WATERVILLE, Maine -- The Bates football team took the lead in the second half only to see the host Colby College Mules score twice in the fourth quarter to defeat the Bobcats 28-26 Saturday night in NESCAC action.
The Mules (1-3 NESCAC) were able to stop a late Bates (1-3 NESCAC) two-point conversion attempt that likely would have forced overtime.
With the score tied at 14 and 11:21 left in the third quarter, junior Sergio Beltran (East Palo Alto, Calif.) ran it in from nine yards out for his first career rushing touchdown. But an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the play on the Bobcats moved the PAT try back 15 yards. The attempt was no good and Bates led 20-14.
The Bates defense forced a punt on the next possession, and the Bates offense was able to get the ball to midfield. The drive stalled there, but junior punter Parker Huynh-Benningfield (Austin, Texas) pinned the Mules at their own one yard line with 4:51 left in the third quarter.
Then Colby went on the drive that changed the game, going 99 yards in 12 plays for a touchdown. Facing a 3rd and 14 at the Bates 41 early in the fourth quarter, Colby quarterback Miles Drake found Jack Nye for a 41-yard touchdown, tying the game at 20. Christos Tzoumakas made the extra point, and the Mules grabbed a one-point lead with 14:53 left in regulation.
The teams traded punts, as the game remained a one-point affair until the Mules struck again. Starting their drive at their own 25, the Mules simply handed the ball off to running back Keon Smart, who did the rest, sprinting 46 yards to the Bates 29. Then he ran 24 yards to the Bates five, and punched it in on the next play, extending the Colby lead to 28-20 after the extra point with 8:22 remaining in regulation.
The Bobcats were able to move the ball well on their next possession, as senior captain quarterback Colton Bosselait (Westminster, Mass.) found his fellow senior captain Steven Guerrette (Bow, N.H.) for a couple of nice gains. An 18-yard pass to Guerrette got the ball to the Colby 14, and the Bobcats went back to the run game. They slowly moved closer to the end zone, and on second and goal from the one, sophomore running back Ryan Lynskey (Cranford, N.J.) punched it in to get Bates to within two.
But the two-point conversion failed, as Bosselait rolled to his right looking to throw. He fired a pass that got tipped and fell incomplete, preserving Colby's 28-26 lead with just 1:54 left in regulation.
The Mules recovered a Bates on-side kick attempt. The Bobcats still had two timeouts and used both of them after the defense was able to contain Smart on the first two plays of the Colby drive. But once again, a deep ball did in the Bobcats, as Drake connected with Nye for a 34-yard gain. With no timeouts left, the Bobcats could only watch as Drake took three knees to run out the clock.
Drake completed 21-24 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns. Smart ran the ball 25 times for 154 yards and two touchdowns, while Drake also ran well, gaining 110 yards on 11 carries. Nye caught six passes for 125 yards and a touchdown.
Beltran had a huge game running the ball, carrying the rock 11 times for 102 yards and a touchdown. Lynskey didn't have as much room to run as the previous week, finishing with 68 net rushing yards on 20 carries. He found the end zone twice though on the ground for the Bobcats. Bosselait completed 5-10 passes for 61 yards. He and sophomore quarterback Seneca Moore (Lansing, Mich.) both ran the ball well, with Bosselait carrying it 11 times for 54 yards and a touchdown. Moore was electric, averaging 12 yards per carry, as he rushed four times for 48 yards.
Defensively, sophomore safety Michael Spencer (Mansfield, Texas) led the way for Bates, tallying 10 total tackles, including seven solo stops and one tackle for loss. Trevor Smith and Sebastien Romain paced the Mules with nine tackles apiece.
The game stood tied at 14 through the first 30 minutes of action. Colby got the ball to start the game and marched down the field, going 71 yards on eight plays, capped off by a Smart 11-yard touchdown run.
The Bobcats were forced to punt on their first possession, but sophomore safety Jack Morrison (Manchester Center, Vt.) made a big play on defense, picking off a Drake pass to set the Bobcats up with first down at their own 42. Beltran was off to the races on third and three, sprinting 41 yards to the Colby 10. The Bobcats got it down to the five, and on third and goal, Lynskey punched it in. Sophomore Marcos Ruiz (Haskell, N.J.) made the extra point, tying the game at seven with 4:15 left in the first quarter.
Colby wasted no time taking the lead back. Drake delivered an explosive play on a QB keeper on the first play of their next drive, going 52 yards to the Bates 20. Smart picked up a first down on third and three, and then Drake found Jack Sawyer on third and goal from the seven yard line to put Colby up 14-7 after the extra point.
Down by a touchdown through one quarter, the Bobcats appeared to be on the brink of answering with a touchdown drive of their own to start the second quarter of action. A Moore 20-yard run got the ball to the Colby 28, The drive eventually stalled at the Colby 13. On fourth and seven, Bates brought on the kicking unit. They faked the kick though, as the holder Bosselait kept the ball and ran off right tackle for six yards. He was brought down one yard short of the line to gain, giving the ball back to the Mules.
The Mules took 5:30 off the clock on their next drive, failing on a fourth down pass attempt at the Bates 32, so Bates got the ball again with 4:19 left until halftime.
They went 68 yards in eight plays, culminating with a one-yard touchdown plunge from Bosselait. Ruiz made the PAT and the game stood tied at 14.
Colby threatened to answer at the end of the half, with a 33-yard pass completion to Nye getting the ball to the Bates 32. But a holding call set them back and the Mules missed a 54-yard field goal attempt as time expired, sending the teams to the halftime locker room tied at 14.
The Bobcats are back in action next Saturday when they host Tufts at 6 p.m.
Bates football loses 28-26 heartbreaker to Colby
/seasons/2024/boxscores/20241005_55o4.xml
2024
Bates
26
Colby
28
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bates (1-2) | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 26 |
| Colby (0-3) | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 28 |
Oct 05, 2024