Brandon Colon '08	Sean Wirth '10
Coleman Peeke '09	Bill Jennings '10
Tom Beaton '10	Matt Gregg '10
Ron DiGravio '08	Anthony Begon '08
Matt Lopez '08	Kyle McAllister '10

CLINTON, N.Y. -- Senior quarterback Brandon Colon (Manchester, N.H.) threw for 235 yards and hit sophomore tight end Sean Wirth (Barrington, R.I.) for two touchdowns as Bates notched a 17-16 victory at Hamilton in the season finale Saturday at Steuben Field.

It is Bates' fourth consecutive win against Hamilton, and the second straight year that Bates finished 1-7 while dropping the Continentals to 2-6.

Hamilton got on the board first early in the second quarter when Mark Snickenberger capped a 14-play, 85-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. Snickenberger finished with a game-high 50 yards on 20 carries.

In perhaps the season's strangest and biggest play for Bates, the ensuing extra point was blocked by Bates junior Coleman Peeke (Exeter, N.H.), Peeke's third blocked kick this season, and returned for a defensive PAT by sophomore Bill Jennings (Marshfield, Mass.) to make the score 6-2.

Hamilton extended its lead to 13-2 with 8:22 remaining in the second quarter when it converted a Bates fumble into a 13-yard touchdown pass from senior Dan Hood  to Jim Chapman. George Taylor converted the PAT.

With no time remaining in the first half, Colon drew Bates closer with a scrambling, 30-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass to the 6-foot-7 Wirth. Colon's two-point pass to sophomore Tom Beaton (West Newbury, Mass.) was good to make the score 13-10 at the half.

Taylor kicked a 21-yard field goal at the 5:58 mark of the third quarter to push the Continentals' lead to 16-10.

But Colon answered again for the Bobcats. After a 40-yard kick return by Jennings started the Bobcat offense at the 50, Colon completed 5-of-8 passes, finally hitting Wirth with a fade pass into the corner of the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown to tie the score with 1:22 remaining in the third quarter. Wirth had four catches for 41 yards and finished the season with a team-high four touchdown receptions out of 14 total catches. The PAT by sophomore Andrew Johnson (Naples, Fla.) provided the winning margin.

Hamilton's last chance at a comeback ended with an illegal procedure penalty on receiver Rich Kohnke, who appeared to catch Hood's first-down pass late in the fourth quarter but was flagged for exiting and then reentering the field to catch the ball.

Colon ended up 21-for-37 passing. Beaton had a game-high seven catches and 93 yards. Sophomore WR Matt Gregg (Milton, Mass.) added six catches for 83 yards. Defensively, the Bobcats were led by nine tackles from senior Ron DiGravio (Farmington, Maine) and seven apiece from seniors Todd Wilcox (Brentwood, N.H.), Anthony Begon (Peabody, Mass.), Graham Raymond (Westfield, Mass.) and Matt Lopez (Lexington, Mass.). Two of Begon's tackles were sacks, totaling losses of 13 yards. Sophomore Kyle McAllister (Exeter, N.H.) intercepted his team-high sixth pass of the season.

Hood was 17-for-37 passing for 187 yards for the Continentals. Kohnke had six catches for 71 yards, and Maxwell Foster added four receptions for 41 yards. Defensively, Matt Pitarresi had a game-high 13 tackles for the Continentals, including 10 solo stops. He also forced two fumbles and broke up a pass. Will Finan intercepted a pass and returned it 37 yards.

Taking part in their final games for Bates were seniors Begon, Tim Casey (West Newbury, Mass.), Colon, DiGravio, Brian Machunski (Walpole, Mass.), David Philbrook (Portland, Maine), Raymond, Raoul Scott (Newton, Mass.), Kevin Reyes (North Andover, Mass.), Ross Van Horn (North Arlington, N.J.), Wilcox and Ryan Wimberly (Sudbury, Mass.).

Colon finished the season with 119 completions out of 246 attempts, with 1,390 passing yards. He ends his career with the all-time Bates records in all three of those categories, with totals of 453 completions, 949 passes and 5,162 yards.

Beaton finished the year with 877 all-purpose yards, the highest total for a Bobcat since Sean Atkins '03 had 1,085 in 2002.

BOX SCORE: Bates 17, Hamilton 16