Milton, MA – The Curry Football team took down Nichols in record fashion on Saturday, beating the Bison 71-27. The Colonels are now 5-1 on the season, and 3-0 in CNE play, while the Bison are 2-4 and 2-1.

The game was all about one player, with that player being Curry running back Montie Quinn. The All-American ran for an NCAA record 522 yards, and a program record seven touchdowns, all on just 20 carries. The senior had eight rushes of over 25 yards, including touchdown runs of 85, 84, 76, 64, 58, and 30 yards. His other TD was a two-yard run, which was set up by a 43 yard run two plays earlier.

After the game, head coach Todd Parsons reflected on Quinn's achievement, saying "what Montie did today was nothing short of amazing. Breaking the NCAA rushing record is a monumental achievement." Parsons, who's first year at Curry coincided with Quinn's freshman year continued by saying that "I think he'd be the first to tell you, records like this don't happen alone. Our Offensive Line played lights out, our receivers blocked downfield, and our quarterback made great decisions."

Saying exactly what his coach said he would, Quinn gave all the credit to his teammates and coaches. "I'm just humbled and grateful. Breaking the record is something I never imagined coming into today," Quinn said. "The O-Line was dominating all game; receivers were blocking like crazy and coaches put us in position to make plays. This belongs to all of us; I just happened to be the one carrying the ball"

As for the game itself, the Colonels scored first on a 27-yard FG by Omar Aboutoui on the first drive of the game. The Colonels thought they had a stop on the Nichols drive that came after, but a roughing the punter penalty kept the Nichols offense on the field. They would take advantage of the Colonel mistake, and score a TD to make in 7-3. But that would be very short lived, as Montie Quinn scored on a 64-yard TD rush less than a minute later making 10-7.  That was just the beginning of what turned out to be a historic day for Quinn.

Quinn would then score twice in the second quarter, on a 30-yard TD rush, which was then followed by a 76-yard TD rush, making it 24-7. The Bison would score with two minutes left in the half, but the Colonels would respond less than a minute later, again, this time on a 37-yard TD pass from Anthony Santino to Wesley Williams, making it 31-13 at the break. Quinn ended the half with 217 yards and three TD.

After not playing in the second half of three straight blowouts, Quinn made the most of his "extra" playing time this week. He opened the second half with an 84-yard rushing TD on the Colonels first offensive play of the second half. This gave him 301 yards and four TDs, just minutes into the second half, and officially put everyone on record watch. After another Bison touchdown, Quinn struck again, this time for a 58-yard touchdown, making it 45-20. At this point, Quinn was just 20 yards away from breaking his own school record for rushing yards in a game, which he set in last year's matchup against Nichols, when he rushed for 381 yards.

Nichols would score again on a long pass to make it 45-27 with just under four minutes remaining in the third quarter. After the kickoff, everybody's attention then moved back to Quinn, who would break his own program record with a 28-yard rush. Two plays later he became the first player in program history to break 400-yards, doing so on a 43-yard rush. He then scored his 6^th touchdown of the day on a 2-yard rush with less than a minute left in the third quarter. With that TD he broke the program record for touchdowns in a game, previously set by Mike Waithe in 1987, when he scored five TDs. After three quarters he sat at 435 yards and six TDS. With the score 51-27, and the game in hand, the only question became what would Quinn do next, and would he break the NCAA record. After a Nichols drive to start the fourth quarter stalled out at the Curry 15-yard line, Quinn took one final handoff, and ran it all 85-yards to the endzone, giving him 522 rushing yards on the day, and seven TDs. That would be his last carry of the game.

After Quinn's day was done, the Colonels continued to pile it on. Both Jordan Depina and Nathaniel Zachery had their own TD runs of 55-yards and 15-yards respectively. Zachery's TD pushed the Colonels past a program record they had been flirting with for the past month, as they broke the program record for points in a game, previously set in a 65-13 win over Salve Regina in 2004. The Colonels would win this one 71-27.

Not only did Quinn break the DIII NCAA record for rushing yards in a game, he ran for the most yards by anyone to ever play a collegiate football game, at any division. He became the first player ever to rush for over 500 yards in a game.

For comparison, the previous NCAA DIII record was held by Cartel Brooks, who ran for 465 yards on 38 attempts for Heidelberg (OH) in 2013. The DII record is held by Connor Silveria, who ran for 425 yards on 46 attempts for South Dakota Mines in 2018. The DI FCS record is held by Maurice Hicks, who ran for 437 yards on 34 attempts for North Carolina A&T in 2001. The DI FBS record is held by Samaje Perine, who ran for 427 yards on 34 carries for Oklahoma in 2014.

Quinn bested all of them, rushing for 522 yards on just 20 carries, averaging 26.1 yards per carry.

With his seven touchdowns on the day, Quinn tied Raphael Zammit for the most career total touchdowns in program history. Quinn has 53 rushing touchdowns (a program record), a receiving TD, and a kickoff return TD. With 17 rushing touchdowns on the season, he has set a new career high, and is just one short on the program record, set by Zammit in 2002.

Up next – The Colonels will once again play at home next week, as they host Western New England at 12pm.