WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS. – Last fall
Mark Raymond's Williams football team recorded the first 9-0 season in Williams football history and the eighth perfect season in the first 134 years of Williams football.
The only losses from last season are the players who graduated in June.
Mark Raymond lost five players from last year's unbeaten and untied team who earned First or Second Team All-NESCAC honors including the dynamic passing combo of QB
Bobby Maimaron and WR
Frank Stola. Offensive lineman and captain
John Rooney, linebacker TJ Rothmann who earned All-NESCAC honors each of the four years, and tight end
Justin Burke have graduated.
What Williams has going for it this year is the fact that the athletes stepping up this year gained valuable experience playing against the top Eph players on the first team offense and defense for nine weeks last season.
Raymond knows this 2022 Eph team will be circled on every opponent's schedule with each opponent hoping to become the team to snap what is now an Eph overall 10-game win streak and avenge last season's loss.
In 2021 the Williams defense led NESCAC in fewest points allowed per game (10.6) and touchdowns (12). The Ephs were second in sacks with 24, and first in pass defense, allowing only 165.4 yards through the air per game.
The Ephs also led NESCAC in scoring (34.1 points per game), rushing (2,070 yards and 5.0 yards per carry), TDs (41), and rushing touchdowns (26). Williams' 26 rushing scores doubled the next NESCAC team's output. The Ephs allowed just 13 sacks over nine games in 2021.
Running back
Joel Nicholas led the NESCAC in scoring in 2021 with 17 touchdowns (102 points), 16 on the ground and he gained 750 yards on 143 carries averaging 5.2 yards per carry and finished third in the conference in rushing yards. He set the single-season Williams record for touchdowns and points.
Nicholas now a senior is one of five returning Ephs who were named First Team All-NESCAC last season. The other All-NESCAC First Team Eph returnees include junior offensive guard
John Freeman (also First Team All-New England DII-III), senior defensive end
Ian Devine, senior cornerback
Rocco Giandomenico, and sophomore placekicker
Ivan Shuran. Shuran as a first year made all eight of his field goals and 37 of 38 PATs for 61 points, fifth best in NESCAC, in his debut season. He had 55 kick-offs in 2021 and averaged 55 yards with 17 touchbacks.
Devine led the Ephs with 5.5 sacks and tackles for a loss with 11. He had 23 tackles total, 13 solos, blocked a kick, recovered a fumble, and had one pass break-up. "Ian had an exceptional season," Raymond said. "His effort and compete levels were super high. He played every down with everything he had and was a real dominant force for us on the D-line."
Giandomenico led the NESCAC in pass break-ups with 12, averaging 1.5 per game. He finished the season with 30 tackles (25 solos) and also forced a fumble.
Coleston Smith was a Second Team All-NESCAC honoree at linebacker last fall where he registered 49 tackles, second most on the Eph team. He had 26 solo tackles and 23 assists, seven tackles for a loss, 2.5 sacks, and he broke up 2 passes.
Raymond's Ephs will have four senior captains this fall with two on defense in
Ian Devine and
Coleston Smith, and two on offense in lineman
Xander Utecht and running back
Dan Vaughn.
Quarterback is a big hole to fill this fall with the loss of four-year starter Maimaron. Right now the competition is between
Jack Dickinson and
Luke Bobo. "Both had a great training camp, but it will be difficult to replace a four year starter at quarterback who could both run and throw," said Raymond. "We'll make our decision on who will start later this week. Both are smart, talented, athletic and they are good leaders who have taken control of the offense."
Dickinson saw action in seven games last fall and completed 2 of his 3 passes for 21 yards. Bobo did not appear in any games last fall at quarterback.
Joel Nicholas will open the season in full health this fall after overcoming some injuries from the previous season. "Joel has looked as dynamic as ever and he adds great toughness to our offense and with his breakaway speed," said Raymond. "His strength is between the tackles and he really runs hard. He's also a great blocker and is just one of those guys who is as good with the ball as he is without it."
"Losing Frankie Stola to graduation creates a hole statistically," Raymond stated. "Senior
Mike DeGasperis caught a lot of big passes for us last year and is ready to go and senior
Will Loffredo is also back and he was a big contributor for us last season. Jack Lennon, Cam Lee, Charles Willmot and
Carter Begel add some nice depth to the receiving corps."
"Our philosophy on offense is we want to run the ball effectively and control the tempo of the game, protect the ball, but obviously the structure changes when you have a quarterback who is starting for the first time, so we'll have to be a bit more conservative," stated Raymond.
"
Mark McDonough and his staff have done a good job in making our defense more multiple than in the past so we will be able to present a lot of different looks," Raymond added. "We have great leadership on defense with our captains
Ian Devine on the defensive line and
Coleston Smith at middle linebacker. CJ Vilfort is also a force up front." Vilfort contributed 19 tackles in 2021 including one and half tackles for a loss and he assisted on a sack.
"We have a nice group of game-experienced players in all three levels of our defense," Raymond said. Included in that group is linebacker Desi O'Mahoney who notched 13 tackles last season, assisted on a sack, and forced a fumble. There's a trio of senior defensive backs returning in
Drew Michalek who notched 21 tackles and 3 pass breakups in 2021,
Chaz Cotton contributed 24 tackles, two picks, and broke up three passes, while
Alex Dehmel had 15 tackles and 6 pass breakups.
Junior defensive back
James Hemmer logged 20 tackles (16 solos) and had the late game interception that sealed win number nine in 2021 in Amherst assuring the first 9-0 season also returns.
Junior
Tim Brown will handle the punting duties for the Ephs. In the 2021 season Brown punted once for 34 yards.
"We're pretty healthy coming out of training camp, which was very competitive," Raymond said. "A few guys got dinged up and of course we wish we were a bit deeper in some spots, but we will be ready to go on Saturday."
Williams will open the 2022 season on the road Saturday, September 17 in Waterville, Maine, where they will tangle with the Colby Mules at 1:00 PM. Colby was 4-5 under head coach Jack Cosgrove and the 2021 Mules won the CBB (Colby, Bates & Bowdoin) crown in 2021.
A year ago in Williamstown the Ephs blanked Colby 42-0 to extend their streak of wins over the Mules to four and upped their all-time record vs. Colby to 20-5. Colby's last win in the series came in 2006 in Waterville when they prevailed 9-7.
