Brandon Colon '08	Ron DiGravio '08
Tom Beaton '10	Matt Gregg '10
Anthony Begon '08	Graham Raymond '08

WATERVILLE, Maine -- Justin Candon (Rutland, Vt.) caught nine passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns as the Colby College football team held on for a 20-13 win over rival Bates College on Saturday at Seaverns Field.

The Mules move to 1-5 on the season and move into position for a chance at the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin (CBB) Championship. Bates falls to 0-6 and will play host to Bowdoin College next Saturday.

On a messy day with a steady rain, Bates scored with 3:36 left in the fourth quarter to cut the margin to 20-13. After a failed on-side kick, the Bobcats held and forced Colby to punt with 1:57 left in the game. Bates took over on its own 9-yard line and managed to get to Colby's 25-yard line before the Mules batted away a pass on the goal line as time ran out.

Candon was the difference offensively for Colby with two touchdowns to give the Mules a 13-0 lead. He scored on a 15-yard pass play from Billy Ryan (Madison, Conn.) with 7:17 left in the first quarter to cap an 87-yard drive and give Colby a 6-0 lead at halftime (the extra point attempt was missed).

Candon's next touchdown came from 3 yards out from Ryan with 9:06 left in the third quarter to put the finishing touches on a 14-play, 67-yard drive.

Bates battled back with a 44-yard drive in six plays that was capped off by a 1-yard scoring run by senior quarterback Brandon Colon (Manchester, N.H.) with 2:20 remaining in the third quarter.

Colby running back Chris Bashaw (Rutland, Mass.) helped set up his own touchdown to give the Mules a 20-6 lead. Bashaw caught a 32-yard pass from Ryan to get the ball to the 3-yard line of Bates. He then crashed in over the top two plays later from 2 yards out.

The Bobcats once again got back in the game when Colon drove his team 82 yards in 12 plays and hit sophomore wide receiver Tom Beaton (West Newbury, Mass.) on a 7-yard scoring pass with 3:36 left.

Colby's defense gave up a chunk of yards on the Bobcats' final drive, and the Bobcats made it as far as the Colby 25-yard line on a fourth-and-1 with four seconds left. But defensive back Richard Newton (Arlington, Mass.) batted down Colon's final pass at the goal line to preserve Colby's victory.

Ryan threw for 168 yards and the two touchdowns, while Patrick Burns (Charles Town, W.V.) also threw for 50 yards for the Mules. Bashaw ran for 49 yards and had the 32-yard pass reception.

Colon completed 21 passes for 257 yards for Bates, and set the Bates record for career pass attempts, passing Dan Hooley '97's previous mark of a week after setting the Bates career yardage record and four weeks after setting Bates' career completions record. Colon now has 884 career attempts, 416 completions and 4,769 yards.

Sophomore Matt Gregg (Milton, Mass.) caught seven balls for 93 yards and Beaton had four catches for 79 yards.

John Murphy (Hingham, Mass.) led Colby's defense with 10 tackles. Tom Daley (North Bridgton, Maine) had eight stops, while Kevin Bird (Dover, N.H.) had two sacks among his four tackles.

Ron DiGravio (Farmington, Maine) led Bates with 10 tackles (3 for loss). Seniors Anthony Begon (Peabody, Mass.) and Graham Raymond (Westfield, Mass.) both had nine stops, with Begon recording his third sack of the season.

BOX SCORE: Colby 20, Bates 13