Colgate University Athletics

PRINCETON, N.J. – Undefeated Princeton used a decisive third quarter and a pair of late touchdowns to defeat Colgate 44-20 here Saturday.
 
The Raiders (2-4) pulled within 16-14 at halftime thanks to a 62-yard, five-play drive that culminated in Demetrius Russell's second touchdown carry of the afternoon. It was the third straight game Colgate scored a late first-half touchdown.
 
But this one did not lead to the Raiders' third straight victory. Instead, Princeton produced third-quarter touchdown drives of 72 and 75 yards to pull ahead, 30-14.
 
Colgate erased one of those scores on a Jake Melville-to-John Quazza TD pass on the opening play of the fourth quarter. After the two-point conversion pass failed to keep the score 30-20, Colgate had another chance when Pat Afriyie forced a fumble on a quarterback sack and Colgate recovered at the Tiger 24.
 
But the Raider drive stalled and then the field-goal try never got off the ground. It was Colgate's second failed field goal attempt of the afternoon.
 
Princeton (4-0) added two touchdowns in the final 3:53 for the 44-20 margin.
 

Melville finished 25-of-42 passing for a career-high 318 yards and a touchdown. On defense, Chris Morgan was the tackle leader after matching his career best with 14 stops.
 
The Raiders return to Patriot League play next Saturday at Georgetown in a 1 p.m. start.
 
Bottom Line
• Princeton 44, Colgate 20

Won-Lost Records
• Colgate is now 2-4.
• Princeton improves to 4-0.

Passing Highlights
• Melville's previous passing yardage high of 302 came in last year's 31-30 win over these same Princeton Tigers.
• The junior's completions and attempts also were career highs.
• Melville spread the completions among seven Colgate receivers.
• Quazza matched his career high set earlier this year against UNH with seven catches, good for 88 yards. That number just missed his career best of 92 yards set last season at Ball State.
• Alex Greenawalt produced his second straight solid receiving effort, finishing with five catches for 92 yards. In his last two games, Greenawalt has 11 receptions for 194 yards and a TD.
• And John Maddaluna III added four catches for 78 yards, including a 67-yarder on Colgate's opening drive of the game that set up the first score. Maddaluna in his last two outings has 14 receptions for 216 yards and a TD.
• The 67-yard connection was Colgate's longest play of any kind this season.
• Maddaluna (29-382), Greenawalt (25-354) and Quazza (23-265) are 1-2-3 on the team in both receptions and receiving yards.
 
Defensive Highlights
• Morgan matched his career high from a year ago at Ball State with 14 tackles. Included were 1½ tackles for loss to go with a pass breakup.

• Brett Field bettered his career high with nine tackles, including a sack. That's three sacks in the last two games for the defensive lineman, and four for the year to trail only Afriyie in that category.
• Afriyie's sack and forced fumble was his second such combo of the year. The sophomore entered the game leading the Patriot League in sacks and now has 6½ among his 9½ total tackles for loss.
• Alex Campbell was on the spot for both Colgate fumble recoveries.
• Cameron Buttermore recorded seven tackles and blocked a Princeton PAT kick.
• Kyle Diener exited the game with a third-quarter injury but did return. He finished with eight tackles and leads the team with 50.
 
More Key Info
• First-year placekicker Josh Cerra scored his first career point with a second-quarter PAT.
• Princeton was 11-of-15 on third-down conversions and finished the game with 35 first downs.
• Colgate in all six games this season has won the time of possession battle. The Raiders owned the ball Saturday for 30:12.
• Colgate was 2-of-3 on fourth-down conversions. The Raiders are now 14-of-23 (60.9 percent) for the season and were leading the Patriot League coming into the weekend.
• Princeton QB Chad Kanoff was nearly as efficient at Melville, finishing 25-of-41 passing for 277 yards. Backfield teammate and part-time quarterback John Lovett scored four rushing touchdowns.
• Colgate's Russell had his best rushing game of the season, finishing with 68 yards and two TDs on 17 carries.
 
Turning Point
• The third quarter.
• Colgate trailed 16-14 at halftime before the Tigers put two touchdowns on the board on drives of 72 and 75 yards.
• Princeton in the quarter outgained Colgate 175-66.
 

From the Sources
• Colgate head coach Dan Hunt: (On today's game) "The pass game the last two weeks has picked us up. It's nice to know we can throw the ball and we'll continue to build on that. We've got the people who can hurt you on the outside and we've got to continue to do that."
 
Listen to the rest of Hunt's comments HERE.
 
• Colgate defensive back Chris Morgan: (On the game) "We've had a good schedule and played some very good teams. But every game we try to compete and when we lose, it's tough. But now we'll get going in the Patriot League and we still have something to look forward to."
 
Listen to the rest of Morgan's comments HERE.
 
• Colgate quarterback Jake Melville: (On the passing game) "It's definitely starting to come along a little bit. If we can combine that with our run game, we're going to be a tough offense to stop."
 
Listen to the rest of Melville's comments HERE.
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance at Princeton Stadium on a beautiful October afternoon was 6,457.
 
Up Next
• Colgate plays next Saturday at Georgetown.
• Note that kickoff is 1 p.m. after originally being scheduled for noon.
• The Hoyas (3-3) are 1-0 in Patriot League play after this weekend's 38-7 blitz of Lafayette.