CLINTON, N.Y. – Hamilton College's
Matthew Kearns '28 had 110 yards receiving and two touchdowns in the Continentals' 28-14 NESCAC win against the Colby College Mules at Hamilton's sun-splashed Steuben Field on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 24.
Season Update
- The Continentals (2-4 NESCAC) recorded their second straight win after a 26-7 victory at Bowdoin College on Saturday, Oct. 17.
- Colby (0-6) has started this season with six consecutive losses after ending 2025 with four wins in a row.
How It Happened
- Hamilton led 21-0 at halftime and the Mules didn't get closer than 14 points in the second half.
- The Continentals' hurry-up offense resulted in a touchdown on their first possession. Connor Laverty '28 scored on a one-yard quarterback keeper off right tackle with 9:13 left and Carmelo Velardo '27 added the extra point.
- Hamilton added another touchdown on its first drive of the second quarter. The Continentals went 72 yards in 13 plays including a four-yard touchdown pass from Luke Kurzum '27 to Kearns that Kearns caught at the one on the left side and jogged into the end zone. Velardo's PAT made it 14-0 with 10:19 remaining in the second.
- Hamilton put together another long scoring drive on its next possession. This one chewed up five-and-a-half minutes as the Continentals marched 80 yards in 13 plays. Three of the last four plays were pass completions to Kearns, who toe-tapped inside the back-right pylon for a highlight-reel, 13-yard touchdown catch with 1:16 to go.
- Hamilton's opening drive of the second half stalled at the Colby 19-yard line as the Continentals turned it over on downs. The Mules went 81 yards the other way for a scoring drive that took nearly six minutes off the clock. Colby quarterback Jagger Matera scrambled eight yards into the end zone and the Mules were finally on the board with 5:44 left in the third quarter.
- An unsportsmanlike penalty on Colby forced the Mules to kick off from the 25 instead of the 40 and Hamilton took advantage. Nate Wildman '27 caught the kick at his own 15 and returned it 25 yards to the 40. The Continentals turned the great field position into points. Kurzum completed four passes to Jack Hoag '27 for 45 yards, the last of which was a 13-yard scoring toss to the far-left side of the end zone with 45.1 seconds remaining. Velardo's kick made it 28-7.
- The teams combined on three straight touchdown drives as Colby traveled 72 yards in 11 plays and pulled within 14 points again with 9:02 to go in the fourth quarter. Matera completed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Jack Nye and wrapped up the scoring.
- Colby's last two drives ended with a punt and a turnover on downs. Ryan Zouaoui '29 had two-and-a-half sacks on the Mules' last two possessions.
Notes
- Kearns went over 100 yards receiving for the third time in the last four games. He leads the NESCAC with six touchdown catches and is second with 92.5 yards per game.
- Hoag finished with 10 receptions for 67 yards and his first touchdown this season.
- Kurzum was 26 of 32 passing for 224 yards and three touchdowns. He holds the team's career passing yards record, which he set at Bowdoin last week, with 6,290. Kurzum leads the conference with 276.7 yards per game, 154 completions and a completion percentage of 72.6 percent.
- Laverty recorded his seventh rushing touchdown in the last four games. He's tied for second in the NESCAC with those seven rushing scores.
- Zouaoui, who had one career sack coming into the day, posted 3.5 against Colby. He ended up with seven tackles total. The sack total was the most in a game in the conference this year.
- Mat Bucher '27 tied his career high in tackles, which was set last week at Bowdoin, with 14 and added a pass breakup. Bucher leads the NESCAC with 11.8 stops per game.
- Ryan Torello '29 added seven tackles and his first two pass breakups.
- David Sack '30 boasted five tackles, including two for losses, a half-sack and a quarterback hurry.
- Matera was 19 of 30 for 155 yards and a rushing and passing touchdown for the Mules. Nye made eight catches for 94 yards, and Lincoln Merrill made a team-high 10 tackles.
- Hamilton's defense allowed just 250 yards of total offense, the lowest total for an opponent since last year's game at Colby (242).
- The Continentals defeated the Mules at home for the first time since 2019.
Next Game
Hamilton plays at Williams College (4-2) on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 1:30 p.m.
