Shane Brozowski broke the record for most passing yards in New England Division 3 history, while leading Castleton to a 35-16 victory over Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) foe SUNY-Maritime on Saturday at Spartan Stadium for homecoming weekend
Brozowski who finished with 349 yards on the day, surpassed Middlebury College’s Donald MicKillop mark of 8,748 yards, and now has 8,959 yards total with six more games on their schedule.
“We’ve got everything in place now,” Head Coach Marc Klatt said. “Our players have bought into our program, our style of play. This is Spartan football.”
Along with his 349 throwing yards, Brozowski completed 17-of-25 passes with two touchdowns. Tyler Carpenter had a tremendous game racking up 134 total yards with four touchdowns, three on the ground and one in the air. The Spartan defense stepped up big, as last season against Maritime they allowed 431 yards rushing, while this time around they only gave up 241 yards on 52 attempts.
“Physically we can play with anybody in our conference,” Klatt said. “But the key is to match them mentally; you have to just keep plugging away, you can’t live and die by any particular facet of the game.”
The Privateers started the scoring off with a 68-yard march down the field that ended with a 15 yard run for a touchdown by Joe Guerra.
The Spartans answered in the ensuing drive as the put together an 11 play, 72 yard drive that led to a touchdown as well, as Brozowski hit Carpenter on a 14 yard pass with 7:32 remaining and after a missed extra point it was 7-6 in favor of Maritime.
After forcing the Privateers to punt their next possession Castleton stormed back down the field. After connecting with Kevin Alberque for a 30-yard reception, Brozowski hit Brandon Boyle for a 29-yard touchdown as time expired in the first quarter and after Brozowski rushed in for two the score was now 14-7.
The second quarter was one littered with big defensive plays for the Spartans. On the first play of the second quarter the running back for Maritime coughed up the ball and Cody Tancreti jumped on it for a fumble recovery. Only 1:41 seconds later Carpenter punched it in for his second touchdown of the day.
The Spartans had another big stop a couple of minutes later as the defense stepped up at the goal line and caused a fumble on fourth-and-goal that went out of bounds and was awarded to Castleton on their one yard line. After gaining little yardage, Castleton was forced to punt but the snap went out of bounds resulting in a safety for the Privateers.
As they marched down the field again, after receiving the punt, Maritime was threatening to score again. But the Spartans goal line defense stepped up again as Keith Schneider made a touchdown saving tackle on 4th and goal to force a turnover on downs giving the ball back to Castleton.
“Our front seven is tough, quality players all around from the offensive line to the linebackers,” Klatt said. “Our run defense has vastly improved since last season.”
The Spartans opened the second half with a 10 play, 65-yard drive which resulted in Carpenters third touchdown of the game on a one yard run to put Castleton up 28-9.
The next Maritime possession ended with a turnover on downs as Castleton took over at their own 44 yard line. After a 25-yard strike to Alberque, Brozowski gave it to Carpenter who rushed in for his fourth and final touchdown on the day, bringing the score to 35-9.
The Privateers managed to put one last drive together in the fourth quarter resulting in a touchdown as their quarterback Tyler Trodden rushed in from two yards out to close out the scoring for the game. Giving Castleton the 35-16 win.
“We concern ourselves with doing a couple of things,” Klatt said. “To play with honor and too execute on key plays throughout the game.”
Alberque had a game-high 111 receiving yards, and Boyle also had a big game with 78 receiving yards with a touchdown.
For the Privateers, Trodden had a game-high 119 yards rushing.
With the win Castleton improves to 2-2 (1-0) on the year as SUNY-Maritime falls to 1-2 (1-1). The Spartans have a bye-week and then trek to Norwich University.