BRUNSWICK, Maine -- Senior Brendan Costa threw for four touchdowns in the second half and the Bates football team twice erased a 10-point deficit to win 25-24 at Bowdoin Saturday night at Whittier Field, in the 123rd meeting between the rivals.

Bates (2-6) won for the ninth time in the past 10 matchups with Bowdoin (1-7), behind a hobbled but gritty defense and some big passing plays from Costa, who turned just nine completions on 26 attempts into 213 yards and four scores. Senior Christian Olivieri (Hull, Mass.) caught three passes for 109 yards and a touchdown, while senior Jackson Hayes (San Marino, Calif) had three catches for 83 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Derek Marino (Marblehead, Mass.) caught a 5-yard toss from a scrambling Costa to score the go-ahead touchdown with 3:08 left in the fourth quarter.

Bowdoin drove 68 yards to set up a would-be game-winning 28-yard field goal attempt by Sean Mitchell that missed wide left of the goalpost, setting off a celebration for the Bobcats and their considerable contingent of fans.

Bowdoin's pass rush stymied Bates' offense in the first half, consistently giving Costa (Westport, Mass.) little time to throw. The Bobcats managed just three first downs in the first half, two of them on 20-yard-plus runs by Costa. Meanwhile the Polar Bears mounted two 63-yard scoring drives for the 10-0 lead at intermission. Bowdoin's second drive of the game featured a balanced mix of 12 plays (five rushes, seven passes) and ended in a 29-yard field goal by Mitchell. The Polar Bears forced a Bates punt and then drove 63 yards again on seven plays, capped by a 1-yard plunge into the end zone by Andre Eden.

After Bowdoin's initial offensive success, Bates held the Polar Bears to three and out on their next four drives as the game settled into a battle of defense and field position.

Bates and Costa broke up the punting battle on their second possession of the third quarter, when Costa found Olivieri down the left sideline with a bomb that traveled 55 yards in the air. Olivieri outleaped his defender to catch the ball at the 15 and ran it in. Sophomore Archie Green Jr. (Upland, Calif.) kicked the extra point to make it 10-7 with 10:46 to go in the third.

A pair of penalties helped stunt Bowdoin's ensuing drive, and the Polar Bears turned the ball over on downs at the Bates 43. A roughing the passer penalty against Bowdoin on 4th and 1 kept the Bobcats' next drive alive, and two plays later they took their first lead as Costa found Hayes on a beautiful 33-yard fade into the end zone. The snap on the extra point was mishandled, leaving the score at 13-10.

Bowdoin responded with its first scoring drive since the first quarter. The Polar Bears got a first down with three straight carries by Eden, then quarterback Andrew Boel found Colton Fahey for a 55-yard connection over the middle, where he was brought down by senior Jose Calleja (Secane, Pa.) at the 8-yard line. With two handoffs to Eden and the extra point, Bowdoin regained the lead at 17-13 with 1:01 left to play in the third quarter.

Bowdoin's momentum grew as the Polar Bears forced the Bobcats to punt and then took their second 10-point lead of the game via a 12-play, 62-yard drive that took 5:39 of game clock and ended on five successive carries by Eden, who scored from a yard out with 9:09 to go. Mitchell's extra point made it 24-13. 

Trailing by 10 points, Bates surprisingly turned to a ground attack to move into scoring position, with a 20-yard run by Costa followed by runs of 16 and 11 yards by senior Garrett Evans (Sauquoit, N.Y.). On 2nd and 9 from the Bowdoin 22, Costa again found Hayes with another perfectly thrown fade in the right corner of the end zone. A two-point passing attempt by Costa failed, keeping the score at 24-19. 

Bates held Bowdoin a to three and out, as junior Tony Hooks (New Rochelle, N.Y.) stopped Eden for a 1-yard loss, and that was followed by a false start penalty and an incomplete pass by Boel on 3rd and 11. Andrew Rowader punted, and Olivieri called for the fair catch at the Bowdoin 43. 

On Bates' first play of the drive, Costa found Olivieri with a 50-yard bomb to Olivieri down the right sideline. The play gave Costa Bates' record for passing yards in a season, as he passed Hugo Colasante's former mark of 1,636 from 1977. Costa finished the game with 1,680 yards on the season. He also rushed 14 times for a team-high 73 yards, and increased his own team record for total offense in a season to 2,063 yards.

After a handoff to senior Caleb Bolden (Dover, N.H.) netted two more yards, Costa scrambled to his right under hot pursuit from two Bowdoin pass rushers and found Marino open in the back of the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown, making it 25-24. The score remained there after a failed two-point conversion.

On Bowdoin's final few drives, the Bobcats' injury-riddled defense featured a backup quarterback playing safety in sophomore Park Penrod (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and a backup offensive lineman playing nose tackle in first-year Paul Larrabee (Gloucester, Mass.). But Bates crucially held Bowdoin out of the end zone and held on as Mitchell's kick sailed wide.

Boel completed 21-34 passes for 267 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions, and also rushed for 54 yards. Eden rushed for 104 yards and three touchdowns, while Fahey caught seven passes for 121 yards.

Senior safety Anthony Costa (West Springfield, Mass.) led Bates in tackles with 10, while junior cornerback Mohamed Coulibaly (Philadelphia, Pa.) added nine and Hooks had eight. 

Bowdoin had a 440-328 advantage in total offense, 20-12 in first downs and 40:53-19:07 in time of possession. There were no turnovers in the game on either side. Bates won despite a 1-for-11 third-down conversion rate while Bowdoin was 8-18.

Bates finishes the 2021 season at home against Hamilton (2-6) Saturday, Nov. 13 at 12pm.