Williams Tops Bowdoin 24-14 to Even Record at 1-1

Williamstown, Massachusetts - Williams (1-1) scored the only two touchdowns in the first half giving them an early lead that they were able to protect despite the Bowdoin Polar Bears' (1-1) effort to make this a close game.
 
Bowdoin's Koy Price picked off Eph quarterback Jack Dickinson on the Ephs' 30 yard line in the first quarter setting the Polar Bears up for an opportunity to break out on top. On fourth and eight from the Ephs' 28 yard line Bowdoin elected to try and gain a first down, however, Eph sophomore linebacker Ethan Scott sacked Bowdoin quarterback Andrew Boel for a six yard loss giving the ball back to Williams.
 
Mixing in a strong ground game and some short passes by Dickinson the Ephs advanced to the Bowdoin 17 yard line where they faced a third and two situation. Dickinson carried on the next play and he scampered past the first down marker all the way into the end zone to put Williams on top 6-0. Ivan Shuran converted the PAT and Williams owned a 7-0 lead.
 

Williams doubled their lead at 3:20 in the second quarter when Dickinson connected on a 5-yard pass to a diving Will Loffredo to cap off 7 play 54 yard scoring drive. With Shuran true again on the PAT the Ephs took a 14-0 lead into halftime.  
 
Bowdoin cut the Eph lead in half in the third quarter when the Polar Bears went 59 yards on five plays and quarterback Andrew Boel rushed one yard for a TD. Jotham Casey booted the PAT and the Polar Bears trailed 14-7.
 
The Eph lead went to 10 points when Ivan Shuran booted a 40 yard field goal  at 10:26 in the fourth quarter. The Ephs were soon back on the scoreboard as Joel Nicholas ran 4 yards for a touchdown and the Ivan Shuran PAT put the Ephs up 24-7 with 7:51 remaining.
 
Bowdoin did try to get back in the game and they scored on a run with 4:21 remaining in the game to narrow the Eph lead to 24-14. The Eph defense remained strong and denied Bowdoin any more scoring opportunities. Postgame Eph defensive coordinator Mark McDonough stated, "I'm proud of the way we responded. We just kept our heads down and grinded through… we knew what we had to do and despite some of the external things going on we focused on doing what we needed to do and the guys did a great job. Today I saw a lot of grit."
 
Bowdoin had more total offense than did Williams in the game with quarterback Andrew Boel connecting on 18 of 31 passes for 205 yards and he was picked off once. The Ephs Jack Dickinson completed 15 of 34 passes for 128 yards and one TD and he also had one pass picked off.
 
The Eph defense held the Bowdoin ground game to just 50 yards. The Ephs featured a balanced attack complimenting the 128 yards through the air with 155 yards on the ground.
 
Defensively Bowdoin was led by defensive lineman Drew Ortiz who notched 6 solo tackles and one tackle for a loss, while Williams was led by Ethan Scott who tallied 8 solo tackles, a sack and a tackle for a loss.
 
Next up for the Ephs is a home encounter at 1:30 PM on Saturday, October 1 when they will host Tufts at 1:30 PM.