WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Castleton University football team could not convert on key scoring chances, as the Gallaudet Bison held on to defeat the Spartans, 21-17, Saturday afternoon in an Eastern Collegiate Football Conference game at Hotchkiss Field.

Ryan Payne hit a 21-yard field goal three minutes into the fourth quarter to give Castleton a 17-14 lead, but Gallaudet answered right back, traveling 73 yards in six plays, culminating with an 11-yard touchdown run by Elisha Spinosi. Castleton immediately created a chance to retake the lead, advancing to the Gallaudet 15-yard-line before turning the ball over on downs.

After Gallaudet punted, Castleton took over on its own 36-yard-line with 2:20 remaining in the fourth quarter. Mitchell Caron completed passes of 31 yards and 20 yards to set up the Spartans with first-and-goal from the Bison 10-yard-line. After two Caron runs, he threw an incomplete pass on third down, and then his fourth-down pass was complete, but just to the one-yard-line, ending Castleton's final opportunity to retake the lead.

Caron completed 27-of-40 passes for 274 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw three interceptions. Soren Pelz-Walsh caught 13 passes for 121 yards, while Corey Brimmer led the Spartans on the ground with 78 yards on 21 carries. As a team, Castleton compiled 387 yards of total offense, finished 10-for-18 on third down efficiency and 2-for-4 on fourth down efficiency.

Gallaudet (2-6, 1-4 ECFC) used the triple option to shorten the game, opening the contest with a 13-play drive that took 6:33 off the clock, but Tyler Hall blocked the Bison's attempt at a 33-yard field goal, keeping the game scoreless. After Castleton punted the ball away on its first offensive drive, the Bison ran out the clock on the first quarter before scoring on the first play of the second quarter, a five-yard Spinosi run that capped a 12-play, 79-yard drive that took 6:12.

On the ensuing drive, Caron found Pelz-Walsh four times, the last a 17-yard pass into the end zone to cap a 63-yard drive and tie the game at 7-7. After a Bison punt of negative yardage, the Spartans started in Gallaudet territory and drove all the way to the Bison five-yard-line, but Montray Roberts intercepted a Caron pass in the end zone to stop the drive.

Another Caron interception gave the Bison the ball around midfield with 1:16 remaining in the first half. Gallaudet drove it 51 yards in nine plays, helped by a roughing the passer penalty, to the Castleton three-yard-line, but a missed field goal kept the score tied at 7-7 at halftime.

The teams exchanged fumbles at the start of the third quarter, and then Cody Paulay-Simmons picked off a Caron pass and returned it to the Castleton 42-yard-line. The Bison put together an 11-play drive, culminating with a touchdown pass from Timel Benton to Adam Wemmer that gave Gallaudet a 14-7 advantage midway through the third quarter.

On Castleton's next drive, Brimmer carried the ball three straight times, and then Caron dropped back to pass four consecutive plays. The first pass fell incomplete, but then he found Brimmer for 13 yards, Pelz-Walsh for nine yards, and Ryan Barry for the final 26 yards of the drive, pulling the Spartans into another tie at 14-14 with four minutes left in the third quarter.

After Gallaudet went three-and-out, Castleton put together a 15-play, 60-yard drive that took 5:41, spanning the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth quarter. Payne's field goal gave the Spartans their first lead of the day, but that advantage would last just under three minutes as Gallaudet scored the game-winning touchdown.

Gallaudet earned 24 first downs, 18 of them on the ground as it compiled 265 rushing yards, led by Canton Meadows with 52 yards on 19 carries. Benton rushed for 43 yards as well as completed 8-of-18 passes for 97 yards. Dylan Mento led the Bison receiving corps with four receptions for 38 yards.

Defensively for Castleton, Jakob Trautwein led all players with 18 tackles, including 16 solo tackles, while Darren Callan finished with 11 solo tackles and 14 tackles overall. Ryan Santana led Gallaudet's defense with 13 tackles, 10 of them solo tackles, including one tackle for a loss and a pass breakup.

Castleton (3-5, 3-2 ECFC) heads to Leicester, Mass., to face the Becker College Hawks next Saturday, Nov. 5, starting at 2 p.m. The Hawks have now lost four straight games after losing to Husson Saturday, 45-14.