WASHINGTON - The lights shined bright on Saturday night as the Gallaudet University football team rolled to a 48-0 victory over the George Mason University club team before a crowd of 547 at Hotchkiss Field. 

Gallaudet (1-3) danced and celebrated its first win of the 2024 season as it dominated an overmatched Patriots squad.

The Bison scored touchdowns on its first six drives as the buff and blue delivered on offense, defense and special teams. GU scored on the ground (two rushing scores), through the air (three passing touchdowns), on special teams (blocked punt for a score) and on defense (pick-6 return in the third quarter).

GU led 28-0 after the first quarter and took a 42-0 lead into halftime.

In a time-shortened second half, the Bison defense stepped up to secure the shutout win as the bench got emptied and the GU offense ran down the clock to conclude the game with the win.

Senior quarterback Brandon Washington (Citronelle, Ala.) threw two touchdown passes to sophomore wide receiver Jaylen Johnson (Redlands, Calif.) and ran in a score from 39 yards out.

Junior quarterback Gabe Segovia (Glendale, Ariz.) connected with sophomore wide receiver AJ Markel (College Park, Md.) on a 25-yard touchdown pass at the 6:14 mark in the second quarter to put the Bison up 42-0.

GU got on the scoreboard on its third offensive play when sophomore Marcus Brown-Gabriel (Beeville, Texas) ran it in from 10 yards out.

George Mason had its first punt blocked by junior Zack Parsons (Reading, Pa.) and returned 35 yards by first year Ajani Zahira (Fruitland Park, Fla.) for the score. 

The only score in the second half came when first-year defensive back Gio Fayne (Bloomington, Ill.) picked off a pass and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown.

First-year kicker Adem Mahassini (Long Island City, N.Y.) made 6-of-7 extra-point attempt kicks for the Bison to set a career-high. 

The Bison defense held the Patriots to 75 offensive yards which included -11 yards rushing. George Mason was 1 for 10 on third down conversions and 0 for 3 on fourth down chances. 

Sophomore defensive back Darico Castillo (Passaic, N.J.) led the way with six tackles while senior Miguel Pavao (Frederick, Md.) led the team with two tackles for a loss of 13 yards.

UP NEXT
Gallaudet will host Nichols College (3-1) next Saturday, Oct. 5, at noon in a non-conference game at Hotchkiss Field.