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HAMILTON – Talk about following in some footsteps.
 
Colgate's Dan Hunt matched his mentor Dick Biddle here Saturday when the Raiders outlasted Lehigh 49-42 to clinch the Patriot League championship. Hunt and Biddle both captured Patriot League titles for Colgate in just their second seasons as head coach.
 
Demetrius Russell and Jake Melville turned in career-high rushing performances as Colgate chalked up a season-high 316 yards on the ground. Melville carried for 124 yards in the first half on his way to 132 and two touchdowns, while Russell compiled 95 of his 141 after intermission and also scored twice.
 
Colgate finished the game 3-of-3 on fourth down conversions, with touchdowns on all three plays.
 
Melville scored the game's first TD on a fourth-and-9 scamper that went 28 yards to pay dirt. The junior quarterback struck again in the second quarter, converting a fourth-and-1 into a 13-yard touchdown that made it 21-14. And then Russell turned the trick in the third period as he took a fourth-and-1 handoff and bolted 9 yards for the score that made it 35-28.
 
Colgate scored first and Colgate scored last. In between, the Raiders never trailed but also never led by more than seven points – 7-0, 7-7, 14-7, 14-14 … all the way to 49-42.
 
As fate would have it amid the offensive fireworks, a pair of Colgate defensive goal-line stands proved to be the difference.
 

Colgate kept Lehigh out of the end zone on the opening drive of the second half. A 16-play march that lasted 7:32 and came up empty when Alex Campbell tackled Mountain Hawks quarterback Nick Shafnisky for a 2-yard loss on fourth-and-4 from the Colgate 6.
 
That kept the score knotted at 28-28.
 
Then with the game on the line and Colgate leading 49-42, the Raiders stood tall on first-and-goal from their own 5. Three Shafnisky pass attempts fell incomplete, and then on fourth down a furious rush forced a dump-off pass to fullback Mackenzie Crawford.
 
Pat Afriyie was on the spot for the shoestring take down back at the 11-yard line, and Colgate had Title No. 8 in its back pocket.
 
The first of Biddle's seven conference championships came in 1997, and now Hunt has placed himself firmly on that same path of excellence.
 
Bottom Line
• Colgate 49, Lehigh 42

Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improved to 6-4 overall and 5-0 in the Patriot League. The Raiders have won four straight and six out of seven.
• Lehigh dropped to 5-5 and 3-2. The Mountain Hawks scored exactly 42 points in both of their Patriot League losses – 59-42 to Fordham, and here Saturday.

Colgate's Day on the Scoreboard
• It was Colgate Day – and then Colgate's day.
• In a game featuring 13 touchdowns just one day after Colgate celebrated Friday the 13th, the Raiders posted their highest point-total of the season.
• The 49 points were Colgate's most since the Raiders outscored Lafayette 65-41 en route to the 2012 Patriot League championship.
 
Backfield Production

• Colgate's backfield combo of Russell, Melville, James Holland and John Wilkins combined for 44 carries, 313 rushing yards and six rushing TDs.
• Holland scored twice more to push his team-leading touchdown total to nine. He carried eight times for 27 yards.
• And Wilkins was plowing through the Lehigh defense until he reaggravated an injury that has been bugging him since midseason. He finished with 13 yards on just four carries.
• Holland scored the winning touchdown on a 1-yard plunge with 2:49 on the clock. It was set up two plays earlier when Russell broke free on a 58-yard dash down the left sideline.
• Melville was a solid 12-of-19 passing for 173 yards and a touchdown. He did not throw an interception for the sixth straight game.
• Colgate's junior signal-caller now owns a streak of 158 consecutive pass attempts without an interception, dating to his only pick of the season in the third quarter at Holy Cross back on Sept. 26.
• That misfire halted a Melville streak of 157 interception-free attempts dating to last season, meaning he's now thrown just one interception in his last 315 pass attempts.
 
Wideouts Win When it Counts
• Colgate completed only one passing touchdown, but in a 49-42 nail-biter it was huge.
• Melville found Alex Greenawalt with a beautiful spiral into the corner of the end zone, and Greenawalt corralled it just in bounds for a 42-35 lead midway in the fourth.
• Greenawalt finished with two catches for 38 yards, including the 8-yard TD on third-and-goal.
• Hunt called timeout to set up the third-down play and it worked to perfection.
• John Maddaluna III led the receivers with five catches for 81 yards, while John Quazza caught three for 43.
• Melville on the game's opening drive actually completed one pass to himself. Facing third-and-8 at the Lehigh 38, Melville's aerial was batted into the air.
• But Melville spotted the deflection, hauled it in and ran nine yards for a key first down. Four plays later, Melville scored on his 28-yard run to make it 7-0.
 
