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HAMILTON – Colgate made it three wins in the last four games with a convincing 38-17 victory over Lafayette here Saturday.
 
John Wilkins scored a pair of touchdowns and the Raider defense sacked Lafayette quarterback Drew Reed seven times for a combined minus-50 yards. Jake Melville accounted for three touchdowns and nearly 350 yards of total offense.
 
Colgate jumped on top 24-0 before Lafayette reeled off 17 straight points to pull within a touchdown. But the Raiders regained momentum and put another pair of TDs on the board in the final 17 minutes to coast to their third Patriot League win of the season.
 
Wilkins rushed eight times for 59 yards and the two scores, his first two-TD game since 2014. John Maddaluna III caught six passes for 76 yards, while both Owen Rockett and Nick Martinsen hauled in receiving touchdowns.
 
Brett Field and Victor Steffen posted three sacks apiece for the first times in their careers, and Pat Afriyie added the other one. Afriyie's sack was his 10th this season and 24th career to take over sole possession of third place on the all-time Raider sack chart.
 
Bottom Line
• Colgate 38, Lafayette 17

Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improved to 4-5 overall and 3-2 in the Patriot League.
• Lafayette is now 2-8 and 1-4.

Quick Rundown
• Wilkins capped Colgate's opening drive with a 1-yard plunge that made it 7-0.
• After Jonah Bowman connected on a 39-yard field goal, Rockett and Martinsen caught TD passes in the second quarter to up the Raider lead to 24-0.
• But Lafayette rallied with 17 points during a 4:20 span over the second and third quarters. Included was a 14-yard sack by Leopard linebacker Rob Hinchen that downed Melville in the end zone for a safety.
• Colgate finally flipped the field in its favor and Melville snaked his way to a 24-yard TD run late in the third quarter to make it 31-17.
• A Wilkins 11-yarder was all Colgate needed in a one-play scoring drive to cap the scoring with 7:14 remaining.

Facts & Figures
• Colgate's team sack total was its best of the season and best overall since the Raiders posted eight in last year's 31-29 win over Fordham.
• Abu Daramy contributed 96 total return yards. He averaged 14.0 on four punt returns and 20.0 on a pair of kickoff returns.
• Daramy's 18-yard punt return in the fourth quarter, along with a half-the-distance personal foul penalty on the Leopards, set Wilkins up for his 11-yard TD run and one-play scoring drive.
• Kyle Diener led the Raiders and shared game tackle honors with eight, including six solos. Diener leads the Raiders with 70 tackles.
• Tyler Castillo and Chris Morgan added seven tackles apiece, while Field had six highlighted by his trio of sacks.
• Field's three sacks accounted for minus-22 yards; Steffen's three went for a combined minus-20.
• Lafayette's Reed finished with eight official rushing attempts for minus-51 yards.
• Melville was sacked three times for minus-34 yards, which cut into his total and left him with 141 net rushing yards.
• Melville added 202 passing yards on 15-of-23 to account for 343 yards of total offense.
• Colgate's senior quarterback improved to 12-2 in starts against Patriot League competition.
• Rockett and Maddaluna now share the team TD receptions lead with four.
 
More Key Info
• Maddaluna's six receptions pushed him past Tom Stenglein (1983-85) into fifth on the Colgate career chart with 146.
• Melville also moved into fifth on the Colgate passing yardage chart at 5,640, eclipsing Chris Brown (2001-04). Next up is fellow Sparta, New Jersey, product Gavin McCarney (2011-13) at 5,682.
• Bowman's 39-yard field goal boosted the senior to 10-of-11 for the season and 30-of-39 for his career. He's tied for second with Lane Schwarzberg (2001-04) on the all-time field goals made list and trails only Mike Powers (1983-86), who made 35.
• Wilkins now has 1,127 rushing yards on 269 attempts – a 4.2-yard average.
• When Reed had time, he completed 24-of-41 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown. He also hit Joey Chenoweth for a two-point conversion that narrowed the lead to 24-17.
 
Turning Point
• Colgate's 24-0 lead was down to 24-17 and Lafayette had the ball with still 5:28 remaining in the third quarter.
• But the Raider defense forced a Leopards punt that was returned by Daramy into Lafayette territory at the 44.
• Wilkins ran for 10 yards and then Melville did the same.
• Melville then broke free down the right sideline 24 yards to pay dirt.
• The Raiders were back in front by two scores and sailed from there thanks to some timely defensive pressure down the stretch.

From the Sources
• Colgate head coach Dan Hunt: (On the game) "It was really interesting to go from up 24-0, and then the offense had one possession and it was 24-17. But not only did we take the punch, we fought back and increased the lead and got it comfortable again.
 
"I was proud of our defense for surviving the onslaught at the beginning of the second half and then really responding with some of the best defense we've played all year. Offensively, we were able to run the ball and tack on two more touchdowns."

Listen to the rest of Coach Hunt's comments HERE.
 
• Colgate fullback John Wilkins: (On his performance) "It's been a great recovery. My team has been behind me the whole time and that really sticks with you. The offensive line made some great blocks, Jake made some great calls and I just ran the ball. It felt amazing."

Listen to the rest of Wilkins' comments HERE.
 
• Colgate defensive lineman Victor Steffen: (On the seven sacks) "We didn't try to dress it up with any kind of fancy blitzes. We just had four experienced linemen out there and we rushed four. Very vanilla, but we ended up doing pretty well with it."

Listen to the rest of Steffen's comments HERE.
 
• Colgate defensive end Pat Afriyie: (On the fourth quarter) "We just kind of pinned our ears back in the fourth quarter. All four of us were out there and we went after them. We knew they were going to throw the ball so we just tried to get after the quarterback as best we could. We did a good job."

Listen to the rest of Afriyie's comments HERE.
 
• Colgate quarterback Jake Melville: (On today's game) "League games are always tough. We came out and set the tone early, and then we gave them some hope in the third quarter. But our defense stepped up, the offense made plays when we needed to and we got the win."

Listen to the rest of Melville's comments HERE.
 
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance inside Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium was 4,859.
 
Up Next
• Colgate is home for Senior Day next Saturday against Georgetown. 
• The Hoyas lost 21-7 at home Saturday to Bucknell and are 3-7 on the season, including 0-5 in the Patriot League.
• Kickoff from Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium is 1 p.m.