ALFRED, N.Y. – The Vermont State University Castleton football program suffered a 44-8 loss on Saturday, falling to Eastern Collegiate Football Conference foe Alfred State in road action at Pioneer Stadium.
 
The Spartans sit at 2-6 on the season heading into the final contest next Saturday with an 0-3 mark in ECFC play. Alfred State improved to 5-4 with the win and is 2-1 in the ECFC. The Pioneers outgained Castleton 352-155 in total yardage and had 17 first downs to the Spartans' 11.
 
James Galarneau threw for 116 yards for Castleton, completing 14-of-24 passes. Devin Wollner rushed for 68 yards and a touchdown, while Christian Keeling added 29 yards on the ground. Caezar Williams hauled in four passes for 43 yards while Jackson Brand caught a pair for 30 yards.
 
Tyler Buxton led the defense with nine tackles—all solo stops. Two of them went for a loss. Mark Howland had six stops with a pair of sacks and a forced fumble, while Kevin McDonough added five total tackles. CJ Childs blocked his fourth kick of the season in the contest, setting a new single-season program record by surpassing Mick Wong's 2012 mark of three blocks in a season.
 
Alfred State's Justin Horvath passed for 188 yards and three scores while Jake Palmer ran for 65 yards and a score on the ground. Noah Currier added 63 yards and a touchdown as well. Jazir Francois was on the receiving end of four passes for 144 yards and all three touchdowns. Danny Browning's nine tackles led the Pioneers.
 
The game was tight early with Alfred State leading 3-0 after one quarter, but the Pioneers punched in a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter to go to halftime leading 17-0.
 
The lead grew to 24-0 two plays into the second after a 78-yard touchdown pass from Horvath to Francois, but Castleton retaliated with a nine-play, 68-yard drive that found paydirt. Wollner capped the drive with a 24-yard touchdown run and the Spartans converted on the two-point attempt for a 24-8 score. It was all Pioneers from there, however, as two more third-quarter touchdowns grew the gap to 37-8. One final score in the fourth set the game's final score at 44-8.
 
Castleton wraps up the 2023 campaign next Saturday, November 11, at Anna Maria. Kick-off is at 2 p.m.