Props to Lehigh
• Both teams already had a 100-yard rusher by halftime.
• Melville was the leader to that point with 124 yards and two touchdowns on just nine carries.
• But Lehigh freshman Dom Bragalone had 109 by the break on his way to a game-high 164 and three TDs.
• Shafnisky in the game was 23-of-36 passing for 271 yards and two touchdowns. He carried 16 times for 61 yards and another score.
• Troy Pelletier caught nine for 92 and a touchdown.
 
More Key Info

• Colgate's tackle leaders were Tyler Castillo and Alex Campbell with 11 apiece. Both figures were personal career-highs.
• The Raider sack machine was slowed somewhat, but Colgate still registered two – one by Cameron Buttermore and one by Brett Field.
• Colgate's defense has 29 sacks this season, and the Raiders have been sacked just seven times.
• First downs favored Lehigh 28-21, and the Mountain Hawks outgained Colgate 503-489.
• Time of possession went Colgate's way by a 30:56 to 29:04 margin.
• Maddaluna on five kickoff returns posted a 25.4-yard average. He finished with a game-high 208 all-purpose yards.
• Jonah Bowman was 7-of-7 on the all-important PAT kicks. He's 31-of-31 for the season.
 
Turning Point
• Four big plays in a crucial sequence of the third quarter kept the Raiders on the plus side of the scoreboard.
• First, Colgate stopped a Lehigh fourth-and-4 from the Colgate 6. Campbell tackled Shafnisky for a 2-yard loss when a field goal would have given the Mountain Hawks a 31-28 lead.
• Colgate on the ensuing drive was forced to punt from its 33, but Lehigh's Luke Christiano muffed it and Kyle Diener was there for the Raider recovery at the Lehigh 35.
• Then facing third-and-8, Melville threw incomplete but was roughed out of bounds. The 15-yard markoff set Colgate up at the Lehigh 18.
• Russell scored his 9-yarder on the fourth down try just four plays later for a 35-28 Colgate lead.
 
From the Sources
• Colgate head coach Dan Hunt: (On the championship) "This team has been an absolute joy to work with, really for the last two years. There's nothing I can complain about.
 
"They were committed. They wanted to win a championship and they've done everything we've asked them to do to be successful. I'm happier for them. It's great for me, but to see the joy in them – I told them in the locker room that they got what they deserved. They deserved this title."
 
Listen to the rest of Hunt's comments HERE.
 
• Colgate tailback Demetrius Russell: (On his 58-yard burst to set up the winning score) "That was huge. We hadn't called that play all game. Jake was cramping up, so he really couldn't run and we had to get the ball out of his hands.
 

"Before the play, Jake tells me, 'This is going to go.' He handed the ball off to me and it went. John Weber pulled around the edge and sealed the block."
 
Listen to the rest of Russell's comments HERE.
 
• Colgate nose tackle Alex Campbell: (On his 11 tackles) "As a D-lineman, we are down in the trenches just trying to prevent that run. It gave me the opportunity to make some plays, and that's what I did.
 
"We want the game to come down to our defense. We made that stand and we got the victory."
 
Listen to the rest of Campbell's comments HERE.
 
• Colgate quarterback Jake Melville: (On the three fourth-down touchdowns) "I didn't know that, but we've been good on fourth down all year. Coach Hunt trusts our offense to get it done on fourth down, and that's what we did today."
 
Listen to the rest of Melville's comments HERE.
 
• Colgate linebacker Kyle Diener: (On the championship) "It feels amazing to do this. We've been working for this since we came here three years ago, and it just feels great to see your work pay off. It feels amazing.
 
"We pride ourselves on bend but don't break. We struggled to defend them; they're a great offense. But when it came down to it, they got into the red zone and we got four straight stops. We're happy about that."
 
Listen to the rest of Diener's comments HERE.
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance on a cold afternoon inside Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium was 3,828.
• Colgate's Patriot League championship mantel now looks like this: 1997, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2015.
• Colgate was picked for a third-place finish in the Patriot League's 2015 preseason poll.
• The Raiders earn the Patriot League's automatic berth in the NCAA playoffs. The FCS selection show takes place Nov. 22 at 11 a.m.
 
Up Next
• Colgate is home for Senior Day next Saturday against Bucknell.
• The Bison lost 23-7 at home Saturday to Holy Cross, falling to 4-6 overall and 1-4 in the Patriot League.
• Kickoff from Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium is 1 p.m.
• Campus Insiders has the livestream and the game also can be heard on SiriusXM Radio.

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