Christopher Newport completed its first unbeaten regular season in football program history, defeating The College of New Jersey 27-7 Friday night in Ewing.
Colin Hart became the all-time receptions leader for a program that began competition in 2001, catching seven passes for 101 yards. Connor Barry, an All-American candidate at quarterback, was 18 of 26 for 201 yards and two touchdowns, as well as running for 33 yards and a TD on seven carries.
Gunner White caught a TD pass and ran for 83 yards on 19 carries.
Coach Paul Crowley’s Captains (10-0, 7-0 New Jersey Athletic Conference), ranked seventh by d3football.com, have won 15 games in a row, dating to last season. They will learn their playoff bracket when the 40-team field is released at 5 p.m. Sunday on NCAA.com. They are expected to get a first-round bye and could get a home game in the round of 32.
CNU’s Zavier Kennedy ran for a 2-yard touchdown with 7:20 left in the second quarter, breaking a scoreless tie, after the Captains had driven 88 yards on 19 plays but come up short on the previous possession.
After CNU’s defense forced a three-and-out, less than three minutes later, Barry threw an 11-yard TD pass to Josh Powell for a 14-0 halftime edge. Barry’s 2-yard TD run on the first possession of the third quarter made it 21-0.
Joe Visaggio, who led the Lions with 104 yards on 18 carries, ended CNU’s shutout bid with a 17-yard touchdown run up the middle with 10:44 left in the fourth quarter. It capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive.
Barry’s 3-yard throw to White with 1:54 left in the contest capped the scoring.
