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WILLIAMSTOWN, MA-In front of a packed house for Homecoming, the
Williams football team (5-2) did not disappoint on Saturday,
blowing out the Cardinals of Wesleyan (1-6) by the score of
48-14.
Williams won the toss but elected to defer, and the Cardinals
came out firing with an efficient scoring drive that took just over
three minutes and culminated in a 10 yard touchdown pass from
Cardinal QB Blake DuBois to receiver Steve Hauser. Wesleyan
employed a lot of short passes and screen plays on the drive,
frustrating the Williams pass-rush. The Cardinals also
tallied three first downs in the drive, equaling the total number
of first downs given up by the Ephs in last weekend's victory over
Hamilton (a new school record).
It's been a long season for the old ball field at the end of
Spring Street, and on Saturday Weston Field wasn't hiding its
bruises. Players on both sides of the field struggled with
their footing all game, and Williams first drive of the game ended
in a three-and-out due in large part to a couple of key stumbles.
Aside from the slippery start though, the game was all
Williams. The Ephs out scored the Cardinals 48-7 after the
visitor's opening score, and surpassed Wesleyan in almost every
statistical category.
"This is our playoffs," said Eph Coach Mike Whalen, "It's a big
part of our tradition. I think the Little Three has lost some
of its luster with a lot of the other sports going to NCAA's and
things like that, but in football we don't go to the NCAA's, so for
us this is the opportunity for us to play for a championship.
We're happy that we accomplished the first part of that today
and we're excited to go out and try to accomplish the other part
next week at Amherst."
After Wesleyan's opening score, the Eph defense responded in
kind and forced a punt from deep inside Cardinal territory.
Sure-handed return man Pat Barren made a good return on the punt,
and the Ephs began their second possession with excellent field
position. The Ephs wasted no time, as a quick pass to
Powell and a long rush by Morrissey resulted in a 1st
down inside the Wesleyan 20. A few plays later Morrissey
would convert a 4th and 1 for a first down at the
Wesleyan 9, and later on fourth down and goal the Eph captain
punched it in from the 1 yard line for Williams first score.
Morrissey had yet another huge day, tallying 140 yards and 3
touchdowns on 30 carries. The performance leaves him just 47
yards away from becoming Williams' all-time leading rusher, however
the senior captain couldn't seem to care less:
"To be honest with you, it's not on my mind at all, because I'm
just really focused on winning this last game. And the whole
record thing is just a testament to the guys I played with through
the years anyway, whether it be the guys up front or a guy like Pat
Lucey; for three years he was the guy [laughing] and I just got to
sneak by, you know?"
Williams continued to win the field position battle, as on the
ensuing kickoff the Wesleyan return-man bobbled the kick and
stranded the Cardinals deep in their own territory. Williams
took advantage, forcing yet another punt and then driving the ball
down the field for another TD to take the lead. The actual
scoring play would come from Morrissey again.
Before the Cardinals could blink it seemed, Morrissey was in the
end zone again, this time on a five yard run to put Williams up
21-7. Just as the Ephs seemed poised to run away with it
behind the legs of Morrissey, the Cardinals would pick themselves
up off the mat. Again attacking the Ephs with the pass, the
Cardinals would string together a 12 play drive spanning 84 yards
and including just two running plays. The last two plays of
the drive were to receiver Chris Helsel, who made great catches on
each play to give Wesleyan their second score of the game with just
51 seconds to play in the half.
Rather than hang their heads though, the Ephs would respond in
kind, mounting a furious rally that would result in a monster 43
yard field goal by Scott Sobolewski as time expired in the half.
"You could see on the other sideline, after he hit that kick,
they just deflated," said Morrissey, "whereas we were sprinting
into the locker room and really fired up."
Added Whalen: "He's battled some injuries this year, and we were
all happy for him because he's worked hard and just had some tough
luck. That ball was good from 52."
With the momentum squarely in their corner, the Ephs proceeded
to put the game away in the second half, as seniors Ryan Powell,
Brian Egan, and Elijah Weeks would all score touchdowns.
"Brian Egan did a great job today," said Whalen, "he does a lot
of things as far as blocking that might go unnoticed...at a lot of
other programs he's a starting tailback. He's a great
football player so I was very happy to see him get that touchdown
today."
The Eph defense was overwhelming in the 48-14 rout, allowing
just 65 yards rushing on the game and no scores in the second
half. Quarterback Pat Moffitt had a solid game, connecting on
18 of 24 passes for 222 yards and a TD, and receiver Stew Buck
stepped up in place of injured star Nick Caro, catching 7 passes
for 108 yards. On the precipice of history though, Morrissey
once again stole the show:
"You can't say enough about him," beamed Whalen, "What impresses
me time and time again is just how humble he is, and how much the
program means to him, and as a coach that's what you strive for,
kids like that who bleed purple and would give everything for
Williams. He doesn't care about the record - he wants to beat
Amherst."
Besides Morrissey's record chase, history was indeed in the air
as it always seems to be at Williams Homecoming, and the feeling
wasn't lost on Whalen:
"We've won a lot of football games here, and they won a lot of
games before me. The level of excellence we expect here is
high; we want kids who are serious about football and want to win a
lot of games. Our goals never change, every year they're the
same: go 8-0, win the NESCAC, win the Little Three. That's
what we do here; we came up a little short on the first two this
year but we're very excited to go down to Amherst next week and try
to accomplish that last one."
Williams will play their final game of the year against 5-2
Amherst next week. The game will decide the winner of the
Little Three Championship this year, and is scheduled to start at
12:00 pm.
