Box Score
RUTLAND, Vt. – The Maritime football team made its final stop of the season in the New England states on Saturday with a trip to take on the Castleton State Spartans. In a game that was back-and-forth throughout the length of the contest, the Privateers came up short in a 30-24 loss.
Offensively the team was led by senior fullback Kyle Gardner (Amityville N.Y./St. Anthony's), who ended the afternoon with 158 yards rushing and one touchdown run on 38 carries. Junior quarterback Zack Chilcott (Ulster Park, N.Y./Kingston) contributed with 43 yards on the ground including a touchdown, while completing nine passes for 117 yards through the air. Junior wide out, Vincent Jones (Cudjoe Key, Fla./Key West) corralled three passes on the game for 20 yards, including a four-yard touchdown reception in the second half.
The Maritime defense was led by senior linebacker Nick Coffiey (Wilmington, Del./Delaware Military Academy), with a game-high 11 tackles on the afternoon. Senior Hugh O'Brien (Westbury, N.Y./Westbury) was second on the team with nine stops, with junior Kameron Knight (Clayton, N.C./West Johnson), and freshman Nick Conte (Franklin Square, N.Y./Carey) picking up eight of their own. Senior corner Chris Klass (Nanuet, N.Y./Nanuet) collected another interception, to give him five on the season, while he also broke up a pair of passes.
On special teams, junior placekicker Diogo Dietrich (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/DePaul Catholic) was called on twice for field goal attempts, connecting on a 31-yard attempt, but also missed a chance at topping his previous career-high with a 52-yard field goal attempt late in the first quarter. Sophomore John Arny (Metuchen, N.J./Metuchen) had four punts for 125 yards, averaging just over 31 yards per kick. Rookie Matthew Murphy (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) averaged 56 yards per kickoff, and accumulated three touchbacks on his kickoff attempts.
The game started with Castleton State going three-and-out, giving the ball to Maritime for its first drive of the day. On the next drive, Chilcott hooked up with senior wide receiver Timothy Kazinduka (Carmel, N.Y./Kennedy Catholic) for a 20-yard reception to move the chains on a drive that eventually saw Dietrich connect on a field goal to give the Privateers the first points of the contest.
The Spartans picked up three first downs on their next series, and eventually sniffed out the end zone on a two-yard run to put Castleton State ahead by a 7-3 margin. After a few series, the Spartans got the ball back to start off the second quarter, and needed just six plays to move the ball 60 yards for their second score of the game to move ahead by 11 points at 14-3.
The Privateer defense short-circuited Castleton State's next offensive series as Klass picked off a pass and returned the ball for three yards to give Maritime the ball back at its own 18-yard line. Gardner had his number called on 10 of the next 13 offensive plays for Maritime as the full back chewed up yardage and moved the ball deep into Castleton territory. His efforts were rewarded as his number was called once again on the final play of the series, for a 3-yard touchdown run to pull Maritime back within four after the Dietrich extra point.
In the second half, the Privateers started with the ball and needed 14 plays to move the ball 62 yards, with big plays coming from a pass to senior Greg Caneparo (Nanuet, N.Y./Nanuet) for an eight-yard gain. Other big plays included sophomore Nick Fischetti (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) rush for 11 yards, and another Gardner run for nine. Chilcott then finished off the drive with a one-yard touchdown dash to give Maritime the lead back at 17-14.
The teams exchanged the ball several more times with the Spartans then taking back possession with 3:45 to go in the third. Seven plays later, and just 28 yards later the Spartans had regained the advantage with a seven-yard score to move back ahead by a 21-17 score.
With play moving to the fourth quarter, a Privateer giveaway proved costly as the Spartans connected on a 40-yard pass to find the end zone on just one play after the Maritime fumble.
The Privateers refused to go down quietly, as the team connected on a big pass of its own as Chilcott found Fischetti out of the backfield for a 21-yard reception. Gardner ran the ball for nine yards, while Chilcott followed with a six-yard sprint. Two plays later, Chilcott found Jones on 1st and Goal to pull the Privateers back within three at 24-27.
Castleton State added a field goal on its next drive to move ahead by six points, giving the ball back to the Maritime offense with 7:02 left in regulation. The team went three-and-out on its next drive, and then got the ball back after Castleton State milked just under four minutes off the clock before punting back to Maritime.
Looking to put up points on the board quickly, Chilcott found Jones for an 11-yard gain to pick up a first down. However, the drive stalled out after that, with the Spartans regaining possession after an interception and taking several kneel downs to seal the victory.
Maritime (3-5, 2-3 ECFC) heads back home next weekend and will host Senior Day on Reinhart Field prior to its matchup against Norwich at 1 p.m. on November 8.
Castleton State (5-3, 3-2 ECFC) will be on the road for its final two games of the season, as they first take a trip to Gallaudet for a 12 p.m. start next weekend.
Maritime Football Drops Close Decision vs. Castleton State
/seasons/2014/boxscores/20141101_zedy.xml
2014
SUNY-Maritime
24
Castleton
30
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SUNY-Maritime (3-5) | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 24 |
| Castleton (5-3) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 30 |
Nov 01, 2014