Milton, MA - The Curry Football team fell in the Fusion Bowl against merchant Marine on Friday by a score of 27-24. The Colonels will end the season with an 8-3 record. This marked the first postseason game for the Colonels since 2017.

The Colonels struck first on the first drive of the game, as they were set up nicely by a 56-yard Jordan Depina kickoff return. That led to an Anthony Santino 14-yard TD pass to Wesley Williams. The two teams would trade scoreless drives before the Mariners found the endzone just before the end of the first quarter, but a missed extra point would keep the Colonels ahead. A quick three-and-out from the Colonels gave the ball back to USMMA, and they would score, and get the two point conversion to go up 14-7. A Curry FG on the next drive made it 14-10, but the Mariners ran the two-minute drill to perfection, and scored before the half to go up 21-10.

The Mariners then opened the second half with a 16-play drive that ate up over half the quarter, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on their coach pushed them out of FG range. The Colonels took over after the miss, and struck immediately with a 64-yard TD pass from Santino to Kareem Chaplin II, closing in on the Mariners 21-16 after a failed XP. But another long drive by USMAA, 18 plays and over nine minutes, ended in a TD, giving them a 27-16 lead early in the fourth. The Colonels would bring the score to 27-24 after a Jordan Depina touchdown run and two-point conversion, but would need a stop on defense to have any chance. They seemingly did, stopping the Mariners on a 3rd and 11, but a roughing the punter penalty gave the visitors a first down that all but sealed the game.

For the Colonels, they played a majority of the game without the Gagliardi Trophy frontrunner in Montie Quinn. The senior playing in his last game was hampered by injuries, and sat out numerous drives. He was only able to run for 10 yards. The All-American did not end his career how he wanted to, but he does end it with his name in the NCAA DIII record book. This season he broke the single season record for yards per carry, minimum 150 carries, with a mark of 9.82. That would have shattered the record for a minimum of 250 carries, but Quinn ends the season with 249 carries. For his career he averaged 7.33 yards per carry, also an NCAA DIII record, minimum 750 carries. He entered the game averaging 243.6 yards per game, well above the NCAA DIII record, but that number would fall to 222.4 after this game, good for the 4th best single season. His career average of 167.8 is also 4th. On the season he ran for 2,446 yards, the third most in DIII history, and his career mark of 6,881 is 5th.

Quarterback Anthony Santino ends his one year in purple also leaving a mark in the record book, as he only threw two interceptions all year, compared to 23 TDs. The two interceptions is the fewest in program history in a single season among qualified passers.

The Mariners ran the ball 72 times in the game, giving the Colonels defense plenty of tackling opportunities. Shane Field led the way with 17 tackles, tied for the third most in program history dating back to 2010. Also in double digits was Domenic Papa with 13.

The Colonels will need to replace both Quinn and Santino, but with a strong recruiting class, they should be right back near the top of the conference.