Columbia Raiders defeat Brooklyn, 49-13, keeping playoff hopes alive

by Dave Alligood

COLUMBIA STATION, OHIO– As the Columbia Raiders sought to keep their playoff hopes alive, they did their part in a 49-13 victory over the visiting Brooklyn Hurricanes Friday night at Southwest General Stadium.

Senior tailback Adam Alten was too much to handle for the Brooklyn defense, running for a game-high 134 yards on 18 carries with three touchdowns on Columbia’s Senior Night.

Alten scored first-half touchdowns of one and 10 yards, and then capped the scoring with his longest run of the night, a 28-yard TD in the third quarter.

Columbia completely dominated on offense in the first half, gaining 255 yards of offense—including 146 yards on the ground—as their defense held the Brooklyn offense to no points and a net offensive total of zero yards.

Junior quarterback Jared Bycznski connected on four-of-eight passes for 99 yards and two touchdowns in the half. He did not play in the second half.

Brooklyn’s only first-half score occurred on an 89-yard kickoff return by senior Joey Sullivan.

With Columbia commanding a 43-7 lead at the half, the game resumed with a running clock for the final two quarters.

Besides Alten’s second-half touchdown run, the only other scoring happened when Brooklyn senior quarterback Matt Crossman hit a streaking Logan Hennings for a 21-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter.

Crossman finished the game 5-of-14 for 93 yards passing with the touchdown pass to Hennings and two interceptions.

Joey Sullivan managed a net of eight tough yards rushing on 12 carries, while senior Yamil Rivera also provided positive yards with a 44-yard reception and 36-yard run in the second half.

Columbia’s other scores in the game came on a 12-yard touchdown run by Jared Bycznski and a 15-yard touchdown run by junior tailback Ben Alten.

For the game, Columbia out-gained Brooklyn 305 yards to 116 yards.

Brooklyn is now 2-6 overall and 0-3 in conference play, while Columbia improves to 5-3 and 2-1 in the conference.

Brooklyn hosts Oberlin next Friday in their final home game, while Columbia goes on the road to face Fairview.

Player of the Game:

Senior TB Adam Alten scored 3 touchdowns on Senior Night to help power the Raider offense. While most of his runs were obtained by pounding the Brooklyn defensive line, he saved his best for last with a third-quarter 28-yard scamper to put the icing on the cake for the final score.