DINA MOSKOWITZ

By Peter Keiper-White
Sports Editor

After a disappointing 28-14 loss at Amherst College last weekend, football rebounded with a comprehensive 35-14 thrashing of Bowdoin College in Maine Saturday.

"The biggest difference, really, is that Bowdoin isn’t as good a team as Amherst," said Frank Hauser, the head coach. "Our receivers are more athletic than their secondary and that allowed us to throw the ball a lot. Defensively, we were also really strong. This was the first game of the season that both sides of the ball had a solid game."

"We were solid. We had a much better attitude than we did against Amherst and that helped," said John Raba, defensive coordinator.

Receiver Matt Perceval ’00 caught 10 passes for 167 yards including a pair of TDs as he broke his own Wesleyan record for receiving yards in one season.

Perceval now has 877 receiving yards through six games; he had a record 860 yards in the eight games last season.

Quarterback Jake Fay ’ 00 completed 17 of 27 passes for 295 yards including the TD tosses to Matt Perceval–a marked improvement from his five of 18, 76-yard performance against the Lord Jeffs.

The 295 yards give him 6,147 passing yards for his career, the first player in Wesleyan history, and only the third player in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) history, to reach that milestone.

He was also named to the East Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC) honor roll this week.

Bowdoin (1-5) struck first as it converted on its first possession.

Tim Lawson broke off a 51-yard run for a score. Lawson led the Polar Bear offense as he rumbled for a career-high 115 yards, which accounted for 35 percent of Bowdoin’s total offense.

"It was a miscommunication," Raba said. "We didn’t get the call of where to line up in until late and they ran right through the hole where we should have lined up. After that we were chasing them."

That woke up the Cardinals and Wesleyan rolled off 35 straight points to take control of the game.

Fay hit Perceval from seven yards out to tie the game with 5:25 left in the first quarter.

Running back Larry Woolard ’02 picked up his ninth rushing TD of the season, the team high, in the second quarter to put the Cardinals ahead to stay.

Bowdoin tried to mount a comeback late in the half, but an interception by inside linebacker Glenn Sherman ’03 at the Wesleyan seven-yard line short-circuited the drive.

For his efforts Sherman was named NESCAC defensive player of the week.

"I made a lot of tackles but I also made a lot of mistakes," Sherman said. "It was my first time out there so I was nervous. Everybody else helped me out."

Unfortunately, Sherman hurt his leg in the second half against Bowdoin and his status for Saturday’s game against Williams College is still up in the air.

"Glenn had a great game," Raba said. "He makes our whole inside game better. His interception was a really big play in the game."

Holding just a seven-point lead in the waning moments of the third quarter, running back Ron Jacobs ’03 and defensive back Scott Perceval ’02 broke the Polar Bears’ back.

"We blitzed and their quarterback was under a lot of pressure," said Scott Perceval. "He threw the ball in my general direction and I just stepped in front of the pass. I was in the right place at the right time."

Jacobs dashed to the end zone from 17 yards out with 2:13 remaining in the quarter to put Wes up 21-14.

A Scott Perceval interception set up another TD as Jacobs stormed 18 yards to give the Cardinals a 28-14 advantage with 34 seconds remaining in the quarter.

These were the two longest TD runs of the season for Wesleyan.

Fay and Matt Perceval struck again to cap the Cardinal scoring and give Matt Perceval the record when the two clicked for an 11-yard TD.

Lawson’s TD run notwithstanding, the Cardinal defense did an outstanding job stopping the run. Bowdoin ran the ball 40 times for 189 total yards but over half of those runs netted two or fewer yards.

Jacobs paced the Cardinal ground attack with 82 yards rushing on 17 carries including his two TDs.

The Cardinals hope to build off this momentum when they clash with unbeaten, nationally ranked, Little Three rival Williams College (6-0) at homecoming Saturday.

The Ephs have won 16 consecutive games (two seasons’ worth) since the Cardinals’ thrilling 24-16-homecoming victory over Williams in 1998.

"We have to play better than we did against Bowdoin [to beat Williams]," Hauser said. "We need to force turnovers and throw the ball and use our assets. The emergence of Ronny Jacobs has made our running game better but, as I said about Bowdoin, I think our receivers are more athletic than their backs and that is key."