CASTLETON, Vt. – The Vermont State University Castleton football team got back in the win column on Saturday thanks to a stifling defensive performance in a 24-10 victory over Westfield State in MASCAC action at Dave Wolk Stadium.
 
The Spartans notched a pair of defensive scores: a fumble returned for a touchdown by Ian DeTulleo and a pick-six by CJ Childs late to seal the game. In addition to the two touchdowns, the VTSU defense held Westfield State to just 82 yards of offense on 55 plays and had five takeaways. The 82 yards and 1.5 yards per play are the fewest ever allowed in a game by Castleton, besting the previous marks of 86 yards and 1.7 yards per play allowed against Fitchburg State in 2021.
 
The offense showed efficiency in flashes, orchestrating a five-play, 80-yard touchdown drive in just under three minutes to start the third quarter. Castleton amassed 223 yards as a team, with 206 of them coming through the air.
 
Childs' fourth-quarter interception return for a touchdown was the dagger in the contest, as Westfield State lingered, trailing by just a single possession the entirety of the second half. Both sides turned the ball over multiple times after the break, but the final turnover proved costly as Childs nabbed the ball at midfield and ran down the Spartans' sideline and into the end zone for a 24-10 lead with only 1:31 left on the clock.
 
The touchdown drive after halftime began with a bang as Wes Cournoyer completed a 13-yard pass to Jacob Calabro for a first down on the opening play. Cournoyer followed up with a 33-yard dime to Wyatt Jackson, who hauled it in on the Castleton sideline with an over-the-shoulder grab. The next play was a 25-yard catch-and-run by Leonard Brice, who evaded multiple defenders to get down to the nine-yard line. Cournoyer followed up by finding Caezar Williams for a yard on first down, then immediately went back to him for an eight-yard touchdown pass and a 17-10 lead three minutes into the second half.
 
Cournoyer finished the day 20-of-29 passing for 206 yards and a touchdown. Williams caught six of those for 27 yards as the top target, but Brice hauled in five for 84 yards as the most efficient wideout for Castleton on Saturday. Wyatt Jackson caught four passes for 59 yards.
 
Kevin McDonough's 16 stops were the most on the team once again, while Isaiah Oufiero reached double digits with 10 tackles of his own. Tyler Buxton and Mark Howland each had two tackles for a loss, with Buxton and Mike Morrissey forcing fumbles. DeTulleo had the 30-yard scoop-and-score on the fumble recovery to pair with three tackles and pass breakup and Childs had two interceptions on the day—the second of which was returned to the end zone. Childs is the first Spartan since 2021 to have multiple interceptions in a contest, and DeTulleo is the first player in five years to return a fumble for a touchdown.
 
The Spartans struck first, with the defense getting Castleton on the board in the opening frame. The Owls had their second botched snap of the frame—a common problem for Westfield State in the contest—this time recovered by DeTulleo and returned 30 yards to the end zone for a touchdown. Walter Lundstroem knocked through the point-after attempt to make it 7-0.
 
The lead grew to 10-0 just plays later, as a sack fumble forced by Buxton was recovered by Howland to give the Spartans possession with a short field ahead of them. The Spartan offense wasn't able to move the ball forward much, but it was moot as Lundstroem nailed a 27-yard field goal to extend the gap to two possessions.
 
The Owl offense found something on the ensuing drive, using a 10-play, 67-yard drive to find the end zone and make it a 10-7 game two plays into the second quarter. That was the bulk of the Westfield State offense on the day, as the Spartan defense solved the triple option for the remainder of the contest. The only other points for the visitors came on a drive that saw them lose three yards in total before kicking a field goal after taking over inside the red zone late in the half. Castleton held Westfield State to negative yards on a drive seven times in the contest.
 
The Spartans had what appeared to be a surefire scoring drive midway through the fourth quarter, as Cournoyer found Brice on a 37-yard strike over the middle on the opening play of the drive. The long completion pushed the ball into the red zone, where Christian Keeling followed up with a three-yard rush to the 10-yard line. A personal foul by the Owls halved that distance to the five and made it first-and-goal. Cournoyer looked to Keeling on a screen, and just before Keeling could reach the goal line an Owl defender put his helmet on the ball and knocked it loose to prevent the score and give Westfield State possession. The defense did its job from there, holding the Owls scoreless on the ensuing drive and each one after.