LEWISTON, Maine -- Senior Christian Olivieri tallied a pair of touchdown catches but the visiting Trinity College Bantams spoiled the Bates football team's Senior Day, defeating the Bobcats 63-14 Saturday afternoon at Garcelon Field. 

Trinity (8-0) remained undefeated on the season and clinched at least a share of the conference championship with the victory. The Bobcats (2-6) have a chance to break out of a five-way tie for sixth place next week when they travel to Hamilton for the season finale. Kickoff is set for 12pm.

The Bantams gained 571 yards of total offense and held Bates to 207 total yards in the contest. Trinity's Spencer Fetter completed 24-32 passes for 362 yards and three touchdowns. Tyler DiNapoli had a big day on the ground, carrying the ball 17 times for 125 yards and three touchdowns. Cal Messina added nine carries for 45 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Sean Clapp was Fetter's favorite target, finishing with seven catches for 125 yards and a touchdown. DeVante Reid added four catches for 97 yards and a score.

Olivieri (Hull, Mass.) paced the Bobcats with five catches for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Reza Badiee (La Jolla, Calif.) had a strong day for Bates as well, with eight carries for 66 yards, averaging 8.3 yards per carry. Sophomore Colton Bosselait (Westminster, Mass.) completed nine of 20 passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns. The Bantams picked off Bosselait three times on the afternoon.

Defensively, senior captain Tony Hooks (New Rochelle, N.Y.) led the way with a game-high 16 tackles, including six solo stops and a tackle for loss. Fellow seniors Jose Calleja (Secane, Pa.) and Thomas Formus (Ridgefield, Conn.) had big days as well, with Calleja tallying 13 total tackles, including four solo stops and a half sack. Formus intercepted a Fetter pass, broke up three passes, hurried the QB once, and tallied eight tackles, including three solo stops and 1.5 tackles for loss. First-year Jackson Collins (Glen Ridge, N.J.) sacked Fetter once and finished with three total tackles. Senior Jack Ryan (Henderson, Nev.) hurried the QB twice and sophomore Finn Duffey (Scituate, Mass.) recorded a half sack. Senior Spencer Adams (Bedford, N.H.) forced a fumble but the Bantams were able to recover. 

Brian Casagrande led Trinity with six tackles, including two solo stops. The Bobcats kept Bosselait upright all game as Trinity did not record a sack. 

Third downs were a big difference in the game, with Trinity converting on 11 of 15 chances and Bates struggling to a 1-9 mark on the day. Trinity was also 1-2 on fourth down and 6-7 in the red zone.

The game did not start well for Bates as Bosselait tried to find Olivieri on a go route on the first play from scrimmage and Aidan Kennedy intercepted the pass, returning it 51 yards to the Bates nine. The Bantams made their lives a little more difficult with a bad snap that resulted in a loss of 15 yards. But Fetter was not bothered, finding Clapp on the next play for a 24-yard touchdown.

A second interception by the Bantams, this one by Tyler Jameson, set them up at the Bates 32. After a penalty against the Bobcats moved the ball to the 27, DiNapoli ran it in from there for the 14-0 Trinity lead, despite only having possessed the ball for a little more than a minute of action to that point. 

The Bobcats went three-and-out, and Trinity got good field position at their own 47. The Bantams went on a 13-play, 53-yard drive, eating up 6:10 off the clock and culminating in a Messina one-yard rushing touchdown on third and goal, giving them a 21-0 lead through one quarter.

Bates held Trinity to just seven points in the second quarter, but failed to get on the scoreboard, so Trinity took a 28-0 advantage into the intermission.

The Bantams went up 35-0 on their first possession of the third quarter, when DiNapoli punched it in from two yards out, capping off a six-play, 75-yard drive.

But Bates got on the board on the Bobcats' next possession. On second and six from the 29, Bosselait fired a pass to his right that hit Olivieri, who then separated himself from his defender and out-ran the Trinity defense 71 yards for the touchdown, trimming the Bantam lead to 35-7 with 11:12 remaining in the third.

Trinity's offense had the answer though, scoring three unanswered touchdowns to go up 56-7 entering the fourth quarter.

The Bantams extended the lead to 63-7 midway through the fourth quarter on a Zander Zebrowski seven-yard rushing touchdown. Then Bates tallied the final score of the day, as a 45 yard rush by Badiee set up a 28-yard touchdown strike from Bosselait to Olivieri, for the latter's second touchdown catch of the game and team-leading sixth of the season.

Bates honored 20 seniors before Saturday's contest, many of whom have spent five years at Bates, coming back this year for their extra season of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 20 seniors are: Adams, Badiee, running back Jack Bryant (Falmouth, Maine), wide receiver and team captain Sean Bryant (Falmouth, Maine), Calleja, All-NESCAC defensive back Mohamed Coulibaly (Philadelphia, Pa.), wide receiver Mohamed Diawara (Philadelphia, Pa.), offensive lineman Nick Florio (Beachwood, N.J.), Formus, wide receiver Jackson Hayes (San Marino, Calif.), Hooks, safety Quinn Kieselowsky (Blairstown, N.J.), offensive lineman Brendan Lovett (Abington, Mass.), Olivieri, offensive lineman Jake Parsons (Belmont, Mass.), student manager Cade Rose (Boston, Mass.), Ryan, defensive back Owen Straley (Norwell, Mass.), offensive lineman Cameron Winslow (Winslow, Maine), and offensive lineman Quinn Woods (Minot, Maine).