworth, Chance Fee, Ford, Tucker Gaudette, Genier, Caleb Graves, Griggs, Evan Keegan, Saijon McIntosh, Morse, Ethan Palazzetti, Ben Reid, Joe Stimpfel, Hunter Swan, Jarrett Valdez, Brandon Wolfkiel and Wright.
 
Castleton has a bye next weekend and returns to action for the final regular-season game at Anna Maria on November 12.