The Colgate football team showed up to fight in an exciting game on Saturday that ended with a 37-34 score in favor of Col­gate in overtime. Senior running back Nate Eachus scored his only touchdown of the game on a one yard run into the end zone that capped the Raiders’s second half rally.

All in all, Eachus ended the game with 165-yards rushing off 36 carries. Sopho­more breakout quarterback Gavin McCar­ney recorded 324 yards of total offense and scored four touchdowns in his very first collegiate start.

Albany drew first blood in the game when they took the 3-0 lead from a 48-yard field goal. The Raiders responded with a 14-play, 79-yard drive that was topped off with a 10-yard touchdown to take the 7-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.

A five-yard touchdown for the Great Danes stripped Colgate of the lead and brought the score to 10-7. Once again, the Raiders answered back with a two-play, 55-yard drive and 49-yard touchdown pass from McCarnery to classmate Dan Cason to give Colgate the advantage again. Al­bany responded with advancing plays and ultimately a 75-yard touchdown pass to once again turn the tables on ‘Gate. Af­ter one last Raider score before the half ended, Albany was able to record two more touchdowns and end a half with the 31-21 advantage.

After returning from the locker room for the second half, Colgate put up a fight on defense and held Albany scoreless for the final two quarters. The opening drive of the second half took the Raiders 95 yards on 12 plays over 7:15 minutes. The drive was capped by a 44-yard pass from McCarney to Eachus and a four-yard touchdown run by McCarney to bring Colgate one step closer to catching Albany. The touchdown was McCarney’s second of the game.

The Raiders were able to hold the Great Danes offense to 114 yards in the second half, picking off two passes. The first in­terception came on Colgate’s 2-yard line when sophomore Chad Frey picked-off Albany’s Buddy Leathley and ran it back 32 yards to the Colgate 34-yard line. ‘Gate capitalized in a big way on the intercep­tion and put together a 10-play drive to set up first-year Joe Uglietto for a 24-yard field goal to tie the game at 31-31 as the clock wound down.

Colgate won the coin toss in overtime and decided to play defense first. Albany was forced to attempt a 41-yard field goal to be completed by Herb Glass. The Raid­ers found themselves held to a 3rd-and-10 before McCarney was able to find senior wide receiver Dan Basil for a 14-yard gain to the 11-yard line and a first down. The Raiders fed the ball to Eachus four times before he found the end zone from one yard out.

Eachus has rushed for more than 100 yards 21 times in his career and he record­ed his 48th overtime touchdown of his ca­reer. McCarney’s 210 yards passing set the record for the most a Raider has recorded since Greg Sullivan threw 205 against Cor­nell last season. Colgate has now won its last three overtime games and improved to 6-3 all-time in overtime games.

Contact Emma Barge at [email protected].