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WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - The Williams College Ephs (5-1) set the tone
of this game early and they upheld an aggressive and urgent level
of play throughout the entirety of the 60 minutes in a convincing
42-0 shutout victory over the Continentals of Hamilton (1-5) at
Weston Field.
In strikingly appropriate fashion, senior tri-captain Nick Caro,
who has battled back from a broken leg suffered against Hamilton
last season, tied the program record against the Continentals today
for touchdown receptions in a single game with three in the first
quarter. Caro joins Nick Gemelli ('94), who also did it
against Hamilton in the '93 campaign, as well as Todd
Ducharme ('92), who nabbed three against Wesleyan the in
'91 season.
"I think [Nick] definitely had a little more motivation under
him today," acknowledged Eph head coach Mike Whalen. "We
really couldn't be happier with how hard he has fought to get back
to the level that he is at right now, and he truly looked like the
Nick Caro of old this afternoon. As a coach, those are the kind of
stories you love to see happen."
Caro's scores were his only catches on the day, good for 97
yards including a 61-yard reception at the start of the second
quarter to put the Ephs up 21-0. Fellow wide-out Bryce Bennet
also had a 61-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter, as well
as seven additional grabs in the game for a total of 122
yards. Eph junior quarter Patrick Moffitt went 14 for 18
passing with 4 touchdowns and 264 yards in the air in what was
undoubtedly his best performance of the year.
"A lot of people look at Pat's statistics and assume he's having
an average year," discussed Whalen, "but in reality we've had a lot
of dropped passes and we've been inconsistent with our pass
protection. Hamilton plays a high-risk defense...blitzing
about 80 to 90 percent of the time, and since Pat is a quarterback
who always keeps his eyes downfield, we knew that if he could avoid
their rush he could make big plays today. He did an amazing
job of that and that's why we were able to have big gains."
On the reverse side of the football, the Eph defense notched
another outstanding performance on their belt, limiting a
struggling Hamilton offense to 10 first downs and 153 yards.
Junior Pat Barren and sophomore Dylan Schultz led the unit with
five total tackles each, all solo. Schultz also broke through
for 2 sacks good for a combine loss of 17 yards. The
comfortable 35-0 lead at halftime allowed Whalen to reach into the
depth chart for the second half, allotting guys like junior Dan
Johnson some much-needed playing time.
"This was the first time all year we had our starting group of
linebackers out there," noted Whalen. "We need guys like Dan
Johnson to get reps...and the more time we can get him as he
recovers the better off this program is going to be down the
road. Anytime you can rest your starters and get guys in the
game that don't normally see a lot of action, it's a very good
thing.... We used to have more of these kind of games, but
not as much anymore, so it's nice to be able to have one and take
advantage of it."
The Eph defense, which Whalen says he "cannot speak highly
enough about at this point," made a statement immediately in this
contest, forcing a fumble on the game's second play from
scrimmage. It seemed that the Hamilton defense was up for the
challenge of matching Williams' tenacity, as they responded with a
courageous goal line stand thanks to a timely swat by Continental
defensive back Ted Finan on first down and a concerted pursuit of
the run on the following three attempts, causing a turnover on
downs.
That would be the high point of the day for the Hamilton defense
however, as the Ephs went on to convert touchdowns on five of their
next six drives. After a punt out of Hamilton's own endzone
was partially blocked by sophomore Dan O'Mara, junior Ryan Lupo
sprinted out-of-bounds for fifteen yards to the 8-yard line, and
Moffitt found Caro two plays later for his first score on a
well-executed slant route to give Williams an early 7-0 lead.
Their next score required a bit more effort, as the purple cows
stormed down the field from their own 12-yard line to their
opponents red zone behind the rushing efforts of sophomore Matt
Coyne, junior Tom Wohlwender and Lupo. Moffitt and Caro
finished the deal again, this time with a connection from 25-yards
out to expand the advantage to 14.
The next two scores came via the aforementioned 61-yard pass
plays to Caro and Bennett. On the first play of the series
and of the second quarter, senior leader Caro broke two tackles and
dragged a Hamilton defensive back into the endzone with him for a
quick six. Moffitt was nearly picked off at the sideline on
the first play of the next series, but he redeemed himself with a
clutch pass over the middle to sophomore J.C. Stickney for a big
first down on 3rd-and-long. On the subsequent
3rd-and-even-longer situation, Moffitt scrambled and
steeped up out of the pocket to avoid a blitz from the edge, then
fired a long spiral to Bennett, who was wide-open in the endzone
for the fourth Eph touchdown of the day.
Hamilton did finally manage to stop the Eph attack on their next
series, but it did not last for long, as Bennett and Lupo led
another march downfield, this one ending with an easy 2-yard run
past the pylons by Lupo to make it a 5-touchdown lead. Senior
Matt Zanedis punctuated the half with an athletic interception as
the Ephs strode into the locker room with soaring confidence.
In the second half, the tempo of the game slowed considerably,
but it was still the same story. Coyne replaced Moffitt at
the helm, and he found sophomore B.J. Griffin down the sideline and
junior Jamal Jefferson in the endzone for back-to-back gains, good
for 35 and 27 yards, respectively.
As much time as there was on the clock, it seemed that the 42-0
lead was insurmountable at that point. Any time that Hamilton
got something going on offense, a timely interception or tackle in
the backfield would dash their hopes. Continental quarterback
Dan Peters was picked off twice in the fourth quarter, once on
fourth down by O'Mara and a second time by junior Ifiok
Inyang. A fumble caused by an untouched KC Murphy (freshman)
and recovered by sophomore linebacker Conor Ryan with three minutes
left in regulation put a definitive seal on the 42-0 win.
"We knew they were young at the quarterback position, so our
focus was to get at him as often as we could," said Whalen.
"Our guys didn't have the best practice situation this week because
of the flooded field, but we worked hard with what we had, and we
worked hard out there today as well.
"Ideally, we would like to be 6-0 going into the Little Three
games, but we're gonna work hard this week and we'll be ready to
play a very good Wesleyan team at their homecoming this Saturday."
With Trinity's loss to Middlebury today, the Ephs are now tied
with the Bantams for second palce in the NESCAC, behind only the
undefeated Lord Jeffs of Amherst, who Williams will battle on the
14th of November for homecoming at Weston Field.
Next Saturday, the action will begin at 1:00PM in Middletown, CT,
where Little Three bragging rights and the NESCAC championship will
be on the line and in the hands of the purple and gold.
