HAMILTON – Colgate looks to have found its defensive mojo.
 
The Raiders held Holy Cross to just 21 rushing yards and nearly pitched a shutout in a 26-8 Patriot League victory Saturday on Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium.
 
Holy Cross for the game finished with 201 total yards, and 51 of those came on a last-gasp drive that netted the only purple touchdown of the game just 35 seconds before the final horn.
 
One of the Raider highlights was Charles Cairnie's first-quarter sack and caused fumble that was recovered by Pat Afriyie for a 7-0 Colgate lead. The Raiders sacked Holy Cross quarterback four times, with Afriyie accounting for 1½ of those.
 
Tyler Castillo led all tacklers with a career-high 13 as he chased down Crusaders receivers all afternoon. Jake Melville threw for 225 yards and rushed for another 83 to pace the Raider offense. John Maddaluna (6 for 92), Alex Greenawalt (4 for 81) and Nick Martinsen (3 for 52) accounted for all of the receiving yards.
 
Alex Mathews plowed in for his first career touchdown early in the fourth quarter for a 19-0 lead, and John Wilkins showed flashes of old as he rushed twice for 25 pounding yards.
 
The Raiders with the win pulled into a second-place tie in the Patriot League at 2-1. They have a chance to solidify that position next Saturday at Fordham.
 
Bottom Line
• Colgate 26, Holy Cross 8

Won-Lost Records
• Colgate won its second in a row and improved to 3-4 overall, 2-1 in the Patriot League.
• Holy Cross dropped to 3-6 and 1-3.

Quick Rundown
• Colgate in the first half committed four turnovers – a season-high for an entire game. Two of those miscues took place inside the Holy Cross 10.
• But the Raiders got one back just one play after a fumble when the Cairnie-Afriyie combination resulted in sack-fumble-touchdown. Colgate led 7-0 after the opening quarter.
• The Raiders added three points in the second period and three more in the fourth on Jonah Bowman field goals.
• Mathews scored from 3 yards out with 10:13 to play to finally hand the Raiders some breathing room at 19-0. Melville then broke free on a 30-yard TD with 1:39 remaining for a 26-0 cushion.
• Holy Cross finally put together a scoring drive to erase the goose egg, tallying when Emmett Clifford hit Brendan Flaherty on a 3-yard TD pass in the final seconds.

Facts & Figures
• Colgate registered a 408-201 edge in total offense. It was 245-52 at halftime, when the Raiders led 10-0.
• Colgate for the second game in a row held its opponent to less than 30 rushing yards. Holy Cross finished with 21 yards on 26 attempts. Two weeks ago, Bucknell carried for just 27 yards on 23 tries.
• The Raiders came into Saturday leading the Patriot League and ranked fifth nationally in rushing defense at 87.7 yards per game.
• Colgate was less than a minute away from its first shutout since 2014 (Georgetown, 19-0). The last time Holy Cross was shut out was in a 2004 loss to Harvard by a 35-0 count.
• Holy Cross finished the game 1-for-15 on third-down conversions. The Crusaders were 0-for-13 when Clifford hit Darrius Lacy for 22 yards on third-and-3 during their late TD drive.
• The Raiders held a time-of-possession advantage in all four quarters and finished with an edge of 34:46 to 25:14.
 
More Key Info
• Afriyie upped his season sack total to six and his career number to 20, which pushes him past Ahmad Russell (1997-2000) into fourth on the all-time Raider sack list.
• Afriyie also recovered two Holy Cross fumbles.
• Melville in the first half was 11-of-22 passing for 197 yards, but he had thrown two interceptions. He was 2-of-6 for 28 yards after the break, when the Raiders rushed for 135 of their 183 yards.
• With his 308 yards of total offense, Melville passed former Colgate quarterback and current team video coordinator Greg Sullivan on the Colgate career chart. Melville now has 7,482 yards to Sullivan's 7,333.
• Melville on the total offense chart trails only Ryan Vena (1996-99) at 9,435, Steve Calabria (1981-84) at 8,532 and Gavin McCarney (2011-13) at 8,465.
• Melville also moved into sixth on Colgate's all-time passing yardage list at 5,332.
• Afriyie became just the fourth Colgate defender to reach 20 career sacks. The others were Kelly Robinson (1979-81) at 28½, Jeff King (1979-80) at 24½ and Zach Smith (2007-10) at 22.
• Bowman's two field goals, from 42 and 28 yards, boosted the senior to 9-of-10 for the season and 29-of-38 for his career. He's two attempts away (minimum 40 required) from breaking for the Colgate career field goal percentage record, held by Mike Powers (1983-86).
• Powers was 35-of-55 for 63.6 percent. Bowman right now is at 76.3 percent.
• Bowman's 42-yarder was a season-long and just one yard shy of his career best (43 at Delaware 2014).
• Christian Hardegree returned from injury and intercepted his second career pass.
• Defensive special teams also came up big as Alex Campbell blocked a field goal just before halftime to keep the score 10-0.
• T.J. Holl made his first career start and registered three tackles, including a shared tackle-for-loss.
 
From the Sources
• Colgate head coach Dan Hunt: (On the big play early) "The defense played with a lot of intensity all day, and they took the field like they were going to keep them there after we had turned the ball over down near the goal line. To get the sack, the fumble and the touchdown – that really got us going."

Listen to the rest of Coach Hunt's comments HERE.
 
• Colgate senior linebacker Charles Cairnie: (On the sack for touchdown) "We had a played called for me coming off the edge. The offensive line didn't see and the back went the other way. I just had a clean read and went in for the sack. Pat recovered it in the end zone for a nice touchdown."

Listen to the rest of Cairnie's comments HERE.
 
• Colgate junior defensive end Pat Afriyie: (On the defense) "We focus on shutting down a team's run game so they have to become one-dimensional. We have a lot of guys who can play up front and play hard and play tough. The way we play defense is great for stopping the run."

Listen to the rest of Afriyie's comments HERE.
 
• Colgate first-year tailback Alex Mathews: (On his progression) "I had to get comfortable with the system and just settle in. I knew I was in for a fun season; I just had to get used to the offense and now things are starting to pay off."

Listen to the rest of Mathews' comments HERE.
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance inside Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium was 7,226.
 
Up Next
• Colgate plays its final regular season road game next Saturday at Fordham. 
• The Rams lost 58-37 at Lehigh and are tied for second place with Colgate and Bucknell at 2-1 in the Patriot League.
• Kickoff from Jack Coffey Field is 1 p.m.