Earnest Edwards had a late second quarter touchdown reception and two kick returns for touchdowns in the third quarter Saturday afternoon, as the #12/16 ranked Maine football team defeated Colgate 35-21 in non-conference action at Andy Kerr Stadium in Hamilton, New York.
With the run game being a point of emphasis by head coach Nick Charlton in last weeks home loss to Towson, the Black Bears ran 10 times for 48 yards on their first drive after Colgate (0-4) had missed a 41 yard field goal on the games first possession. Joe Fitzpatrick powered in from one yard out with 2:00 minutes left in the opening quarter to make it 7-0 Maine. Emmanuel Reed made it 14-0 when he would find the end zone from five yards out with a little less than six minutes left in the first half. On the next possession however, Chris Ferguson threw an interception deep inside Colgate territory that lead to the Red Raiders first score and seemed to of turned momentum. Nick Diaco caught a 28 yard score from starting quarterback Jake Froschauer with 1:13 left to go in the half making it 14-7. The Bears immediately though took the momentum back. With time to work Ferguson hit Devin Young for 20 yards to the Maine 45 yard line, and with a personal foul by Colgate on the play the ball was pushed to the Red Raiders 40. On the next play Ferguson hit Edwards for a 40 yard scoring play with 49 seconds left in the quarter for a 21-7 advantage in which they took to the break.
The third quarter was all about “Electric Ernie”. Edwards took the opening kickoff of the third quarter 100 yards for a touchdown as Maine (2-2) looked as though they may run and hide from Colgate up 21 at 28-7. But with just over five minutes left in the quarter Colgates Alex Matthews scored on an 18 yard run to again cut it to just a pair of scores and plenty of time left to play. Edwards did it again on the ensuing kickoff this time going 95 yards weaving his way through traffic and down the left sidelines to pretty much sew up the Black Bear victory. Nick Draught did score on a 44 yard run for the Red Raiders with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter, but the Maine Black Hole defense turned away Colgate on downs with less than three minutes to play at the Bears 5 yard line on a fourth down sack by Josh Huffman. The defense was huge all day in the win, tallying eight sacks (only had one sack in first three games).
Ferguson finished the day 8-19 passing, 165 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Fitzpatrick had a big day on the ground for the Bears with 16 rushes for 102 yards and a score. Reed added 15 carries for 62 yards and a touchdown. Maine rushed 35 times for 152 yards in the game. Edwards had two catches for 60 yards and the late first half touchdown, along with the two kick return scores in the third quarter that ended up being the final difference. Six other receivers each caught one pass each from Ferguson. Taji Lowe had six tackles to lead the defense, including a half sack. Max Roberts had 2.5 sacks, while Kayon Whitaker also had 2.5 and Jamehl Wiley, Adrian Otero, and Alejandro Oregon all had 1.5. Froschauer went 7-15 passing for 75 yards and touchdown for Colgate, before being relieved in the second half by backup Noah Rothman who was 7-11 for 125 yards. Matthews had 11 carries for 52 yards and a touchdown, while Draught had two attempts for 51 yards including the 44 yard TD run. Garrett Oakey had five receptions for 98 yards to lead the Red Raiders receiving core. Aidan Gaertner had 11 tackles in the loss. Colgate who was in the final eight of the FCS playoffs last season and had an FCS record five shutout wins, is now winless in the first four games of 2019.
Maine will now take a road trip next Saturday to Philadelphia for a huge CAA matchup with the Villanova Wildcats at 3:30 p.m. The Wildcats are now 4-0 and was ranked #18 in the country this week in the FCS Stats Top 25 rankings, but is gonna move up as they knocked off #5 Towson on the road Saturday night 52-45 in overtime.
UME (2-2) 7 14 14 0- 35
COL (0-4) 0 7 7 7- 21
Total yards- Maine 317 Colgate 320
First downs- Maine 16 Colgate 18
Third down conversions- Maine 5-12 (41.6%) Colgate 3-13 (23%)
Turnovers- Maine 1 Colgate 0
Time of possession- Maine 26:53 Colgate 33:07
Maine wideout Earnest Edwards goes up for a touchdown catch against Towson in Orono on September 14, 2019. Edwards had three touchdowns, including two by way of kick returns, in the Black Bears 35-21 win Saturday at Colgate. Photo by Anthony DelMonaco
