Courtesy photo of Castleton Athletics

Freshman running back Moe Harris escapes a Gallaudet defender in Saturday's game. Harris finished the
game with 130 yards and two touchdowns.

Coming off a big home win last week 34-14 over Mount Ida, Castleton took the field at Spartan Stadium this past Saturday looking to build off of their success from a week ago as they welcomed in the collegiate institution for the Hearing Impaired and conference opponent, the Gallaudet Bison.

The young Bison team (0-4, 0-2) made the long trip to Castleton from our nation’s capital for the noon time kickoff in hopes of stealing a victory from this year’s talented 2015 Spartan team (3-2, 1-1).

With the student body returning to campus following a week-long fall break, the crowd was electric and eager to watch their Spartans pick up another victory, and they didn’t disappoint, defeating the Bison 40-0 and recording the program’s first ever shutout.

Although Gallaudet came into the game without a victory and were not able score, they did however show impeccable sportsmanship and played hard on every down for all four quarters of the ball game.

Quarterback George Busharis had a solid day as he went 15-22, for 238 yards and threw up a beautiful 36-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone to local senior receiver Cyle Machia, from Mill River high school.

Freshman phenom and fan favorite Mo Harris was once again stellar in the contest, as he rushed for 131 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries.

The large Castleton crowd erupted into “Let’s Go Moe,” chants after Harris unleashed a 95-yard kickoff return for the touchdown to start the second half of the game, which really shut the door on any hopes for the Bison to walkout of Spartan Stadium with the win Saturday.

“It’s just fun blocking for Mo,” senior captain offensive lineman Jordan Tolar said. “He has really been a huge part of our success this year, and we are blessed to have him with us at Castleton. He is going to go on to do big things with our program and Spartan fans should be excited about Mo Harris, Let’s go Moe!”

Castleton not only found success on the offensive side of the football, but the defense was yet again dominant for all four quarters led by Darren Callan with a team high 16 tackles. Leo Audy finished with 10 tackles and a sack on the day. Junior Tyler Higley made his second straight start at cornerback for Castleton and was able to once again find success just as he did a week ago by adding two more interceptions to his repertoire, giving him four in the last two games. Higley couldn’t speak enough about his teammates and how they have helped him be successful this season.

“Our defensive line and linebackers did a great job getting pressure and forcing some throws off target for our secondary,”Higley said. “It’s great playing with these guys on defense, we’ve become a close family and we all just try to do our jobs and be successful as a unit, I am just happy to be a part of it.”

Senior Linebacker Jay Morgan also had a little bit to say about his new defensive teammate stepping up for the Spartans and about the direction that this team is headed.

“I think everyone just did their job today,” Morgan said. “We have been playing much better team football the last couple of games, but Higley has stepped up big for us the last two games, and he seems to be in the right spots.

“The ultimate goal is to play to our potential every week and not let a game slip away. We know what this team can do, we just have to do it.”

The Spartans (4-2, 2-1) look to add to their success when they travel to New York next weekend for a 1 p.m. showdown at Reinhart Field with conference opponent SUNY Maritime (3-3, 1-2), which is coming off of a tough conference loss to Norwich last weekend.