Edwards’ Big Plays Help Umaine Football Team Beat Colgate, End Losing Streak

Big plays were at the center of the University of Maine’s 35-21 non-conference football victory over Colgate on Saturday at Andy Kerr Stadium in Hamilton, New York. So it should come as no surprise that Earnest Edwards was in the middle of things. The senior wideout from Rochester, New York, returned two kickoffs for touchdowns and added a third score on a long pass reception as the Black Bears ended a two-game losing streak while sending winless Colgate to its fourth defeat of the season. Both of Edwards’ kick returns came in the third quarter, a 100-yard runback on the second-half kickoff and a 95-yard sprint after Colgate had cut the deficit to 28-14 on an 18-yard run by Alex Mathews. Edwards’ big plays on offense and special teams were complemented by a UMaine defense that harassed two Colgate quarterbacks for eight sacks — the most for the team since nine against Delaware in October 2012. Max Roberts led the quarterback attack with 2 1/2 sacks, while Kayon Whitaker made two sacks among his seven tackles and Jamehl Wiley contributed 1 1/2 sacks. Taji Lowe posted a career-best 12 tackles for UMaine while Adrian Otero logged 10 tackles, also a career best. Colgate did outgain UMaine in total yardage 320-317, but the Black Bears limited the Raiders to to a 3-of-13 success rate on third-down conversions. “Overall there were some really good things [on defense] but I just felt like we could have been a little bit better, which is hard to say, especially when you have eight sacks,” said UMaine coach Nick Charlton, whose team returns to conference play next Saturday at Villanova. “Some really good things went on out there, but everyone knows we can do better in a lot of areas.” One other area where UMaine showed improvement was its running game.