Football Continues Dominance with 23-0 Victory

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For the second week in a row, the Colgate men’s football team put on a show with an incredible shutout against William & Mary, winning 23-0. After also shutting out Lafayette 45-0 at home last week during Colgate University’s bicentennial celebration, the Raiders proved to be able to keep their momentum up by beating William & Mary. This is the first time since 1966 that the Raiders have had consecutive shutouts, which is an impressive feat. The team moves to 4-0 and is one of just four programs in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly 1-AA now called FCS) to remain undefeated. Additionally, Colgate is now ranked in the top 20 in the FCS putting their name on the map nationally.

Sophomore Grant Breneman threw for an impressive 227 yards, and Junior kicker Chris Puzzi nailed three field goals. Additionally, Breneman continued to be consistent with his passing game, averaging a 61.1 completion rate. Junior Abu Daramy-Swaray also had another interception this game on the defensive side, along with the one he had last week.

The defense has held opponents to just three points in the past month’s games and is giving up just five points per game as well as holding opponents to 260 yards per game on the season. Along with the interception from Daramy-Swaray, Senior TJ Holl also recorded a massive defensive performance with twelve tackles, including two for a loss as well as a sack and a forced fumble.

The defense is a point of pride for Sophomore linebacker Andrew Jaworski.

“Defensively, we’ve really been on a roll this year. The last two games, we haven’t let up more than 100 rushing yards in each game.” Jaworski said. “We really stepped against William & Mary and showed what kind of a team we are. It’s also great because it is the second CAA [Colonial Athletic Association] team we have beat this year, and it is the first time in Patriot League history this has happened in season”.

The offense was also impressive on Saturday as along with Breneman’s precision through the air, the Raiders were able to easily move the ball on the ground. Breneman contributing 35 yards in that category as well. Senior

James Holland contributed 88 yards on the ground and Sophomore Malik Twyman added 15 more as the team compiled 126 yards. Senior Owen Buscaglia caught seven passes for a total of 142 yards as well.

Jaworski admires the numbers the offense has put up.

“Our offense is looking very strong. Buscaglia had an amazing game for us this past week, along with our quarterback Breneman, who had a 100% completion rate on his first 10 passes. Overall, offensively we controlled the clock well, which ultimately helped us control the game.This year keeps feelings more and more special, and we are definitely not letting off the pedal,” he said.

The upcoming game next week will be at the Raiders’ Patriot League rival Bucknell, who currently stand at 1-4, though are 1-0 in Patriot League play. The Raiders return back to Hamilton on October 13 when they take on longtime rival Cornell at noon on Andy Kerr. This will be the 100th meeting between the two teams in one of the oldest and most competed rivalries in collegiate sports. The Raiders trail the series 49-47-3, but have won sixteen of the past nineteen meetings as well as eight of the last nine. Cornell will have to face one of the nation’s last reaming undefeated teams in Colgate, who are quickly showing the rest of the FCS football world that maroon and red don’t run.

Contact Boyd Howard at [email protected]