Courtesy of: Anna Maria Sports Information

Paxton, MA – The Castleton State College football team defeated the Anna Maria AMCATS, 24-21, Saturday afternoon at AMCAT Field during Alumni Day.  Luis Robitaille's 28-yard field goal with seconds remaining broke a21-21 tie, propelling Castleton to victory.  The Spartans improve to 2-4 with the win, while Anna Maria falls to 0-7.

Anna Maria won the coin toss and deferred to receive until the second half, giving the Spartans first crack at the ball.  The first drive of the game for the Spartans ended after two plays, when Cameron Brigham intercepted a tipped pass by quarterback Shane Browzowski (Rensselaer, N.Y.) as he was falling to the ground. 

Anna Maria wasn't able to take advantage of the turnover, as Brandon Bergeron (Hartford, Vt.) forced a Domenique Concepcion (Middlebury, Conn.) fumble on Anna Maria's second play of the drive which was then recovered by Spartan freshman Ryan DeCoursey (Florham Park, N.J.). 

After taking control of the fumble on their own 41 yard-line, Castleton was faced with a 4th-and-1 at midfield after an Evan Cassidy (South Burlington, Vt.) nine-yard reception.  The AMCATS weren't able to stop the quarterback sneak attempt by Browzowski who rushed for 3 yards, giving the Spartans a fresh set of downs. The Spartans converted another first down, setting up a 16-yard pass to a wide open Thomas Cole (Florence, Vt.) over the middle of the field.  Full-back Tyler Carpenter (Fort Edward, N.Y.) continued the drive by ripping off a 14 yard-run and followed up with a 5-yard touchdown plunge on the ensuing play, giving the Spartans a 7-0 advantage.

After a quick three-and-out by the Anna Maria gave the Spartans possession, AMC linebacker Rich Brandt (Natick, Mass.) intercepted his own deflected ball at the Anna Maria 5-yard line, giving the AMCATS their second interception of the first quarter and preventing what looked like guaranteed points for the Spartans. 

The first quarter ended with a 7-0 advantage for the visitors, however, the AMCATS were in the middle of a 13-play drive.

The AMCATS started the second quarter on the Castleton 30-yard line, with a 4thand 1 situation.  Quarterback Santino Simone (Worcester, Mass.) ran a sneak behind the center for two yards, giving Anna Maria a first down.  After an incompletion, and a total of six rushing yards on two plays for Nate Adames (Salem, N.H.), the AMCATS were faced with yet another fourth-down situation. Adames received a pitch to the nearside on the 4th and 4 scenario, but was pushed out of bounds two yards short of the first down marker, turning the ball over on downs.

The Spartans started to pull away after executing an 11-play, 73-yard touchdown drive, highlighted by 25 rushing yards by half-back Randy Babineau (Milton, Vt.) and a 2-yard touchdown plunge by Tyler Carpenter to increase the lead to 14-0. 

Anna Maria started the ensuing drive at their own 25-yard line with 2:41 remaining in the half. Sean Quinlivan (Rutland, Mass.) entered the game at quarterback and immediately sparked the offense.  The AMCATS used two Quinlivan to Devon Nixon (Lowell, Mass.) 9-yard hook-ups and a Nate Adames 8-yard rush to push the ball to mid-field. On the subsequent play, Castleton was flagged for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty, placing the ball into Spartan territory.  Three plays later, Quinlivan hit Matt Kelly (Charlestown, R.I.) for a beautiful diving 18-yard reception on the sideline to give AMC a first and goal opportunity from the 3-yard line.  Following a 4-yard loss by Adames and a 5-yard false start infraction, Anna Maria was pushed back to the Castleton 12 with just 13 seconds remaining.  Quinlivan and AMC refused to let the drive falter, as he threw a beautiful lob pass to Domenique Concepcion in the back of the end zone, bringing the score to 14-7 as both teams entered intermission.   

Entering the third quarter, the AMCATS carried the momentum from the first half, starting with good field position after an Ernest Jones (Brockton, Mass.) 17-yard return put Anna Maria just behind midfield.  Jones also received the first play of the quarter and promptly ripped off a 16-yard run.  Quinlivan and Nixon connected twice on the drive for 25 yards, which set up Nate Adames' first score of the contest on 4-yard inside hand-off that tied the game at 14 apiece.

Mike Jabour (South Burlington, Vt.) looked destined to for the end zone on the subsequent kickoff, but was chased down by Steve Imparato (Plymouth, Mass.) at the AMC 15 after a 70-yard return.  The Anna Maria defense picked up the slack, as a Tyler Carpenter's half-back pass intended for Evan Cassidy was underthrown and picked off in the end zone by Julio Valentin (Lawrence, Mass.). 

The Anna Maria offense took advantage of the Spartan turnover on their following drive. Sean Quinlivan's outstanding play continued, throwing for 22 yards on the drive, while Adames added 39 all-purpose yards, including his second touchdown of the game on a 12-yard scamper.  The touchdown gave Anna Maria a 21-14 advantage entering the fourth quarter, capping a span of 21 unanswered points. 

One minute into the fourth quarter, Castleton looked to end Anna Maria's consecutive-points streak, but, Luis Robitaille's (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) 31-yard field goal attempt sailed wide-left.

Taking over on their own 32 after an AMCAT punt, Castleton used a passes of 15 and 18 yards from Shane Brozowski to Evan Cassidy to drive deep into Anna Maria territory.  Randy Babineau tied the score at 21 a piece, ending the eight-play drive with a 5-yard touchdown run.

With Anna Maria facing a 4th and 11 on their 29, they were forced to punt it away, giving the ball back to Castleton on the AMCAT 49 with 1:22 remaining. 

Castleton started the drive with a 10-yard rush by Randy Babineau, putting the ball on the Anna Maria 39.  The ensuing play was a bad snap that sailed over Shane Brozowski's head, forcing him to dive on the ball and take a 12-yard loss.  Facing a 2nd and 22, Brozowski dumped a 9-yard pass to Randy Babineau, setting up a long 3rd and 13 situation.  After Brozowski dropped back to pass, he drew in the cornerback on a nicely executed pump-fake and hit Evan Cassidy with a 34-yard bomb on a stop-and-go route.  With 15 seconds to go, Luis Robaitaille hit the game-winning 28-yard field goal, to give Castleton the 24-21 victory.

Tyler Carpenter (104 rushing yards, 2 TD's), Randy Babineau (52 rushing yards, 1 TD), and Evan Cassidy (8 receptions, 147 yards) starred for the visitors, while Nate Adames (151 rushing yards, 2 TD's) Sean Quinlivan (157 passing yards, 1 TD), Dom Concepcion (56 receiving yards, TD) and Rich Brandt (15 tackles, 1 interception), played well for the AMCATS.

Castleton plays host to Husson University next Saturday at 12:00 pm.