Wesleyan established
a record for greatest margin of victory over Tufts with a 37-7 triumph.
Previously, a 28-4 win back in 1896 for a 24-point margin of victory had been
the greatest for the Cardinals over the Jumbos. The Cardinals rolled to
466 yards of offense behind the throwing of Zach Canter '07, starting his first
game after transferring from Colgate. He completed 26 of 39 tosses for 339
yards and a pair of TDs, those of 7 yards to Tim McGee '05 and 6 yards to Sam
Fletcher '04. Fletcher ended the contest with 11 receptions for 112 yards
while Mshangwe Crawford '04 had seven catches for 97 yards. Tight end
James Wallace '05 had his best day as a Cardinal with five catches for 97 yards.
Phil Banks '07 ran for 95 yards on 28 attempts and scored three TDs to complement the aerial attack
as Wesleyan had 127 yards on the ground. Tufts was held to 197 yards of
offense and
11 first downs. Wesleyan had 25 first downs in the contest. Four
different Cardinals intercepted a pass while Canter was picked off
just once. A key point of the game came at the end of the first quarter
when Wesleyan led 10-7. Tufts defensive back Donovan Brown picked off a
Canter pass at the Tufts 21 and raced 78 yards but was caught from behind by Crawford just short of the goalline.
Wesleyan held at that point with three solid defensive plays combined with a
Tufts penalty and a 26-yard field goal attempt to tie went wide. From that
point, the Cardinals tacked on two touchdowns to take complete control of the
game and a 23-7 lead into halftime. Statistical Summary of Wesleyan/Tufts Game
Wesleyan rallied from a 35-19 deficit
with three TDs from sophomore QB Zach Canter, the final coming with 1:08 to
play to break a 35-35 tie, as Wesleyan rallied for a 41-35 victory here today,
extending Wesleyan's winning streak over Hamilton to eight games.
Canter completed 32 of 77 passes, both team standards
in a game, for 437 yards, both a Wesleyan and New England Small College
Athletic Conference (NESCAC) single-game record, and four TDs. Canter
was named the Gold Helmet Award winner by the New England Football Writers
Association as the top performer in Divisions II and III for the week.
He also earned NESCAC and ECAC offensive co-player of the week honors.
Canter tossed two TDs to sophomore Blake Curry of 22 and 13 yards, the first with 5:04 to go and
the second with 2:59 remaining, then hit Curry twice for the two-point
conversions to even the score at 35-35. When Hamilton was forced to punt,
Wesleyan got the ball back at its own 34 with 1:59 left. Canter hit grad
student Sam Fletcher for 19 yards, then Curry for 21 yards before finding
Fletcher again in the right front corner of the endzone for the game-winning
TD from 23 yards out. That catch was Fletcher's 12th in the game, good for
175 yards. Curry had fumbled on the previous play by Fletcher alertly fell on
the ball to keep Wesleyan in possession at the Hamilton 23. Curry had seven
receptions for 117 yards.
Hamilton QB junior Brandon Holtslag accounted for over
400 yards of total offense as he completed 13 of 37 passes for 234 yards and
three TDs while also coming away as the game's top runner with 179 yards on 26
carries with two TDs. His top target was senior Sean Thorsen, who has four
catches for 105 yards and a TD.
Hamilton dominated the opening 30 minutes with 391
yards of offense to just 103 by Wesleyan en route to a 21-7 lead. Though
Hamilton ended the game with 506 yards to Wesleyan's 418, it was a different
second half as Wesleyan had 315 yards to only 115 by Hamilton.
Hamilton defense was credited with 20 pass breakups as
freshman safety Matt Pitarresi, named NESCAC rookie of the week last Saturday,
led Hamilton with 14 tackles, intercepted a pass and had four breakups.
Junior safety Adam Maxwell paced Wesleyan with 12 tackles and forced a fumble
which he recovered. Statistical Summary of Wesleyan/Hamilton Game
Colby's defense limited Wesleyan to
211 total yards and held the passing offense that was ranked second in the
country in NCAA Division III to just 121 yards in posting a shutout win.
