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WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - For the second straight week
the Williams Football team (3-2) felled a NESCAC opponent from the
ranks of the undefeated. Last week it was Middlebury, this
week it was the Tufts Jumbos (4-1) with a 34-13 win.
After stopping the Jumbos on their first drive of the game, the
Ephs' offense seemed to click right from the start as junior Brian
Morrissey (Winchester, MA) broke an 18-yard run down the sideline
on Williams' first drive of the game. Quarterback Pat Lucey
'08 (Plymouth, MA) would follow that up later in the drive with a
nice quarterback keeper to pick up a first down; he would then
throw a laser to senior tri-captain Jeff Egizi (Westwood, MA) to
get to the Jumbos 8-yard line. Continuing with their balanced
offensive attack, senior Kevin Flynn (Concord, MA) would carry it
to the one, and Morrissey would punch it in on the next play.
After a great 14-yard run by Lucey to give the Ephs a first
down, Williams would get creative. On the next play Williams
ran a reverse to junior Stew Buck (Amherst, MA), who then found a
wide-open Ryan Powell '09 (Fairfax, VA) for a 67-yard score.
The play worked perfectly, as there wasn't a defender within 15
yards of Powell on the catch.
"We knew going into the game that their (Tufts') defense was
aggressive - they really flow to the ball, and we wanted to do some
things to slow them down," said Eph head coach Mike Whalen.
"With the reverse, well, when you have a lead that's usually a good
time to try it."
In addition to the Ephs' offensive onslaught, the Williams
defense held strong for the majority of the first half. After
Powell's touchdown catch, the Eph defense would come up with an
impressive stop as Tufts threatened in Williams' territory. A
great breakup on a third and seven pass by safety Sean Milano '09
(Guilford, CT) led to another great stop by Williams on a fourth
down try by Tufts, as an attempted screen pass went for a loss on
the next play and a turnover on downs.
Williams would take over and pick up right where they left off,
as Pat Lucey completed an 18 yard screen pass to Powell down to the
Tufts' 32-yard line as the 1st quarter ended.
Going against a stiff wind in the second quarter wouldn't slow down
the Ephs though, as a 4-yard swing pass to Morrissey lead to
Williams third score of the game, as Lucey found the open man yet
again on third and goal.
With the Jumbos in desperate need of a score, sophomore Will
Miller would give the ball right back to the Ephs. Linebacker
Nathan Shipee '10 (Bolton, CT) came up big on the play, both
forcing and recovering the fumble on the Tufts' 36-yard line.
Lucey would show off his athleticism yet again after the
Williams takeover, scampering to the Tufts' 24-yard line on a
quarterback keeper. In danger of their first punt of the
game, Lucey would come up big on fourth and three, hitting Egizi on
a roll out to keep the drive alive. On the next play Lucey
would find Powell for the touchdown and a 28-0 lead.
A ten-yard holding penalty on third and nine by Williams would
keep the Jumbos next drive alive, eventually leading to Tufts'
first score with 3:49 left in the half. Sophomore Kevin
Anderson got the Jumbos on the board, catching a touchdown pass
from quarterback Matt Russo deep in Williams' territory.
The half would end with Williams sporting a 28-7 lead, and
dominating in almost every category. Including Buck's
touchdown pass on the trick play, the Ephs completed 12 of 14
passes for 137 yards and three touchdowns. Williams would not
punt the ball until 2:50 left in the half.
Defensively Williams was just as impressive, allowing just over
50 yards rushing while recording a sack and some big tackles for
loss.
In the third Williams would waste no time in piling it on.
On their first series Lucey would slip a near sack, step up in the
pocket, and hit Jeff Egizi with a 44-yard bomb to put Williams up
34-7.
In the second half the Williams defense would continue to make
the big play. Every big Tufts play into Eph territory would
seem to be followed up by an equally clutch defensive play by
Williams to keep the Jumbos in check. Outside linebacker
Trevor Powers '09 (Danvers, MA) would exemplify this, sacking Russo
with 11:02 in the third quarter for a ten yard loss, and then
following that up on the very next play with another tackle for a
loss to bring up third and long for the Jumbos. On the next
play Tufts would fumble the snap, and freshman Tim Kiely
(Newburyport, MA) would recover it.
Williams would force another turnover later in the quarter, as
junior Charlie Birns (Scarsdale, NY) slapped the ball out of
Russo's hands, allowing Powers - who seemed to be everywhere on
Saturday - to recover the fumble.
In the fourth quarter Tufts would score for their second and
final time on a nice pass play by Russo, in which he found tight
end Max Cassidy in the end zone just before getting lit up by the
Eph pass rush. With the score now 34-13 in favor of Williams,
the game was essentially over. Despite valiant attempts by
the Jumbos, the Williams defense always seemed to come up with the
big play when it mattered to keep Tufts off the scoreboard while
they still had a chance to come back. In addition to
important tackles by the likes of O'Reilly and Powers, senior John
Snipes (Vero Beach, FL) intercepted a pass at the eight-minute mark
to put the game away.
The usual suspects came up big for the Ephs, as Lucey threw
three touchdown passes while Morrissey ran for one and caught
another. Powell continued his receiving prowess with a
monster game of 102 yards receiving and two touchdowns on 6
catches. Senior tri-captain Jeff Egizi also came up with some
huge receptions in tallying 66 yards and a touchdown.
Some of the lesser-known Ephs had great performances Saturday as
well, and none better than Trevor Powers '09.
"Trevor Powers had a great game, he was all over the field,"
said Whalen. "That's exactly how he practices too - he's a
great example of how if you practice hard during the week, you're
going to play well on Saturday."
Powers finished the day with 17 tackles, including four for
losses. He also had a sack and recovered a fumble.
For the Jumbos, quarterback Matt Russo registered an impressive
308 yards passing and two touchdowns. Included in his 45 pass
attempts though were two interceptions and multiple fumbles, as the
Eph defense rarely let him feel comfortable.
In a potential letdown game for both teams (each came off big
upset victories last week; Tufts over Trinity and the Ephs over
Middlebury), Williams was able to stay focused during
practice. Said Coach Whalen:
"No question we had a great week of practice. I tell these
guys all the time that it's the younger guys giving us the look of
the opposing team, like this week it was the Tufts look, that is so
important. Guys like [Ryan] Lupo '11 running the ball hard
for us in practice, or [Eric] Anderson '10 giving us a great look
on defense...just having guys flying around and taking pride in
that stuff and it's helping us a lot on Saturdays."
Saturday's victory was the 600th win for Williams
Football, making Williams the first New England team to reach 600
wins. With a 600-347-47 record, Williams is currently fifth
in Division III football history in wins.
The Ephs are home again next week versus Hamilton. Game
time is set for 1:00 pm Saturday.
