ALBANY (Interstat) — Kai Colon accounted for three touchdowns and Albany used a fast start and a timely defensive score to beat Campbell 45-35 in an NCAA Football Championship Division game Saturday at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium. A crowd of 3,301 saw the host Great Danes improve to 6-3 while the visiting Fightin Camels fell to 7-2.

Albany’s defense produced the first points when Campbell’s JJ Cowan fumbled at the Albany 23 and Dillon Dunathan recovered and returned it 77 yards for a touchdown. Brayden Heitmeyer added the extra point. Campbell answered with Cowan’s 1-yard touchdown run, but Albany regained control on Colon’s 14-yard scoring run and Rahshan La Mons’ 63-yard touchdown burst. La Mons finished with 14 carries for 119 yards and a score, and he also returned a kickoff 13 yards. The Great Danes carried a 21-7 lead after the first quarter.

Campbell’s Kamden Sixkiller completed 27 of 44 passes for 271 yards and two touchdowns. The 6-foot-4, 180-pound quarterback hit Aaryn Tate for a 40-yard touchdown in the second quarter and Chinua Ezeigbo for a 27-yard score in the third. Ezeigbo finished with seven catches for 110 yards and a touchdown, Tate had four catches for 64 yards and a score, Christian Campbell had six catches for 37 yards, Jyron Waiters had four catches for 35 yards, Evan Austin had three catches for 27 yards, and Brady Ambrose had one catch for 16 yards.

Albany answered Sixkiller’s first touchdown pass when Colon found Daniel Growney for a 24-yard score. Heitmeyer’s 44-yard field goal pushed the Great Danes’ lead to 31-14, but Cowan’s second 1-yard touchdown run trimmed the margin to 31-21 at halftime. Cowan finished with 11 carries for 97 yards and three touchdowns, and he added two catches for 21 yards. Jon Gullette had six carries for 8 yards, four catches for 14 yards, four kickoff returns for 53 yards and one punt return for 26 yards. Growney finished with two catches for 36 yards and a touchdown.

The third quarter turned on Albany’s defense when Jamari Young intercepted Sixkiller and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown, stretching the lead to 38-21. Young added three tackles to his interception return score. Campbell responded when Sixkiller connected with Ezeigbo for 27 yards, cutting the Albany lead to 38-28. The Fightin Camels kept coming in the fourth quarter, and Cowan’s 41-yard touchdown run brought Campbell within 38-35 with 13:13 remaining.

Albany then delivered the decisive answer, with Colon hitting BJ Norman for a 16-yard touchdown with 1:46 left. Norman caught eight passes for 99 yards and a score. Colon completed 15 of 28 passes for 214 yards and two touchdowns, rushed eight times for 16 yards and a touchdown, and helped the Great Danes close out the game. Aidan Semo completed his only pass for 5 yards and rushed twice for 9 yards. Joey Koch had 12 carries for 30 yards and one catch for 21 yards, Tavahri Groves had a 28-yard reception, Matthew Iuvara had a 17-yard catch, Luke McAuliffe had two catches for 13 yards, and Nick Petrillo had one catch for 5 yards.

Albany’s Shawan Lewis led the defensive effort with seven tackles, 3.5 sacks and two quarterback hurries. Jeremiah Pruitt had seven tackles and a quarterback hurry, Donny Jones had seven tackles, Dana Johnson Jr. had five tackles, Dillon Dunathan had four tackles, and Jamari Young had three tackles and the interception return for a touchdown. For Campbell, AJ Benton had five tackles and an interception, Charles Battaglia had six tackles and a quarterback hurry, Logan Wright had five tackles, O’Marion Lewis had five tackles, Ravel Cato had four tackles, Ebenezer Bedada had four tackles and a sack, Jordan Jones had four tackles and three quarterback hurries, Kareem Williams had three tackles and a sack, Michael Gilliam had three tackles and a quarterback hurry, and Tavales Curry had three tackles. Gavin Harris, Kaleb Simpkins and DaVonyae Pettis each added three tackles, with Pettis also recording a quarterback hurry. Landon Sargent had two tackles, while Evan Spivey, Keynan Richardson-Cook, Kyle Nguyen, Michael McGill, Justin Garza and Jack Butler each had one tackle.

Campbell’s special teams were led by Brandon Bowman, who punted three times for 132 yards. Albany’s Gavin Myers punted twice for 111 yards. The Great Danes also got a 5-yard completion from Aidan Semo and a 9-yard rushing effort from Semo, while Colon’s dual-threat day helped Albany withstand Campbell’s second-half rally. The Fightin Camels had won four of their previous five games before Saturday, while Albany had won two straight.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Albany 36, Campbell 35, and its ELO system had given Albany a 69.7 percent probability to win.