Anthony Cancellare threw three touchdown passes and ran for another as the Chestnut Hill college Sprint Football team outlasted Caldwell University 42-35 to win their first game of the season Saturday night at Caldwell's Bonnel field in West Caldwell, New Jersey.
The Griffins improve to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in the CSFL South Division. The Cougars are also 1-1 overall and 0-1 in the CSFL South.
Chestnut Hill  produced 449 yards of total offense, the majority of which was made by Cancellare, who completed 13 of 24 passes for 277 yards and three touchdowns, including a 74-yard catch by Kyree Griffin.  He also scored a touchdown on an eight yard run.
Griffin has three catches for 88 yards while Aiden Neff led the team with four catches for 91 yards. Lawrence Howard V ran for 94 yards on ten carries while Xavier Limehouse had 82 yards rushing and ran for two touchdowns and caught a third. His three touchdowns tie a school record for touchdowns scored in a game. The record was first set by Reggie Robinson in 2018 and equaled by Howard last season.
On the defensive end, Lex Williams recorded ten tackles to lead all players. Justin Oppong added seven while Cam Goldsmith had six, including a pair of quarterback sacks.
Chestnut Hill found themselves trailing by one 35-34 with 8:47 left in the final quarter as Caldwell took possession on downs on their own 37. After some modest advances, the Cougars started going backwards thanks to the Griffins defense and penalties ending their drive 16 yards behind where they first began, backed up to their own 21 before punting the ball.
The Griffins took over on their own 39 yard line with just 4:22 left. Limehouse ran the ball four times for 19 yards to move into Caldwell territory as the two minute warning was reached. Two plays later Cancellare found Neff open for a 40-yard completion to bring up first-and-goal from the four yard line. Two plays later Limehouse ran the ball in for the go-ahead touchdown and the team completed the two-point conversion to lead 42-35 with just 1:05 left.
Caldwell was called for an illegal block on the kickoff return and started from their own 13 yard line. The Cougars were driving and entered Griffin territory before a holding penalty set them back to their own 49. Goldsmith then picked up his final sack of the night for a five yard loss as the clock ran out.
It was the Griffins who opened the scoring in the first quarter with a seven play-52 yard drive that saw Limehouse score the first of his two touchdowns with a five yard run into the endzone. Brady Reynolds made the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
The Cougars tied the game at 7-7  early in the second quarter before Cancellare put the Griffins back on top 14-7 with an eight yard touchdown run. Howard had a 49-yard rush to open the drive.
Caldwell answered with two straight scores before the end of the half to lead 21-14 at halftime.
The Griffins answered with the tying scored on the opening drive of the third quarter in big fashion as Griffin made a 74-yard reception for a touchdown on CHC's second play of the drive, tying the score at 21-21.
A 10-yard touchdown pass from Cancellare to Limehouse pit the Griffins back on top 27-21. With 9:23 left in the third quarter.
The two teams exchanged scores as the quarter progressed with Cancellare completing a seven yard toss to Winday Dawson for the score and a 34-28 lead. The lead was short lived as the Cougars scored on their next possession as the fourth quarter commenced and the Griffins found themselves trailing 35-34. Two possessions later, Chestnut Hill scored their final touchdown of the game and held off the Cougars one last time to hang on for the win.
The sprint football team will return to action on Friday October 4, 2025, when they travel to Ithaca, New York to take on Cornell University. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
