CASTLETON, Vt. – Shane Brozowski (Rensselaer, N.Y.) became the most prolific passer in New England Division III football history, leading Castleton State College to a 35-16 win over visiting SUNY-Maritime in Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) action Saturday afternoon at Spartan Stadium.
Brozowski finished the day with 349 yards, pushing his career total to 8959, surpassing the previous high-water mark of 8,748 set by Middlebury College's Donald MicKillop from 2007-11.
The senior quarterback was on target right from the start, completing 17-of-25 passes and a pair of touchdowns en route to a 21-9 lead at halftime, before finishing the day 30-for-47. Classmate Tyler Carpenter (Fort Edward, N.Y.) was equally impressive, racking up 69 yards and three touchdowns on the ground to go along with 65 receiving yards and one score.
Junior quarterback Tyler Trodden (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) led the Maritime offense with 108 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.
The Privateers opened the scoring with an eight-play, 68-yard drive to start the game, capped by a 15-yard run from Joe Guerra (Bronx, N.Y.).
Brozowski answered on the ensuing drive, marching the Spartans 72 yards on 11 plays for a touchdown. Brozowski hooked up with Carpenter on a 14-yard pass play to finish the drive, and the Spartan point after try failed to make it 7-6.
The Spartan defense came up with stops on the final four Privateer possessions of the half, coming up with a pair of stands inside their own two-yard line. Keith Schneider (Benson, Vt.) also came up with a pass deflection on third down to force a Maritime punt, while Mitch Bouton (Cooperstown, N.Y.) forced a fumble that Cody TanCreti (Hartland, Vt.) pounced on leading to a Spartan touchdown.
Meanwhile Brozowski strung together a pair of touchdown drives, including an impressive use of the clock at the end of the first quarter. With just 20 seconds remaining in the opening frame and the Spartans down by a point, Brozowski shunned the notion of heading to the second quarter, firing successive 30-yard completions to Kevin Alberque (Ridgefield Park, N.J.) and Brandon Boyle (Springfield, Vt.), with the latter resulting in a touchdown. Brozowski punched in the two-point conversion to take a 14-7 lead into the second quarter, and the Spartans never trailed again.
Carpenter scored the lone touchdown of the second stanza on a four-yard blast up the middle, capping a six-play, 45-yard drive. Brozowski found Tyler Combs (Colchester, Vt.) on a second-and-nine for 31 yards to key the drive.
The Privateers took their next possession all the way down to the Spartan one-yard line, but once again Castleton came up with a stand as Trodden's toss was fumbled out of bounds on fourth down. Castleton was unable to move the ball out from the shadows of the goal post however, and fumbled the snap out the back of the end zone on the punt attempt for a safety.
Brozowski and the Spartans opened the second half with a 10-play, 65-yard drive that ended with a Carpenter touchdown from one-yard out. Carpenter picked up a key third down conversion with an extra effort through the line.
The ensuing Maritime drive was stopped on the Castleton 44-yard line when Cameron Laundry (Hartford, Vt.) and Alex Beloin (Windsor, Vt.) combined for a fourth-down stop, setting up the Spartans for their fifth and final touchdown of the day. Carpenter provided the score from five yards out, facing a second-and-long, Brozowski found tight end Denny Wilhelm(Glens Falls, N.Y.) for a 21-yard gain, and followed with a 25-yard strike to Alberque down to the Privateer 10 to key the drive.
Maritime tacked on the only fourth quarter touchdown on a Trodden dive from two yards out on third-and-goal to cap a 12-play, 65-yard drive that spanned more than six minutes.
Alberque finished with a game-high 111 receiving yards on nine catches, while Boyle added 78 yards on six catches and a touchdown.
Paul Briggs (Shrub Oak, N.Y.) added 43 yards on 12 carries for the Privateers, while Erik Heedles (Staten Island, N.Y.) led the receiving corps with three catches for 26 yards.
Schneider was impressive for the Spartan defense in his first start of the season, racking up seven tackles, including two for a loss while adding his first career interception. Schneider's biggest tackle of the day came on fourth-and-goal from the one yard line when he blasted through the line for a huge stop behind the line of scrimmage. Brandon Bergeron (Hartford, Vt.) led the squad with 11 tackles and an interception, while Laundry added 10 tackles and a half sack to the stat sheet.
Keith Barnes (Westbury, N.Y.) led the Privateers with 15 tackles, including one for a loss.
The Spartans improve to 2-2 overall and 1-0 in ECFC action, while SUNY-Maritime falls to 1-2, 1-1.
The Privateers return home next week for a non-conference date with William Paterson at 2 p.m.
NOTABLES: The senior Schneider is competing in his first season of football after an impressive four-year career on the Spartan hardwood that culminated in a conference championship last season… The win was the first in four tries against SUNY-Maritime… The 35 points is the most the Privateer defense had not allowed more than 20 points in a game this season… Castleton is now 3-1 on homecoming weekend historically, churning out three-straight wins after dropping the inaugural homecoming contest in 2009.