The Colgate Football team bounced back strong from their defeat two weeks ago with a 28-7 thrashing of the Dartmouth Big Green. Sophomore running back Jordan Scott led the way for the Raiders with 169 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Scott also had two catches for 28 yards, bringing his total yardage to 197.

Fifth-year quarterback Mike Saraceno also had a strong game for the Raiders, completing 14 of 16 passes for 175 yards and a touchdown. He also made several good plays with his legs, rushing eight times for 38 yards. Most importantly, Saraceno made very few mental mistakes and kept Colgate motivated even after an average first half.

Scott started the scoring for the Raiders, dashing 65 yards for a touchdown on Colgate’s very first offensive play of the game. Those would be the only points scored by the Raiders in the first half as the extra point sailed wide left. Both offenses stalled until the middle of the second quarter, when Dartmouth blocked a Colgate field goal attempt and drove 53 yards on eight plays for a touchdown. Kicker Andrew Kempler made the extra point after Milan Williams’s 1 yard run, putting Dartmouth up 7-6 with 7:05 left in thesecond quarter.

Colgate appeared to have a solid drive going towards the end of the second quarter, but Saraceno was picked off shortly before half, stalling the Raider’s drive.

“We shot ourselves in the foot with errors and penalties,” Coach Dick Biddle commented. “But these were correctable mistakes.”

The team went into halftime down one point and looking for answers; they certainly found them for the second half. It appeared that a whole different team had emerged from the locker room and Colgate soon took over the game. Two big passes from Saraceno to senior wide receiver Kenny Parker set up a touchdown run by Jordan Scott. Scott then caught a pass from Saraceno, lunging towards the endzone for a successful 2-pt conversion to put Colgate up 14-7 with 5:01 left in the third quarter.

The Raiders continued to dominate the game, holding the Big Green to only 50 total yards in the second half, while gaining 215 yards on offense. Colgate went up by two touchdowns courtesy of sophomore tight end Brent Dillingham’s touchdown reception from Saraceno with 5:56 left in the 4th quarter. A fumble recovery by junior linebacker Mike Gallihugh all but sealed the Colgate victory with less than 5 min remaining in the game, leading to Scott’s third touchdown of the game.

“He just has the stamina and strength to play the entire game,” Biddle said of Scott. “His play in the first and fourth quarters are the same, you don’t see that often. My goal was to get him more touches than he did in the UMass game and he ran the ball effectively the whole game.”

Colgate’s rock-solid second-half defense was led by Gallihugh, the team’s leading tackler, along with sophomore cornerback Chris Ekpo and senior linebacker Nate Johnson, who had five tackles each. It was the 52nd time Biddle’s team has held a team under 100 yards rushing and the Raiders are 49-3 in those games.

The game was the home opener for the Raiders, who are now 1-1 on the season. It marked the first time that the new scoreboard was used for a game and the first appearance of the new mascot. Colgate’s next opponent will be the undefeated Monmouth Hawks, who will be in Hamilton for a 1 pm start on Saturday at Andy Kerr Stadium.