On a sunny day, music is blasting in the parking lot of the Hoff dorms and just under 4,000 Castleton students and fans gathered with one thing in mind.

Homecoming football.

As the parking lot filled and the grills came out, they all awaited the 12 p.m. kickoff of the Spartans taking on Massachusetts Maritime (MMA) on Sept. 21 which saw Castleton fall 20-14 to MMA’s heavy run game.

The Spartans led in the passing department of the game with 190 yards through the air, but MMA hammered the run game with 178 rushing yards.

The game kicked off with the Spartans finding themselves down 7-0 in the first quarter after MMA came rushing down the field with a five-and-a-half-minute drive that saw seven of the 11 plays be rushing.

Later in the quarter, the Spartans special teams stood out as CJ Childs blocked a punt which then gave Castleton great field position to score on their next drive when Wes Cournoyer rushed in a six-yard touchdown. However, the extra point would be missed, and the Spartans would still be down 7-6.

On the next Spartans drive, Cournoyer would lead the team down the field to the MMA eight-yard line and Eydan Linares would make a 25-yard field goal to give the Spartans its first lead of the game going up 9-6.

With a little over two minutes remaining the half MMA scored again to regain the lead 14-9 going into halftime.

The third quarter was eaten up by an eight-minute drive from MMA which resulted in a touchdown to bring the score to 20-9 but the Spartans special teams continued to dominate their time on the field as the extra point attempt from MMA was blocked by Childs and then returned by Ian DeTullo to make it 20-11.

The Spartans would try and battle back in the fourth quarter but would only put a field goal on the scoreboard and would fall to MMA for their first loss of the season.

“It was definitely a tough one, not the way we wanted it to go for the home opener and homecoming, but we can’t go back and play it again. The first loss of the year is always a reality check, time to get back on track this week,” said senior linebacker Kevin McDonough.

Depsite the loss McDonough found himself in the Spartan history books with his 19 tackle game which is tied for third most in a single game and most in a game since 2016.

Quarterback Wes Cournoyer echoed what McDonough said, “We really appreciate all the support from Castleton nation, it was a great turn out and the environment was great. But we didn’t prevail and didn’t show up to play but we need to be able to bounce back from it.”

The Spartans then faced off against University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on Sept. 28 which saw the Spartans fall 60-10. The Spartans look to get back on track Oct 5 against Westfield State at Dave Wolk Stadium.