On the four-yard line, the Spartans lined up on offense with Tyson Hall at quarterback. The ball snaps, it’s a quarterback keeper. Hall breaks free down the right sideline, 96 yards to the endzone to break Moe Harris’s former record for longest rush in school history while also putting Castleton up 14-6 on route to a 14-12 win.

The Castleton Spartans football team faced off against in-state rival Norwich in the battle for the Sap Bucket on Sept. 7. In the heated defensive battle, it saw the Spartans come out on top and bring home the Sap Bucket for the first time since 2017.

“It’s a big deal I think for our campus because Norwich is a rival in most of our sports. Being week one, it’s the first time we’ve ever played them week one, so it was a big deal for our players,” said head coach Tyler Higley.

The game started off with Castleton getting on the board in the first quarter, when Joshua Colegrove rushed into the endzone to go up 7-0. The touchdown didn’t come easy as prior to Colegrave rushing in, Caezar Williams hauled in a 77-yard reception to give the Spartans a shot in the redzone at the 10-yard line.

Throughout the game it was a back-and-forth battle on the defensive side of the ball. Norwich would score in the second quarter but would miss the extra point to make the score 7-6 for the Spartans.

Then in the third quarter, the Cadets would have Castleton backed up into its own redzone, but Ian Detulleo would come down with an interception to set up the Spartans to make the school record setting play from Hall on the next offensive drive.

“It was definitely a dogfight from the beginning. Back and forth game that was definitely leaning hard on defensive play. And having it be such a close game going into halftime, we needed a big play,” said Hall, a freshman. “I’m happy the coaches trusted me enough to put the ball in my hands on our own three-yard line and the execution of that play was flawless and running down the sideline knowing I was going to score and give us a bigger lead was indescribable.”

Then in the fourth quarter, the Spartans were up 14-12 after the Cadets scored a touchdown with under a minute remaining. But had to go for the two-point conversion due to the missed field goal earlier.

Backs against the wall, the Spartans came up with the stop.

DeTulleo would come up with the onside kick recovery then quarterback Wes Cournoyer would kneel it down to run out the clock for the Castleton victory.

The Spartans were led defensively by seniors Kevin McDonough with 14 tackles and Tyler Buxton with nine tackles and a sack and a half. On offense, the team was led by Hall with 92 rushing yards and a touchdown and Cournoyer with 177 passing yards.

“It’s been way too long since the sap bucket has been where it belongs. I’ve been a part of the last three losses against Norwich, and it feels good to be a part of the team to end that streak. It was a hard-fought game all the way around and it was an amazing feeling to come out on top. There’s no better way to start the season, going into conference play with a 1-0 record is huge for the team’s morale and confidence,” McDonough said.

The last time Castleton brought home the Sap Bucket, Higley was a graduate assistant coach for the defensive backs. Now in his first season as head coach, Higley and the Spartans look to build off the emotional win against the Cadets.

“The message to the players when we started meeting after the game was, coming off an emotional win, can we battle complacency, and I think when you come off those kind of wins as players sometimes you have a natural instinct to say, we’re good, we won, we know who we are but there are a lot of things we didn’t do well in the game,” Higley said.

The Spartans followed up their big Sap Bucket victory with their first MASCAC conference win against Framingham State, coming out on top 32-13. The Spartans were led on offense by Cournoyer with 190 passing yards and three touchdowns as well as Williams with 174 recieving yards and three touchdowns. On defense, Julian Chiemingo Rivera dominated with three sacks on the day. 

Castleton looks to continue its hot start with its first home game of the season against Massachusetts Maratime on Sept 21. This will mark this years Homecoming game as well as Family weekend for the Spartans.