Wesleyan came into the contest averaging 388 yards a game through the air but
Zach Canter completed only 13 of 32 passes for 116 yards and was picked off six
times as Colby held the Cardinal offense in check throughout the afternoon.
Wesleyan twice got inside the Colby 30-yard line only to have interceptions end
the drive both times. Two other pickoffs took place after Wesleyan moved
into Mule territory. Colby kicker John Goss connected on three field goals
of 30, 37 and 45 yards while also kicking two extra points for an 11-point game.
Colby needed to go just 30 yards for its first TD, coming on an 11-yard pass
from Justin Smith to Chris Duncombe just 4:48 into the game. The series
began after Wayne Harrington intercepted a pass that hit the hands of Wesleyan
tight end James Wallace but popped up in the air, making the ball an easy
target. Colby added two field goals before the end of the half for a 13-0
edge. Wesleyan's best chance to score came at the end of the first half,
but a Canter pass from the Colby 13 was picked off in the endzone by Josh Berman
in the closing seconds of the period. Wesleyan opened the second half with
two interceptions in Colby territory, but could not move the ball and had to
punt each time. The Wesleyan defense did a fine job of holding Colby to
268 total yards led by linebackers Tim O'Callaghan (15 tackles), who was named
NESCAC rookie of the week, and Quincy
Francis (10 tackles). Running back Phil Banks had a solid game for the
Cardinals with 19 carries for 91 yards. Statistical Summary of Wesleyan/Colby Game
Bates put an end to the longest
losing streak by a NESCAC team against an opponent entering the 2004 season as
the Bobcats defeated Wesleyan for the first time since 1982, halting a 17-game
skid to the Cardinals. Bates got on the board in the opening quarter when
a low punt snap eluded Wesleyan punter A.J. Taucher and rolled to the Wesleyan
goalline. Taucher attempted to cover the ball but it was knocked out of
his hands by Bates' Matt Capone and recovered in the endzone for a TD with 5:56
to play in the period. Bates took a 14-0 lead into halftime when QB
Brandon Colon burrowed in from a yard out to cap a nine-play, 80-yard march in
the closing minute of the second quarter. Bates kept Wesleyan bottled up
in the third period and scored after a 35-yard march on a four-yard pass from
Colon to tight end Luke Vitas three minutes into the period. Two sacks by
Bates on Wesleyan's opening possession of the period forced a punt from deep in
Wesleyan's end into a brisk wind, giving the Bobcats favorable field position
leading to the third TD. Bates struck again seven minutes later using a
similar tactic as the Bates defense forced three straight incompletions to
create another punting situation that gave Bates the ball at the Wesleyan 34.
Eight plays later it was 28-0 on a one-yard Jaime Walker run. Walker
finished the game with 106 yards on 24 carries. Colon completed 18 of 27
passes for 197 yards. Bates had five sacks in the game to none by
Wesleyan, picked off three Cardinals aerials to one by Wesleyan, and recovered
two Wesleyan fumbles while giving none away. Wesleyan's lone TD in the
fourth quarter came after Joe Pepe burst up the middle to block a Bates punt
which he recovered at the Bates 24-yard line. QB Zach Canter, who passed
for 226 yards, found fullback Brett Mullen in the endzone from seven yards out
to finish off the drive with 6:42 left to play.
Statistical Summary of Wesleyan/Bates Game
Amherst limited Wesleyan to 47 yards in the first half and used a
quick-strike balanced attack to build up a 31-0 halftime lead, then coasted
to its fifth win without a loss this season, 38-3. The
game was televised live by NESN.
Amherst drove 52 yards on eight play
in 4:15 during the opening quarter for what would prove to be the longest
series of the day in terms of time for the Lord Jeffs. A 19-yard pass from
Marsh Moseley to Justin Marcione capped off the drive. Matt Monteith added
an 11-yard TD run before the end of the period for a 14-0 edge. A 31-yard
Dave Bodner field goal, and two more Moseley TD tosses, one of 11 yards to
Jay Wagstaff and another of 10 yards to Mark Hannon, closed out the first
half scoring. Amherst's eight-play, 81-yard march for the fourth TD took
only 3:16. Will Beeson got Amherst's final point in the fourth quarter when
he broke through the line and zipped 48 yards for a score.
