CLINTON, NY – In their third consecutive blowout victory, the Williams Ephs (5-0) defeated the Hamilton Continentals (2-3) 35-7, on the strength of an offense that racked up 215 rushing yards and a defense that allowed just 2.8 yards per play and eight first downs.
In the first half, the Continentals' defense gave their struggling offense a couple of opportunities, picking off Eph quarterback
Bobby Maimaron '22 twice. However, the Williams defense held both times, forcing three-and-outs on each subsequent Hamilton possession. While the Ephs' suffocating defense held quarterback Joe Cairns to just a single completion in the half, the offense moved the ball seemingly at will for the majority of the game, even in the absence of star wide receiver
Frank Stola '22.
"I was really happy with the guys' performance on the road today," said Eph head coach
Mark Raymond following the team's fifth consecutive win. "We knew Hamilton was going to have a really good plan, and they did, but we were able to really shut down the run and eliminate their explosive plays."
On the Ephs' first possession, running back
Joel Nicholas '23 took the handoff out of the shotgun, and it at first appeared that he was going to be stopped for a short gain as he remained stuck in a crowd by the right hash. But Nicholas then pushed off of center
John Rooney '22 and exploded through a hole to the right, outracing Hamilton defenders and rumbling into the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown run. The Ephs would never look back, holding the Continentals without a score until the fourth quarter, by which point they were leading 35-0.
Williams quickly extended their lead to 21-0 on the strength of two long gains in the passing game. On the Ephs' second possession, wide receiver
Ethan McCullough '22 twisted around to catch a Maimaron pass at the 40-yard line and streaked into the end zone untouched. Two Williams drives later, tight end
Justin Burke '22 made a beautiful diving catch on a deep corner-route pass by Maimaron, and Nicholas finished the drive three plays later with a 1-yard touchdown run.
The Ephs looked to extend their lead with three minutes to go in the first half, starting the drive with seven straight rushing plays, the last of which was a successful 4
th-and-1 conversion by Nicholas to set up first-and-goal at the 2-yard line. After an incomplete pass by Maimaron, the Ephs had just nine seconds left and no timeouts; however, they decided to run a sprint option play, which the Ephs' quarterback executed to perfection. Rolling to his left, Maimaron found McCullough on an out route, hitting his receiver in stride for a sliding catch to give the Ephs an even more commanding 28-0 lead and put the game out of reach.
"We did a great job killing the clock when we had to," said Raymond when asked about the final drive of the first half. "We thought we had a good play, and our quarterback and receiver executed it flawlessly."
The two teams traded touchdowns in the second half, with Maimaron hitting wide receiver
Cameron Lee '25 for a 37-yard touchdown on his final pass of the game. Hamilton responded with a 12-play touchdown drive, but could not find the end zone for the remainder of the game.
Despite the two interceptions, Maimaron still enjoyed a strong game, throwing for 169 yards on 15 attempts (11.3 YPA) and three passing touchdowns while adding 47 yards on the ground. Nicholas paced the Ephs' rushing attack with 15 rushes for 82 yards (5.5 YPC) and two rushing touchdowns. McCullough enjoyed his best game of the season, leading the Ephs in receptions (3), receiving yards (63), and receiving touchdowns (2).
Running back Kamau Hopewell was the engine of the Hamilton offense, picking up 77 yards on 10 carries (7.7 YPC) despite the struggles in the passing game.
Williams dominated time of possession, holding the ball for over 37 minutes. They consistently converted third downs, making the line to gain of 8 of 16 (50%) of their opportunities. And while the Ephs actually lost the turnover battle 3-2, the defense prevented the Continentals from scoring any points off of their turnovers.
"We'll have to fix the turnovers going into Bates, but our defense was able to execute under sudden change and keep them off the scoreboard," remarked Raymond. "I was really happy with that turnaround."
Next week, the Ephs will travel to Lewiston, Maine to face the Bates Bobcats (1-4) for their fourth road matchup in the past five games.
