NEWTON, Mass. – Four rushing touchdowns in the first half and four interceptions on the day helped Mount Ida College beat Castleton State 26-21 in Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) action on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field.
The Mustangs have now won two of their first three conference games this year (2-1) and improve to 2-4 overall.
Sophomore cornerback Tyree Singletary's (Newark, N.J.) second interception of the afternoon with 1:47 left to play in the fourth quarter stopped a Castleton State comeback attempt after the Spartans (4-2, 2-1 ECFC) scored 14 unanswered points in the second half.
Running backs Jaleel Battle (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Melquan Pinkney (Springfield, Mass.) each scored a pair of touchdowns for Mount Ida, one each in the first quarter, as the Mustangs raced out to a 14-0 lead, which would become 26-7 at halftime.
The Mount Ida defense held Castleton to just 58 yards on the ground, though the visitors were sparked by 206 yards of passing by junior quarterback George Busharis (Mansfield, Mass.), who moved the ball and threw three touchdowns, but also threw three of his team's interceptions against one of the top pass defenses in the country. The Mount Ida defense also racked up six sacks, 3.5 of them by junior Dominique Spaulding (W. Hartford, Conn.).
The Mustangs took the opening kickoff 56 yards in just over two and a half minutes, and Pinkney, who ran for 106 yards in the game, punched in his first touchdown from six yards out after a 24 yard pass by Jawad Yatim (Shrewsbury, Mass.) to Octovio Thomas (W. Hartford, Conn.) put Mount Ida in the red zone.
Turnovers quickly led to points throughout the game for both teams, as nearly every successive score was set up by an opponent's miscue.
With less than six minutes remaining in the period, sophomore linebacker Mamour Samb (Pawtucket, R.I.) intercepted Tyler Higley (Vernon, Vt.), who threw five passes for 43 yards for the Spartans.
On their first play with the ball back, Yatim launched a 47 yard pass to Matt Greenman (Portsmouth, R.I.), which put the Mustangs in position at the eight yard line. Three runs by Battle, punctuated by a two-yard dive, put the Mustangs in front 14-0.
Singletary's first interception set up the Mustang's second touchdown, as he picked off Busharis at the Castleton 39 yard line and returned the ball 30 yards with 12:52 left in the half. It took one play for Pinkney to find paydirt for the second time of the day, but a failed point after attempt kept the game at 20-0 in favor of Mount Ida.
A Mount Ida turnover from a snap over the head of Yatim helped Castleton get on the scoreboard. After Mike Perrone (Lake George, N.Y.) recovered the loose ball at the Mount Ida 18, Busharis found Soren Pelz-Walsh (Dummerston, Vt.) in the end zone on the next snap of the ball and Bobby Lineberger (Warwick, R.I.) added the extra point to make it 20-7 with still five minutes to play in the half.
It looked as though that was how the teams would enter the break, but another interception, this one by Mount Ida junior Zach March (Saint Paul, Minn.) and a 62 yard return with just over a minute remaining in the first half, put the Mustangs at the Castleton eight yard line. Again, Battle needed just two rushes to find the back of the end zone for his second score of the day.
March had an outstanding day for the Mount Ida defense, leading the team with 11.5 tackles and one pass breakup, to go with the long interception return.
Neither team could get on the scoreboard in the third quarter, with a Lineberger field goal attempt from 32 yards that hit the left upright the only chance either team had at scoring. As the quarter ended, Castleton lined up to punt, and Lineberger's kick deflected off of a Mount Ida player and was recovered at the Mustang's 35 yard line by Spartan's junior DJ Keough (Colchester, Vt.).
Keeping with the trend, and capitalizing on a Mount Ida facemask penalty as well, Castleton needed just 1:04 to drive the ball 35 yards and Busharis found Tyler Combs (Colchester, Vt.) for a six yard touchdown pass.
Mount Ida's offense stalled in the fourth quarter, and they had three possessions of three-and-out, necessitating punts by freshman Devin Broadley (Hyannis, Mass.), who averaged 37.3 yards on nine punts in the game.
With four minutes left to play, Busharis tossed his third touchdown of the day, finding Troy Dane (W. Charleston, Vt.), who slipped inside the pylon to bring the Spartans back to within one possession.
Castleton forced another three and out on Mount Ida's next possession and got the ball back with a chance to take the lead. Busharis hit Combs for a 12-yard pass at the Castleton 37, but on the first down play, Singletary dove and scooped up a tipped pass before it hit the ground, allowing the Mustangs to take a knee and seal their second conference victory of the year.
The Mustangs had an edge in possession, holding the ball for 33:42 to Castleton's 26:18. Both teams were victimized by mental mistakes, with Castleton giving up fifty yards on nine penalties, and Mount Ida being flagged 12 times for a loss of 88 yards.
Senior Ryan Stanek (Bogota, N.J.) led the Castleton defense with 9.5 tackles, one of them for a loss. Sophomore Darren Callan (Fairfield, Vt.) was also in double digits, with 11 tackles.
Yatim threw for 160 yards for the Mustangs, and completed seven passes to freshman Nick Hewitt (Killingly, Conn.).
Senior Zachary Howe (Bellows Falls, Vt.) was the leading receiver for Castleton, with six catches for 49 yards.
Mount Ida hits the road again next weekend for the long trip to Washington, D.C. to play Gallaudet at 1:00 pm on October 25th.
Castleton returns home for a two-game home-stand, starting with Husson at the same time next Saturday.