NEW YORK—Columbia Football fought from behind all afternoon against Central Connecticut State and closed the deficit to three points in the second half, but ultimately came up short against the Blue Devils, 24-14, Saturday at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium at Robert K. Kraft Field.
 
Columbia drops to 1-3 on the year with losses to teams who have combined for a 13-3 overall record so far this season (CCSU 5-1, Princeton 4-0, Georgetown 4-2).
 
CCSU's kept the Lions at bay with big plays on offense as it scored touchdowns on two long plays including 71-yard pass and 62-yard run as the Blue Devils totaled 511 offensive yards and 21 first downs. Quarterback Aaron Winchester led the Blue Devils with 393 total yards including 299 passing on 14 of 22 completions and 94 rushing on 18 carries. He sealed the win on a 62-yard touchdown run with 2:25 to play. Two CCSU receivers finished with 100 or more yards including Tyshaun James (four catches for 126 yards) and Keonte Lucas (four catches for 114 yards and a TD).
 
Columbia trailed the majority of the game, including 17-7 at halftime, after which it was outgained 271-83 in total yardage and 14-6 on first downs. The Lions came out a different team in the third quarter as they yielded just 133 yards and only four first downs to CCSU in the second half.
 
"In the first half, they had their way," Patricia and Shepard Alexander Head Coach of Football Al Bagnoli said. "We had some bad breakdowns, a long touchdown pass, a long 2:00 drive with very little time left. But after halftime, our guys got refocused, reenergized. Today's game came down to a couple of plays that either you make or you don't and that determines your fate. We didn't make them; they did, and the things that scared us all week came to fruition. Their quarterback is very elusive, very difficult to play against because he extends plays with his feet and is a running threat. They've got athletes all over the place, and they got after our quarterbacks."
 
"We're going to have to continue to keep working, stay the course and at some point, hopefully things will stabilize and we'll be able to come away and start winning a couple of these close games. Right now, we're making too many mistakes in all three facets."
 
CCSU got on the board first when Winchester hit a wide-open Lucas for a 71-yard touchdown pass and 7-0 first quarter lead. The Blue Devils went up 10-0 in the second quarter when Francis Cole converted a 45-yard field goal following an eight-play, 54-yard scoring drive.
 
Columbia cut CCSU's lead to 10-7 when Columbia junior quarterback Josh Bean found senior wide receiver Josh Wainwright open for a 29-yard touchdown pass. A Drew Schmid punt pinned CCSU back inside its five, the Lions' defense forced a three-and-out and Mike Roussos returned a punt 10 yards. On the first play from scrimmage, Bean dropped back five steps from a shotgun snap and hit a streaking Wainwright in the end zone for the score.
 
The Blue Devils extended their lead to 17-7 right before halftime on a three-year touchdown run by Danley Exhilhomme. CCSU got the ball back less than two minutes before halftime and put together a 95 yard touchdown drive in seven plays which was keyed by Winchester, who engineered the drive and connected with James twice for passes of 35 and 29 yards respectively to set up the score.
 
But the Lions came back. Columbia took the opening kickoff and promptly drove 80 yards in 11 plays and cut CCSU's lead to 17-14 when Bean hit sophomore wide receiver Mike Roussos on an inside slant play for a 10-yard touchdown pass. The drive was highlighted by a 16-yard run by sophomore Ryan Young and a 21-yard pass to senior Christian Everett from sophomore quarterback Ty Lenhart.
 
In the third and fourth quarters, Columbia's defense limited the CCSU offense through the majority of the third and fourth quarters using a Daniel DeLorenzi strip-sack and recovery by first-year Scott Valentas, and a combined sack by senior Michael Murphy and sophomore John Harris. DeLorenzi set Columbia's career sacks record on his second sack of the day.
 
The Lions had three possessions deep in CCSU territory in the third and fourth quarters but could not convert those possessions to points. DeLorenzi's record-setting sack gave Columbia first-down-and-10 at the CCSU 36-yard line and the Lions ended up punting. Most notably, Roussos returned a punt 55 yards to the CCSU 25-yard line in the fourth quarter trailing 17-14, but the Lions came up empty on a missed a field goal.
 
CCSU put the game away 2:25 left when Winchester found an opening to the left and rambled down the field 62 yards for a touchdown and 24-14 lead.
 
Roussos led the Lions with 185 all-purpose yards (10 receiving, 87 on kickoff returns and 88 on punt returns), Wainwright finished with a season-high seven receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown, his sixth 100-yard receiving game of his career and Bean completed 10 of 21 passes for 146 yards and a career-high tying two touchdown passes. Sophomore linebacker John Harris, making his first career start, led the Lions with a game-high 15 tackles, senior safety Hunter Lunsford finished with a career-high 10 tackles and senior Michael Murphy added eight. DeLorenzi finished with 2.0 sacks for 12 yards and a forced fumble.
 
"This game was a little bit like last week," Bagnoli said. "We are playing really good people. These guys only lost to FBS Eastern Michigan on a blocked punt with 18 seconds left. We knew our margin for error was not going to be large. Beforehand, we lost our two starting linebackers and had a couple of people banged up including Ronald Smith. We knew we were going to have to capitalize on everything."
 
The game marked Columbia's annual Northern Manhattan Neighbors Appreciation Day.
 
Columbia is back in action next week when it hosts Ivy League rival Penn for its 75^th annual Homecoming Game at Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m. ET.