Castleton, VT – We at Collegefootballfan.com achieved our goal of attending a game in our 43rd state, but it came at the expense of witnessing a very non-competitive game as The Captains of CNU dominated from kick-off. They dominated through the end of the game to spank the Spartans (2-4), 69-7. Christopher Newport (5-0, 2-0), now ranked No. 17 in DIII, totaled 495 yards to the Spartans 194. The led at halftime, 35-0. RB Gunner White led the Captains’ rushing attack with 13 carries for 115 yards and three TDs. Drevyon Tharrington and Zavier Kennedy each carried the ball in for two scores and ran for 68 and 52 yards respectively.
Christopher Newport QB Connor Barry managed the game well and got dominant blocking up front to pass for two TDs and 135 yards on 10 completions on 14 attempts. DE Connor Estrella create havoc right from the start with six tackles including 2.5 tackles for losses for -7 yards. He also played aggressively early to attract flags from officials, but the Spartans could never gain any advantage.
Spartans flashed one spark
Spartan HC Tyler Higley resorted to some trickery early after trailing early in the game with some trickery with razzle-dazzle plays and revers options an the like with no success. Their initial first down of the game came on a successful “tush-push.” Of course, it fell far short of creating any challenge against the dominant Christopher Newport squad.
The one bright spot for Castleton can on a 92-yard burst through left tackle and down the sideline for RB Anthony Anderson for a touchdown as Castleton trailed 42-0 in the third. The run made up most of his 104 yards rushing and the Spartans 145 overall.
Observations from denizens of the good old days
Guest Game Analyst and friend of many years Dave Headden (Ohio Wesleyan) joined us on a beautiful New England day in the rustic setting of Castleton at Wolk Stadium on the CSU campus. Sitting behind the Spartan bench, we admired the support of the CSU fans who encouraged their team despite the beating they took from the dominant Christopher Newport Captains. We also watched a Castleton Assistant coach methodically take players aside and work on their techniques and psyche very calmly over the course of the game. We agreed that if we were coaching, neither of us could be that way. We’d be somewhat more animated to push some buttons along the sideline. Definitely a generation gap when it comes to our perception of how things should have been handled. Different times now. Probably, consider us dinosaurs.
Dave no longer considers himself “D-3 Dave“
Dave enjoys attending small college games regularly. Even brought me a program from the game he attended to see the Alma mater, Juniata College, in their win this season over Allegheny. The “Eagles” won their first two but now have fallen to 2-4. Dave now plans to venture out to more FBS games. He attended the U-Dub 24-20 win at Maryland the week before this and enjoyed the atmosphere at the Terrapins’ Byrd Stadium. He now considers the possibility of heading out to Bloomington, Indiana to see how real the Hoosiers are. We may get together for another game somewhere this season.
Friday Night College Hockey
Based on a trip to see his dad’s and brothers’ alma mater, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute play back in 2013, Friday night brought me back to the campus to see RPI’s D-1 Hockey team open the season. It was a first for me. I know the NHL players perform stick-work and passing at a much higher level, but the college players raced continuously up and down the ice at high speeds. Lots of action. Fun to watch. The Engineers fell to the Miami (Ohio) Red Hawks, 4-3.
Also on Friday, spent the afternoon at Lake George on a beautiful fall afternoon while the town closed off the street for a Columbus weekend block party. Maybe it’s worth another trip in the future to get Saint Laurie to come with me. Even if she doesn’t want to join me at a football game. Middlebury College plays more competitively among other D-III schools in New England. Got to say that no TV timeouts make for a better attendance opportunity. Seconds after a touchdown, they tee the ball up for the kick-off. Nobody holding a pole with red LED numbers counting down three minutes and 25 seconds to resume play. Love it! Also got a nice whiff of cool autumn air and some colors on the trees. That’s how we grew up playing in the local school yards and watching high school football as kids.
A noon time kickoff put us on the road again for a two-and-a-half-hour trip to our next game in Manchester, NH. Great timing. Enjoyable weekend. Disappointing lack of a competitive football game. The 62-point margin comes in second to only our game in 2004 when we saw Virginia Tech whip Western Michigan, 63-0. Among non-FBS contests, this result topped out our existing record. Our record in that case held since 1987 when Holy Cross with Heisman candidate Gordie Lockbaum defeated Lehigh in old Taylor Stadium in Bethlehem, PA, 63-6.
Coming up – a Night Cap in New Hampshire!
We left Castleton to get to Manchester by 6 pm to attend our only D-2 game this regular season. We added two new teams and a new venue when we entered Grappone Stadium to see the St. Anselm Hawks (3-2) host the Franklin Pierce Ravens (3-2) in a NorthEast-10 conference game.
As for Castleton State, The College of New Jersey (4-1,1-1) comes calling on them next. The Christopher Newport Captains travel to Kean College (1-4, 0-2) in Union, NJ for another New Jersey Athletic Conference clash. Dave and I discussed the possibility of him attending the NJAC collision course game on November 8 between now No. 17 Christopher Newport and the No. 5 Salisbury Sea Gulls in Newport News, VA. The Captains and the Sea Gulls will battle for the conference title and automatic bid to the DIII playoff. Maybe both will qualify as they dominate this conference.
Finishing up136 teams – there’s a lot of history to share on how this was done
Click on the title of my book about this life-long adventure: Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun, and the Ugly on Amazon.com. Read the reviews on the book page and get your copy today! If you’re trying to follow NILs and transfer portals, read what we predicted in 2023 and more. You’ll see we know what we’re talking about. In addition, we offered solutions to issues occurring that we anticipated when we wrote this book. Based on our game story above, this fun, unique life-long Journey continues. Catch up on the last 45 years, and then please submit a review. We hope you will get a kick out of our great adventure having seen almost every FBS team play over the years!
Edited by and photos taken by Steve Koreivo – Member of Football Writers Association of America and Author of Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: the Good, the Fun and the Ugly