Middletown, Conn. - For the second year in a row a Colby-Wesleyan matchup could not be decided in regulation.  Despite holding an edge late in the fourth quarter, a fumble returned for a touchdown in overtime pushed the Cardinals past the Mules.  Wesleyan is now 4-1 while Colby falls to 1-4.  

With strong swirling winds all afternoon, points were hard to come by early.  The first half saw two short Wesleyan field goals and Colby's lone score came on a strip sack by Jack Mullen that Lincoln Merrill scooped and returned 90 yards for a touchdown.  Mullen (headline photo) leads the NESCAC with six sacks in five games.  

Colby owned the lone score in the third quarter as Miles Drake found Atticus Duncan in the end zone for his third touchdown of the season.  Down 14-6 as the clock ticked into the fourth quarter, Wesleyan capped an eight-play 58-yard drive with a two-yard snag route to the front pylon.  The ensuing two-point play was good, tying the score at 14.  

Colby responded with a 60-yard drive that lasted 18 plays, finishing with a Christos Tzoumakas 33-yard field goal to put the Mules ahead with seven minutes to play.  Tzoumakas blasted the ensuing kickoff into the wind dying at the five-yard line, but instead of pinning the Cardinals deep, an inadvertent whistle forced a re-kick.  Wesleyan escaped trouble on the do-over, fielding the kick and running out to the 27-yard line to begin their final drive.  Despite big plays on the drive (sacks by Mullen and Julian Young, a pass breakup by Joshua East, and an open field tackle for no gain by Sebastien Romain), Wesleyan was able to move the chains into field goal range.  With less than a minute left, the Cardinals drilled the tying field goal to force extra time.  

The Mules held possession first, and after positioning themselves 1st-and-goal at the six yard line, a sack fumble was scooped by a Wesleyan defender and returned 88 yards for the deciding score.  

Yards were hard to come by for Colby, who totaled nine first downs and 118 yards compared to 23 and 246 for the Cardinals respectively.  Colby's defense carried the torch all afternoon led by last year's All-NESCAC First Team selection Young.  The linebacker tallied a season-high 13 tackles and 1.5 sacks, and the NESCAC's leading tackler in 2023 is back in a familiar spot leading the conference in tackles once again after five games.  Colby tallied five sacks and forced three fumbles, two by edge rusher Mullen.  

The Mules return to Mayflower Hill this coming Saturday for a showdown against 2-3 Amherst College.  While the Mammoths own the series record by a wide margin, Colby has won each of the last three contests (+3.6 margin per matchup).