ALFRED, N.Y. – The Castleton University football team dropped an Eastern Collegiate Football Conference contest Saturday afternoon at Alfred State, falling by a final score of 34- to the Pioneers.
 
The Spartans fall to 5-4 on the season and 3-2 in ECFC play, while Alfred State improves to 5-4 and 4-1 in league play. The Spartans picked up a season-high 27 first downs in the game, while Alfred State picked up 21 first downs. Castleton also held a 145-94 edge on the ground and passed for 320 yards. Alfred State had 359 passing yards as a team. Time of possession was split nearly evenly, 30:01-29:59 in favor of Castleton.
 
Evan Smith came on near the end of the first quarter after starting quarterback Jacob McCarthy was sidelined with an injury, and Smith went on to throw for 301 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, completing 20-of-36 passes. His primary target was Anthony Martinez, who caught 12 passes for 193 yards and two scores. It was the most receiving yards in a game by a Castleton receiver since Kevin Alberque racked up 205 yards against Husson in 2014. It was also the first game in which a Spartan receiver caught 10-plus passes since Soren Pelz-Walsh did so in 2016 against Gallaudet. Chance Fee caught three passes for 57 yards, one of which was a 25-yard touchdown. Devin Wollner led Castleton on the ground with 72 yards rushing, followed by Matthew Hesford with 46. Noah Crossman made his only field goal attempt and was 3-for-3 on extra points.
 
Andrew Genier and Jayson Gilsinger had seven tackles each, with Genier making two tackles for a loss with one sack. Chris Rice had 2.5 tackles for a loss as part of a six-tackle day, and Kade Gewanter had a tackle for a loss as well. Spencer Kozlak made three tackles and intercepted a pass, while Kris Carroll added an interception and blocked an extra point. Mike Morgan had just two punts on the day, landing them both inside the opponents 20-yard line.
 
Aaron Jenkins was 16-of-29 passing for 359 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, and added 69 yards rushing with two scores on the ground. Jake Palmer also had a rushing touchdown for the Pioneers. Shy'rel Broadwater made two explosive plays in the receiving game, catching passes of 52 and 51 yards in the game. Ben Ba and Palmer had receiving touchdowns, with Ba catching six passes for 91 yards in the game.
 
The Pioneer defense was led by 13 stops and a pass breakup from Dakotah Mathis. Six players played a role in at least one tackle for a loss, with four of them being sacks. Silas Egenlauf made seven tackles, a sack and forced a fumble. Rylie VanFleet had seven tackles and an interception, and Anthony Allen broke up three passes.
 
After forcing a three-and-out on defense to start the game, Castleton quickly went back on the defensive as McCarthy's first pass attempt of the contest was intercepted by VanFleet. The Pioneers took advantage of the second chance, marching down the short field and scoring on a three-yard rush by Jenkins. The point after made it a 7-0 Alfred State lead.
 
The next drive ended in a turnover on downs for the Spartans on the cusp of field goal range, but the bigger loss was McCarthy, who was hit as he threw on fourth down and never returned to the contest. The defense held firm following the turnover on downs, giving Castleton the ball back after the interception by Kozlak.
 
The ensuing Spartan drive carried into the second quarter, but stalled out on the Alfred State goal line and ended in a 21-yard field goal by Crossman to make it 7-3.
 
After another Spartan stop on defense, Castleton was driving down the field on offense. Smith found Alex Martellio for eight yards and a first down, and Wollner added three more to give Castleton a 2nd-and-7. Smith then connected with Fee for 20 yards, but as he was fighting for extra yardage, the ball was ripped free and recovered by Alfred State, giving the Pioneers the ball back once more.
 
For the second time in as many chances, the Pioneers turned a Spartan giveaway into a touchdown, needing just four plays to find paydirt on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Jenkins to Palmer. The missed extra point left the score sitting at 13-3 in favor of Alfred State, a score that held into halftime.
 
Castleton received the second-half kickoff and turned it into points after a seven-play, 84-yard drive. Wollner began the drive by breaking off a 22-yard run, before Martellio caught a pass for nine yards. Another lengthy rush by Wollner moved the ball to the Alfred State 30-yard line. An incompletion followed by a five-yard rush made it 3rd-and-5 at the 25-yard line. Smith then lofted a pass to the end zone, where Fee made a leaping grab over a defender and landing in the end zone for a touchdown. Crossman knocked the extra point through the uprights to make it a 13-10 game.
 
The Spartans kept momentum rolling when Carroll picked off Jenkins on the following drive. Lucas Morse started the drive with a 10-yard rush, then Martinez caught a pass for six yards. Two more rushes by Morse weren't enough for a first down, and Castleton opted to go for it on 4th-and-1, but the QB keeper by Smith was shut down and Alfred State took over on downs once more, and tacked on an insurance touchdown on a 27-yard touchdown catch by Ba.
 
Entering the final quarter trailing 19-10, Castleton was unable to keep the Pioneers off the board again as the Pioneers scored on the first three drives of the fourth quarter. Alfred State made it a 25-10 game on a two-yard rushing score by Jenkins. Castleton answered immediately, as Martinez caught a 65-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the ensuing drive, cutting the gap back to 25-17.
 
The Pioneers pushed the lead back to two scores on the next drive, kicking a 45-yard field goal to take a 28-17 edge with 10:44 to play. After Castleton turned it over on downs for the third time in the contest, the Pioneers punched in their final touchdown of the day on a five-yard rush by Palmer, taking a 35-17 lead after the PAT.
 
Castleton continued to fight, marching down the field and answering with a touchdown of their own. The drive featured four completions to Martinez, including the 33-yard scoring play that cut the gap back to 35-24 with 3:18 left in the game.
 
Castleton was unable to recover the onside kick, giving the Pioneers possession, but Alfred State was able to take only 26 seconds off the clock as Castleton stuffed two runs, used its timeouts and forced an incomplete pass before the Pioneers punted.
 
Taking over with 2:52 to play, Castleton moved the ball down the field methodically with passes to Jared Brockway, Martinez and Fee. Seven plays into the drive, Smith and Co. had advanced to the Pioneer 35-yard line with a 1st-and-10, but four straight incompletions forced by the defense gave the ball back to Alfred State to run out the clock on the 35-24 game.
 
Castleton wraps up the regular season next Saturday at Dave Wolk Stadium against Gallaudet. Kick-off is slated for 12 p.m.