Bad Break For Raider Football Team
It was a tale of two quarterbacks in the football team’s game against Bucknell on Saturday in Lewisburg, PA. For the Raiders, senior Chris Brown completed one pass and rushed for 36 yards before he went down with a leg injury only 7:22 into the first quarter and did not return. On the other side of things, Daris Wilson rushed for 236 yards and five touchdowns for Bucknell as the Bison dealt the Raiders their fourth loss of the season, 42-7.The Bison scored the game’s final six touchdowns to blow out Colgate and avenge the Raiders’ 50-6 whipping a year ago.First-year Lee Sloan replaced Brown halfway through the first quarter and, in Tom Brady-like fashion, led the Raiders into the end zone. Sloan, a native of Oviedo, FL, tossed a three-yard score to senior Luke Graham to give Colgate the game’s first lead with 5:18 remaining in the first quarter. Graham’s eight catches on the day made him Colgate’s all-time receptions leader with 214. The senior’s 63 catches and 864 yards on the season lead the team.The Raiders held the lead until Bucknell’s first drive of the second quarter, when Wilson started his career day with a 50-yard touchdown run on a broken play. The Bison took the lead later in the quarter when Wilson rushed for another score from four yards out after being set up by Bucknell defensive end Sean Conover’s blocked punt and recovery.Conover’s blocked punt, combined with Brown’s early injury, gave Bucknell the opportunity to reverse the outcome of last year’s meeting between the two teams a very dramatic fashion.The Bison took their 14-7 lead into halftime and didn’t look back. Wilson ran all over the Raider defense in the second half. In the third quarter alone, he rushed for touchdowns of one, 64 and 69 yards. Bucknell would outscore the Raiders 28-0 in the third quarter.Wilson, who ran for 252 yards and five touchdowns only two weeks before against Holy Cross, rushed for the most yards of any Bison player ever against Colgate in a series that dates back to 1894.One of the few bright spots for the Raider defense was junior cornerback Chris Williams’ fifth career interception in the second quarter.Peter Kaufman scored Bucknell’s final touchdown on a seven-yard run with 1:53 left in the third quarter. Neither team got on the scoreboard in the fourth. With Brown out, the Raiders were rendered one-dimensional. Senior Jamaal Branch rushed for 96 yards on 29 carries, as the Bucknell defense held last year’s Walter Payton Award winner to under 100 yards on the ground for the third consecutive week. Junior Ray LaMonica added twenty yards on the ground.Sloan did a solid job filling Brown’s enormous shoes, completing 14 of 28 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown. The first-year also threw an interception and was sacked three times in his first substantial playing time as a Raider. With Brown out with a fractured leg, Sloan will get his first collegiate start next week against Fordham.With the loss, the Raiders were officially eliminated from playoff contention and any shot of a third consecutive Patriot League title. The team is 6-4 on the season and 3-2 in the Patriot League. Colgate will look to finish its season with a win when it travels to the Bronx tomorrow to take on Fordham, with kick-off set for 1 p.m.