ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine’s football team earned its first opening-game win since 2019 on Friday night.
Jaharie Martin’s 7-yard touchdown run with 10:31 left in the fourth quarter and a vital acrobatic 33-yard reception by Montigo Moss to pick up a first down while the Black Bears were clinging to a three-point lead keyed a 17-14 victory over Colgate University at Alfond Stadium.
UMaine had lost its previous four season-openers.
Quarterback Mike Brescia’s 10-yard run sliced Maine’s lead to 17-14 with 4:27 left but Moss’ catch of a Carter Peevy pass on third-and-eight extended a UMaine drive and Alhaji Kamara’s interception with seven seconds left iced it.
There were just more than two minutes left in the game and Colgate would have gotten the ball back with two timeouts remaining along with a timeout for the two-minute warning implemented in college football this season if Moss hadn’t caught Peevy’s high lofted pass.
He twisted his body and snared the ball with Colgate’s Justin Lawrence draped over him.
“When I first got here in January, they told me Montigo Moss was our jumpball guy,” Peevy said.
UMaine head coach Jordan Stevens called it a “huge play.”
That catch and a 15-yard run by Montana State transfer Jaharie Martin forced Colgate to use up its timeouts.
Colgate was gifted another chance when Peevy couldn’t handle Anthony Iliano’s high snap and Colgate’s Justin Tedim recovered the fumble at the Raider 33-yard line with 57 seconds left.
Kamara’s interception saved the day.
“It was nice to see someone bail someone else out. It’s something we haven’t had here,” said third-year coach Stevens, who was pleased with the win.
“I was really happy that the players could start the season with a win. It’s important for their confidence.”
He felt that other than the fourth-quarter touchdown drive by Colgate, his defense did a great job.
He was also impressed with the offense and special teams and felt it was a total team victory.
Colgate took the lead in the second quarter with a 13-play, 94-yard drive spanning the first and second quarters.
Brendan Cassamajor finished off the drive with a 3-yard run with 11:16 left in the half.
Cassamajor had extended the drive by picking up a first down on a fourth-and-two run that just eked out enough yardage to move the chains.
On the next play, Brescia connected with Winston Moore on a 45-yard pass down to the 3-yard line.
Moore broke a pair of tackles to pick up extra yardage.
The Black Bears responded immediately to tie it with an 11-play, 75-yard drive capped by Peevy’s 8-yard run around left end.
He evaded a tackler at the five and scampered inside the corner flag.
Peevy went 5-for-5 through the air on the drive, including two passes to Cape Elizabeth’s Nick Laughlin for 27 yards.
The Black Bear defense forced a three-and-out on Colgate’s next possession and the offense strung together a 10-play, 58-yard march resulting in Joey Bryson’s 34-yard field goal.
A terrific 26-yard reception by Moss and a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Colgate on the next play moved the ball to the Colgate-25.
Neither team scored in the third period but UMaine defensive ends Xavier Holmes and Chris Bacon sacked Brescia at the Colgate 1-yard line in the fourth quarter and St. Vincent College transfer Mo Irefin returned Shelby Pruett’s 54-yard punt 34 yards to the Colgate-21 to set up Martin’s TD run.
Martin said they sent a message that they want to dominate games physically with the running game and wear teams down.
“We saw [Colgate] tapping out at the end of the game,” said Martin, who praised the offensive line for creating holes for the running backs.
Colgate head coach Stan Dakosty called Martin a “big, physical kid.”
He thought his Colgate team “played hard to the end. But we came up short. It was a good battle.”
Mercer University transfer Peevy said the offense has some things to clean up “but, overall, I was happy with how we played.”
Peevy completed 16 of 21 passes for 186 yards in his Black Bear debut. Moss caught five passes for 84 yards, Jamie Lamson caught four for 19 yards and Laughlin snared three for 38.
Martin carried the ball 15 times for a career-high 66 yards and Brian Santana-Fis had nine carries for 40 yards.
Linebacker Christian Thomas had eight tackles to pace the defense. Holmes had seven and linebacker Jabari Odoemenem had six.
Brescia ran for 61 yards on 13 carries for Colgate and completed 17 of 27 passes for 174 yards. Brady Hutchison caught five passes for 72 yards and last year’s top receiver, Treyvhon Saunders, had four for 32 before leaving the game due to injury in the second half.
Saunders caught 68 passes last season.
Linebacker Cole Kozlowski had a game-high 10 tackles for the Raiders.
Free safety Asauni Allen had seven and linebacker Christian Sweeney had six.
UMaine will travel to Montana State for an 8 p.m. game on Saturday while Colgate will host Villanova at 6.