HARTFORD, Conn. -  First-year RB Tyler DiNapoli (West Haven, Conn.) totaled 189 yards and two touchdowns rushing and receiving to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 19-7 victory over the visiting Colby College Mules in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) football action this afternoon on Jessee/Miller Field at Tansill Muldoon Stadium.  Trinity, playing in its home opener, improves to 2-0 to share top spot in the conference with Middlebury.  Colby drops to 1-1 with its 14th consecutive loss to the Bantams, a streak that dates back to 1995.  Trinity visits Amherst on Saturday, October 1 in its next game and Colby hosts Bates the same day.  It was an emotional Homecoming game for the Bantams, who had a moment of silence prior to kickoff to remember former All-NESCAC LB Avon Morgan '06 who passed away this summer.  Governor Ned Lamont declared today to be Avon Morgan Day in the State of Connecticut.

The first half ended scoreless, as the defenses forced five punts and Colby stopped Trinity on 4th-and-goal at the Mule one-yard line.  The Bantam offense pushed into the Colby zone twice, but sophomore Matt Jumes (Franklin, Mass.) missed a 36-yard field goal in the first quarter and Colby's Nick Donatio stopped Trinity junior RB Colin McCabe (Madison, Conn.) for a one-yard loss on the fourth down play at the Colby goal line.  Trinity had driven the ball 98 yards from its own one-yard line to Colby's, highlighted by a 43-yard pass from senior QB Spencer Fetter (Winter Park, Fla.) to DiNapoli.

Colby struck first on the opening drive of the second half, marching 75 yards on 10 plays and taking advantage of a Bantam pass interference call and a razzle dazzle pass from Brendan Sawyer to Jack Sawyer that gained 36 yards.  Mule QB Matt Hersch connected with Keon Smart for a 13-yard gain to the Bantam one-yard line on a 3rd-and-13 play and then scored on a quarterback sneak with 9:40 left in the third quarter.  Trinity answered with its own 75-yard drive to paydirt, as Fetter found WR DeVante Reid (London, England) on a 25-yard pass early in the possession and TE Thomas Walsh (Pelham, N.Y.) on the 27-yard connection for the touchdown with 6:06 left in the third frame. 

Colby botched a punt to give Trinity the ball on the Mule 26-yard line moments later and Fetter passed to DiNapoli for the go-ahead score from 11 yards out at the 3:34 mark of the third.  Trinity scored an insurance touchdown early in the fourth quarter with a 78-yard drive ending with a two-yard plunge into the end zone by DiNapoli, but a missed PAT and an unsuccessful two-point try made the final score, 19-7.  Colby pushed from its own 25-yard line to the Trinity one-yard line but Bantam junior LB Luca de Lancellotti (Santa Ana, Calif.) forced Hersch to rush the play and his completed pass to Smart was ruled out of bounds.  The Bantams used up the rest of the game clock, taking 9:17 to run 13 plays before time expired.

DiNapoli rushed 29 times for 130 yards and caught three passes for a team-high 59 yards, while Reid added 51 receiving yards.  Fetter completed 19 of 25 passes for 229 yards and two scores.  Hersch was 9-for-20 for 123 yards, while Smart caught five passes for 45 yards but was held to 11 rushes for 20 yards.  Colby totaled just 39 rushing yards and averaged only 1.6 yards per attempt.  Captain Brian Casagrande (Madison, Conn.) led the Bantam tacklers with seven (five solo), while fellow captain Aidan Kennedy (East Longmeadow, Mass.) added six tackles, and senior CB Darren Warren (West Haven, Conn.) broke up three passes.  Colby's Mark Dougherty had a game-high nine tackles, while Nick Donatio and Julian Young added seven apiece.  Lowell Carr averaged 47 yards on four punts for the Mules.