News
UVM vs. Castleton, August 28th
By Sarah CoonSeptember 02, 2009
The UVM football team kicked off its
third season on a beautiful late August evening against another up and coming football
program, Castleton State College. In their first appearance as a varsity
program, Division III Castleton State dressed 80 players for Friday night’s
contest at Burlington High School. Under the lights on the other side of the
field, 42 young men clad in Vermont green and gold eagerly anticipated the start
of another exciting season.
The Catamounts struck first, capping an excellent
first-quarter drive with a two yd rushing touchdown by hard-running quarterback
Korey Johnson. The Spartans answered in the second quarter with their own
touchdown, a 10 yard dash into the end zone by running back Tyler Carpenter.
With both extra points sailing through the uprights, the score was tied at
seven with 8:19 left in the first half. Despite a good-looking UVM offence, the
ball returned to the Castleton side, and they scored a second touchdown, this
one on the QB sneak, with under a minute left on the clock. UVM quickly
regained their momentum, however, getting excellent field position from Sophomore
Dan Soons’ kick return, immediately followed by a 25 yard pass reception by
Doug DeLuca. With 15 seconds left on the clock, however, an untimely fumble
returned the ball to Castleton hands, leaving the score at 14-7 Castleton
State.
The third quarter saw another Castleton touchdown,
this one a 22 yard pass between the Spartan quarterback and receiver Randy
Babineau. The boys in green and gold responded by marching down the field,
putting together a 70 yard drive and getting within field goal range for kicker
Josh Henshaw. The resulting points brought the score to 21-10 in Castleton’s
favor. UVM regained possession of the ball in the final minutes of the quarter
with an excellent tackle and recovery of the resulting fumble by Chris French
and Luke Martin, respectively. The University put together one last drive in
the fourth quarter after a Castleton State field goal, resulting in a short-yardage
touchdown for Tom Jackson to cap off an entire evening of excellent running for
the UVM Junior. However, it was not enough to recover the lead and the game
ended with the score 24-17 to Castleton State College.