Football opens season with setback

Henry Wallrapp (93) celebrates his sack with teammate Ryan Neville. (Dustin Satloff Photography

WATERVILLE, Maine — The Colby College football team opened the season in a tough way against a physical Trinity College squad in a 34-0 setback at Harold Alfond Stadium on Saturday.
Sonny Puzzo threw for 278 yards and Darrien Myers caught both of Puzzo’s touchdowns to lead the Bantams. Puzzo also had a 1-yard scoring run and gained 53 yards on seven carries for Trinity (1-0).
Trinity took the opening drive of the game 65 yards on just six plays, capped off by a 27-yard scoring catch from Puzzo to Myers for a 7-0 lead.

After a three-and-out by the Mules (0-1), Trinity went 81 yards on nine plays to score its second touchdown. Puzzo had a quarterback sneak with 6:38 to play in the opening quarter for a 14-0 margin.

The Bantams needed just one play to score on their next drive. Puzzo hit Myers on a 43-yard touchdown strike with 12:37 to go in the second quarter.

With 4:40 to halftime, Paul McCarthy stepped in front of a quick-out pass for the interception and was able to just get in the end zone while carrying a Colby tackler on his back for the last few yards. Trinity missed the extra point and led 27-0 at intermission.

Trinity spent a good portion of the second half running the ball to eat up time. The Bantams closed out the scoring when Max Chipouras ran in from 3 yards out with 5:49 to play.

The Bantams had a 439-159 edge in total offense. Nick Gaynor had 11 carries for 58 yards and caught two passes for 46 yards. Myers had five catches for 93 yards and teammate Bryan Vieira caught three passes for 86 yards.

Christian Sparacio ran seven times for 30 yards and also completed two passes for 10 yards. Gabe Harrington threw for 97 yards, while Ryder Arsenault had five catches for 24 yards.

McCarthy led the Trinity defense with two interceptions and five tackles. Shane Libby finished with six tackles and had 1.5 sacks, Dago Picon-Roura added an interception and tied with Spencer Donahue for the team lead in tackles with seven.

First-year safety Don Vivian had a solid debut for Colby with a fumble recovery, four tackles, and one pass break-up. Chris Marano, Ian Dickey, Ryan Ruiz, and Ryan Neville also had four tackles. Henry Wallrapp had a sack and three stops.

Colby punter John Baron started for the first time and finished five kicks for 47.0-yard average. He also had three of the five punts inside the 20-yard line.

Colby heads to Middlebury College next Saturday at 1 p.m., while Trinity has its home opener against Williams College at 1:30 p.m.

Trinity 34, Colby 0
Trinity…………. 14 13  0  7  – 34
Colby……………  0  0  0  0  –  0

Scoring Summary:
  1st 11:58 Trinity – Darrien Myers 27 yd pass from Sonny Puzzo (Eric Sachse kick), 6-65 3:02,
      06:38 Trinity – Sonny Puzzo 1 yd run (Eric Sachse kick), 9-81 3:42
  2nd 12:37 Trinity – Darrien Myers 43 yd pass from Sonny Puzzo (Eric Sachse kick), 1-43 0:08
      04:40 Trinity – Paul McCarthy 31 yd interception return (Eric Sachse kick failed)
  4th 05:49 Trinity – Max Chipouras 3 yd run (Eric Sachse kick), 8-86 2:42
                                                  T        COL

  FIRST DOWNS……………….       17       13

  RUSHES-YARDS (NET)…………   32-161    37-52

  PASSING YDS (NET)………….      278      107
  Passes Att-Comp-Int………..  22-14-0  29-16-3

TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS…..   54-439   66-159
  Fumble Returns-Yards……….      0-0     1-29
  Punt Returns-Yards…………      2-6      0-0
  Kickoff Returns-Yards………      0-0    6-102
  Interception Returns-Yards….     3-31      0-0
  Punts (Number-Avg)…………   2-46.0   5-47.0
  Fumbles-Lost………………      1-1      3-1
  Penalties-Yards……………     7-50     4-31
  Possession Time……………    29:10    30:50
  Third-Down Conversions……..   4 of 9  7 of 16
  Fourth-Down Conversions…….   0 of 2   1 of 3
  Red-Zone Scores-Chances…….      2-4      0-1
  Sacks By: Number-Yards……..     3-33      1-5

  RUSHING: Trinity-Nick Gaynor 11-58; Sonny Puzzo 7-53; Max Chipouras 2-21; Ethan   Suraci 5-14; Darrien Myers 2-6; Jack Cunningham 3-5; Ian Dugger 1-5; Henry Foye   1-minus 1. Colby-Christian Sparacio 7-30; Jabari Hurdle-Price 11-18; Carl Lipani 6-15; Michael Ecke 2-6; Robert Murray 3-3; Dan Roache 1-minus 2; Gabe Harrington 7-minus 18.
  PASSING: Trinity-Sonny Puzzo 14-22-0-278. Colby-Gabe Harrington 14-26-3-97;
Christian Sparacio 2-3-0-10.

  RECEIVING: Trinity-Darrien Myers 5-93; Bryan Vieira 3-86; Nick Gaynor 2-46; Ian Dugger 2-34; Matt Hirshman 1-15; Max Chipouras 1-4. Colby-Ryder Arsenault 5-24; Alex Kramer 3-32; Mark Snyder 2-18; Carl Lipani 2-14; Mbasa Mayikana 2-8; Jabari Hurdle-Price 1-9; Glenn Parsons 1-2.
  INTERCEPTIONS: Trinity-Paul McCarthy 2-31; D. Picon-Roura 1-0. Colby-None.

  FUMBLES: Trinity-Nick Gaynor 1-1. Colby-Jabari Hurdle-Price 1-0; Robert Murray 1-0; Gabe Harrington 1-1.

  Stadium: Harold Alfond Stad.   Attendance: 1110