Waterville, Maine — Eph Football held strong against a second-half rally from the Colby Mules, winning 24-19 on Saturday to spoil the Mules' Homecoming Weekend festivities. Led by a strong defensive first half and the stellar all-around play of sophomore quarterback Owen McHugh, Williams moves to 2-0 on the season while Colby falls to 0-2.
The Ephs established their defensive dominance early on in the game. After the first Williams drive fizzled out, the Eph defense immediately applied pressure, with senior linebacker Ethan Scott's sack on 3rd-and-19 punctuating a drive which saw Colby lose 16 yards in three plays.
On the Ephs' next drive, Colby appeared to have made a stop by forcing a 4th-and-3 punt. However, a running into the kicker penalty on the Mules prolonged the drive. Another critical Colby pass interference penalty on 3rd-and-10 gave the Ephs a key first down, with McHugh taking full advantage by scoring on a 9-yard third-down scramble to give Williams a 7-0 lead after Ivan Shurin's extra point, with 6:21 left in the first quarter.
McHugh's speed and rushing ability were key throughout the game, with his first rushing touchdown the first of many big runs by the quarterback. Eph head coach Mark Raymond emphasized the importance of McHugh's legs. "When things were timed out, Owen was able to break free and move the sticks quite a few times, so he did a great job." McHugh would lead the Ephs with 70 rushing yards on 14 carries.
After McHugh's touchdown, the game settled into a defensive battle. The teams traded punts, with Williams punting twice and the Eph defense forcing three successive stops. "We did a great job stopping the run, getting a lot of pressure on the quarterback, making it difficult for them to chunk any yardage on us," noted Raymond on the Ephs' successful defensive half.
The Eph offense finally broke through again in their final drive of the first half, with a 10 play, 55 yard scoring drive that bled nearly six minutes of game time. The drive featured several successful scrambles from McHugh and was topped off by a seven yard completion over the middle from McHugh to Owen Johansen, giving the Ephs a 14-0 lead with 0:33 remaining in the half. An up-tempo final Colby drive resulted in no points, as Williams took a 14-0 lead into the break.
Colby came out firing in the second half. After starting quarterback Miles Drake went down briefly with an injury, back-up Declan McNamara inserted some energy into the Mules' offense. His running ability was highlighted in a read-option style offense that marched down the field, with a successful drive culminating in a 6 yard touchdown pass from McNamara to Matt McHugh. The snap on the point after conversion attempt was fumbled by Colby, leaving the deficit at 14-6.
Colby then recovered a surprise onside kick at the Williams 37 yard line, with Drake coming back in to lead the Mules to another touchdown drive on a play action pass to Atticus Duncan. While the two-point conversion failed, the score was suddenly 14-12 without the Eph offense touching the ball in the second half. 5:40 remained in the third quarter.
On the ensuing Williams drive, McHugh found sophomore Brady Stahelski for a 41-yard gain over the middle to reverse some of Colby's momentum. The offense then clicked off a number of positive plays, before McHugh beat his defender to the outside on third down to score a five yard touchdown and extend the Eph lead to 21-12.
After Colby punted from near midfield, the Ephs added a field goal to their lead, with a crucial 35-yard completion to senior Luke Bobo and solid running by senior Mario Fischetti placing the offense within field goal range. Ivan Shuran nailed a 37-yard kick to move the Ephs ahead 24-12 with 6:28 remaining.
Colby refused to go away, however. Drake found his groove, finding several receivers up the middle for chunk plays before throwing a ten-yard dart in the end zone to Atticus Duncan, who was blanketed in double coverage, for a touchdown. With 2:09 remaining, the Mules had clawed back to a 24-19 deficit.
After some confusion on the onside kick, Williams had the ball on the Colby 46 yard line. While it seemed as though Colby may have recovered the kick, Raymond said that Colby had illegally touched the ball before it had traveled ten yards, giving possession to the Ephs. Williams then decided to punt, after initially setting up to go for it on 4th-and-1 with one minute remaining, setting the stage for a final Colby drive from the Mules' own 19.
With only 54 seconds left, the Eph coaches emphasized preventing big plays and clock stoppages. "They didn't have any time-outs left, so we wanted to keep everything in front of us, and everything in-bounds," said Raymond. Still, Colby made things very interesting. Drake completed a 28-yard pass to Jack Nye and a 24-yard pass to Jack Sawyer in quick succession, bringing the Mules to the Ephs' 20 yard line with over twenty seconds remaining.
On 3rd-and-10, the Eph pressure got to Drake, forcing him to make an errant pass that was intercepted by sophomore Brady Carroll in the end zone with 14 seconds left, sealing a 24-19 Eph victory.
While the game got dicey, Raymond was proud of the team's will to win. "We need to shore up some things on both sides of the ball, but it was great to see us make the play in pressure situations," he said.
Offensively, McHugh had a highly efficient day, completing 16-of-18 passes for 192 yards and a touchdown, in addition to his 70 rushing yards and two scores. Fischetti added 56 rushing yards on 17 carries. The Ephs had nine different receivers catch a pass, with Stahelski leading the team with 54 yards on two catches. Bobo added 50 yards on three receptions.
Sophomore Holden Gering was all over the field, recording 26 yards on three catches while also leading the Ephs in tackles, with nine.
The Ephs take on Trinity on the road next Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The Bantams are 2-0 after defeating Bates 28-7 this week.
