DARTMOUTH Mass. – The Vermont State University Castleton football program suffered a 60-10 loss on Saturday, falling to Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference foe UMass Dartmouth in road action at Cressy Field.
The Spartans fall to 2-2 on the season with a 1-2 mark in MASCAC play. UMass Dartmouth improved to 4-0 on the year with a 3-0 record in conference play. The Corsairs outgained Castleton 690-194 in total yardage with 348 yards coming from the ground.
Wes Cournoyer threw for 133 yards for Castleton, completing 10-of-29 passes while Caezar Willams completed one pass for 51 yards and a touchdown. Leonard Brice hauled in two catches for 82 yards and a touchdown, while Williams brought in an additional 63 yards and three catches for the Spartans offense.
Kevin McDonough led the defense with 11 tackles with three of them being solo stops. CJ Childs provided six tackles, a forced fumble, and his fourth blocked kick to tie his program record that he set a season ago. Connor Chilson recovered the fumble for the Spartans and hauled it back 31 yards.
Dartmouth's Dante Santos-Aviles led the offense with 20-of-27 passes completed for five touchdowns. Marvens Jean rushed for 101 yards on 10 attempts for a touchdown, and the WR duo of Angel Sanchez and Jael Cabrera combined for 11 receptions, 270 yards, and three touchdowns for the Corsairs.
UMass Dartmouth got off to a quick start with two touchdowns on their first two drives of the game to go up 14-0. The Corsairs completed a pass to Sanchez to get within the Spartans redzone. CJ Childs forced a fumble that would be recovered by Chilson, who returned the play for 31 yards to Castleton's own 49.
The Spartans drew up a jet sweep that turned into a play action pass with Williams collecting the ball on the play and connecting with Brice down the field for a 51-yard touchdown to bring the score to 14-7 with just over a minute to play in the first quarter.
The Corsairs continued to extend their lead with four touchdowns coming from the second quarter alone and brought the score to 41-7 at the half. Dartmouth began their second half 10-play 66-yard drive with a touchdown to grow their lead to 47. Castleton got themselves back on the scoreboard after a 10-play 60-yard drive which concluded with Eydan Linares knocking down a 26-yard field goal to put the score at 47-10.
Dartmouth would score three more touchdowns to finalize the game's score at 60-10.
VTSU Castleton returns to Dave Wolk Stadium next Saturday, October 5 against Westfield State. Kick-off is set for 2 p.m.
