CASTLETON, Vt. – Castleton led 17-0 at halftime and scored touchdowns on its first four possessions of the second half, cruising to a 45-13 win over Becker in Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) action Saturday night at Spartan Stadium.
Castleton has now won three-straight games for the first time in the four-year history of the program to improve to 4-2, 3-0 in ECFC play. Becker falls to 2-4, 1-2.
Shane Brozowski (Rensselaer, N.Y.) led the Spartan aerial assault with yet another 400-yard, four-touchdown performance, throwing for 417 yards and four scores. Brozowski has now gone over the 400-yard mark 11 times in his career, combining with four touchdowns in seven of those contests. Brandon Boyle (Springfield, Vt.) hauled in 10 catches for 243 yards and two scores, while Tyler Carpenter (Fort Edward, N.Y.) led the ground game with 83 yards on 13 carries and a pair of touchdowns.
Brozowski drove the Spartans 73 yards on nine plays on their opening drive, converting on third-and-long and fourth-and-long on the drive. Brozowski hooked up with Boyle for 63 yards facing third-and-19 at his own 19-yard line, then completed a 14-yard strike to Kevin Alberque (Ridgefield Park, N.J.) on fourth-and-11. Carpenter capped the drive with a three-yard plunge to pay dirt for the only score of the opening quarter.
Castleton pushed its lead to 10-0 on a Dave Fox (Troy, N.Y.) 29-yard field goal with just less than 10 minutes remaining in the half. The kick capped an eight-play, 61-yard drive that featured another Brozowski-to-Boyle connection that went for 42 yards. Brozowski found Boyle from 11 yards out with 1:20 remaining, after the Spartans were given a short field to work with. Becker was forced to punt from its own end-zone, and after fielding the kick at the Hawk 27-yard line, Kyle Higgins (Pennington, N.J.) rambled 16 yards to set up the score.
The Spartan defense meanwhile kept its clean score-sheet by forcing a pair of three-and-outs on the first two Becker drives, and holding firm at their own two-yard line on fourth down. Ethan Macura (Granville, N.Y.) was instrumental in the early going, coming up with a pair of assisted stops inside the five yard line and breaking up a pass on third down to force a punt. Cameron Laundry (Hartland, Vt.) also made his presence felt throughout the opening 30 minutes, racking up 11 tackles in the first half before finishing with team-high 12.
Brozowski orchestrated a nine-play, 65-yard touchdown drive to open the third quarter. Alberque reeled in a 20-yard touchdown pass to cap the drive that featured catches by four different Spartans.
Becker drove down to the Spartan 25 yard line but Cody TanCreti (Hartland, Vt.) intercepted a Robert Baker (Monroe, Conn.) pass in the end-zone and Brozowski marched the Spartans 80 yards down the field for a 31-0 lead. Carpenter punched it in from nine yards out, and had a bruising 23-yard run during the drive. Boyle had a highlight-reel, back-shoulder catch that went for 25-yards to set up the Carpenter score.
Two more TanCreti interceptions set up two more Spartan touchdowns, one that went for 49 yards to Alberque and the second for 44 yards to Boyle, ending Brozowski's evening.
Becker tacked on a pair of late touchdowns, capitalizing on a Spartan fumble at their own 19 and stringing together a late 72-yard drive for a score. Dejahn Dawkins (East Hartford, Conn.) scored from one-yard out for his first collegiate touchdown, and Matthew Romasco (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) punched in the final score from 13 yards out.
Johnattan Rivera (Dracut, Mass.) led the Hawks on the ground with 93 yards on 23 carries, while Romasco added 73 on 10 carries to go with the score. Baker finished 5-for-19 with four interceptions and 45 yards.
Melvin Booker (Roxbury, Mass.) led the Hawk defense with eight tackles, while William Tower (Manville, R.I.) added six tackles and a sack.
Todd Carr (Ticonderoga, N.Y.) chipped in 10 tackles and a fumble recovery to the Spartan defense, Macura finished with seven tackles and Mick Wong (Hartford, Vt.) added six tackles and an interception.
The Spartans will travel to Anna Maria next Saturday for a 3 pm ECFC kick-off.
NOTABLES: TanCreti's three interceptions set a Spartan record… Castleton was a perfect four-for-four in the red zone to open the contest improving to 18-for-18 on the season before a holding penalty called a late Greg Vreeland (Becket, Mass.) touchdown run back. Castleton chose to take a knee, bringing its perfect streak to an end.