JON EGER

The Cards’ defense tenses at the line of scrimmage in anticipation of a Colby passing play. Wesleyan lost to the White Mules 13-7 Saturday on Andrus Field.

By David Ly
Managing E ditor

The football team topped Colby College Saturday in every statistical category except points.

Quarterback Jake Fay’s ’00 last-second pass to Matt Perceval ’00 on the goal line went wide, giving the White Mules a 13-7 victory and dealing the Cardinals their first loss of the season.

"We didn’t deserve to win… but there’s no reason we should have lost the game," said Frank Hauser, the head coach. "We have the guys on offense but we didn’t execute."

"Colby did a good job keeping us from getting into a rhythm," Fay said. "Whenever our offense gets into a rhythm, we can be dangerous but we just didn’t do that."

Going into the game, it appeared Wesleyan’s offense would have the advantage; Colby lost to Trinity and Middlebury by a combined score of 76-22. But on Saturday both teams had trouble getting their offenses going.

Colby did not get a rushing first down until the third quarter, but the Cardinals hurt themselves by committing 12 penalties for 70 yards. They gave up three first downs by penalty, one more than the White Mules had running the football.

"We had a lot of mental errors that we made on the field and we didn’t play the way we’re supposed to," Hauser said.

It looked like the Cards would take control of the game early when Colby’s Lee Carlson misjudged a punt and fumbled the ball at his own 15-yard line. Wes recovered the ball and Larry Woolard ’02 made the White Mules pay by pounding it in for a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.

After its offense could do nothing against the Cardinal’s relentless defense, Colby pulled some tricks out of its playbook to jump-start its attack.

Aided by two consecutive offsides penalties that pushed the White Mules deep into Cardinal territory, running back Jon Murray threw a pass for 16 yards in a short third-and-one situation to set up his own touchdown run.

"We were in a defense to stop the run, and they came with a quarterback throwback that caught us off guard," said linebacker Larry Mason ’01.

But the Wesleyan offense, which averaged 31 points and 438 total yards in the first two games, could not get into a rhythm.

After a big 26-yard reverse run by wide receiver George Thompson ’02 that brought the ball to the Colby 21-yard line, Fay threw the first of his three interceptions.

After breaking school records for total career offense yards and passing yards last week against Hamilton College, Fay put up a subpar performance, completing 19 of 47 passes for 224 yards and three interceptions. He also ran for 19 yards on 14 carries.

The second interception was the most costly.

On the second play of the third quarter, Carlson atoned for his fumble by picking off Fay’s pass at the 20-yard line and returning it to the Cardinal three. Three plays later, Murray ran it in for his second touchdown of the game and the winning score.

"The problem with interceptions in the red zone [inside the 20-yard line] is that not only do you turn the ball over but it hurts the morale of the team," Fay said.

Although the first half was pretty even, the White Mules took care of the football in the second half and did not commit a single turnover. That proved to be the difference, as the Cardinals controlled the rest of the game by racking up 320 yards of total offense to Colby’s 167.

"We took the game for granted… I don’t think there was a lack of effort… but we just can’t play hard and make all the mistakes we did… you can’t be a good team by turning the ball over," Hauser said.

The defense kept Wesleyan in the game and they had one last chance to win in the fourth quarter.

After the Cardinals turned the ball over on downs on the 24-yard line, the White Mules missed a 38-yard field goal, which would have sealed the game.

Fay marched the team down the field, hooking up with Perceval for a 37-yard completion. Perceval was tripped up at the nine-yard line with less than a minute to go, but the Cards had no time outs.

The Cards hurt themselves again by giving up a penalty and a sack. Fay’s last second attempt failed, ending any hopes of an undefeated season.

"We didn’t convert a lot of opportunities we had… we were in the red zone quite a few times but we didn’t do what we needed to do… we had a good game plan but we just didn’t execute it," Perceval said.

Despite the outcome, Perceval continued to tear up the NESCAC, collecting 11 receptions for 121 yards. He leads the league with 29 receptions for 465 yards in three games.

The loss snapped a 14-game winning streak against non-Little Three teams that dated back to the end of the 1996 season.

"This should be a wake-up call, whether we needed one or not," Hauser said. "We had no business losing to that team... and if that doesn’t wake us up then it’s going to be a long year."