Wesleyan's only points came on a 37-yard AJ Taucher
field goal during the third quarter. Wesleyan did make it to the one-foot
line early in the third period but a fumble recovered by Amherst's Bob
Sargent in the endzone negated the potential scoring chance.
Amherst collected 268 yards in the first half and
finished the game with 345 while Wesleyan managed 212 in the game as reserve
QB Zach Librizzi came in during the second half for Wesleyan and threw for
108 yards while rushing for 40 to trigger the offense.
Moseley completed 11 of his 14 passes for 172 yards
and the three scores. Amherst had no passing yards in the second half as
reserve QB Nick Kehoe was 0-for-6 with an interception.
Statistical Summary of Wesleyan/Amherst Game
Freshman quarterback Zach Librizzi,
starting his first game, completed 24 of 41 passes for 308 yards and
four TDs to rally Wesleyan to a 25-21 victory over Bowdoin.
Wesleyan trailed 14-0 late in the second quarter
after Bowdoin got a five-yard run from junior Matt Boyd to complete a
12-play, 79-yard march late in the first period. A 23-yard strike from
senior QB Mike Ferrante to senior Brian Durant made it 14-0 with 2:35
left in the first half. Durant had five catches for 84 yards to lead
Bowdoin in the receiving department. Wesleyan got on the board with :27
left in the period after recovering a muffed punt by Bowdoin as Librizzi
hit grad student Sam Fletcher for the first of his two TD catches from
16 yards out. The extra point missed, leaving it 14-6 at halftime.
Wesleyan scored twice in the third quarter to
make it 18-14 as both two-point conversion passes failed. Librizzi hit
Fletcher with a 21-yard TD and two minutes later found senior tight end
James Wallace from 12 yards out to give Wesleyan the lead. Fletcher
finished the game with nine catches for 140 yards while Wallace had six
for 66 yards.
Junior Ahron Cohen, who entered the game with
just two carries for four yards this season for Bowdoin, had 14 carries
for 63 yards, most of that coming in the fourth quarter as he spelled
senior Rob Patchett, who paced the Bowdoin ground game with 98 yards on
24 attempts. Cohen gave Bowdoin back the lead at 12:38 of the fourth
quarter with a two-yard run, ending a 17-play, 70 yard drive that
consumed 6:02. Cohen ran the ball eight of the final nine plays of the
drive, covering 28 yards for the 21-18 Bowdoin lead.
After each team failed to move the ball on its
next two possessions, Wesleyan got the ball back at its own 33 yard line
with 3:55 to play. Librizzi then completed three of four passes, one to
grad student Gwe Crawford for 17 yards, and two to sophomore Blake Curry
for 40 yards with the game-winning TD covering seven yard to the right
side of the endzone. Librizzi also had a 10-yard run on a QB draw
during the series. The TD came with 2:25 to go.
Bowdoin then drove 23 yards on six plays after
the kickoff, reaching midfield before Wesleyan junior Matt Barnum, who
unsually plays wide receiver and returns punts but also sees action in
the secondary, intercepted a pass at the Wesleyan 28, giving Wesleyan a
chance to run out the clock and lock up its eighth straight victory over
Bowdoin, dating back to 1996. Statistical Summary of Wesleyan/Bowdoin Game
Senior running back Tim Crawley
carried the ball 39 times for 210 yards and scored three TDs of 1, 10 and 4
yards to pace Williams to a 30-12 victory over Wesleyan during its homecoming
celebration. The win was the fifth in a row for Williams over Wesleyan and
sets up a showdown between Amherst (5-2) and Williams in Amherst, Mass. Nov. 13
for the 2004 Little Three title. Both teams have a win over Wesleyan this
season.
After both teams failed to move the
ball on their opening two possessions, Williams took advantage of the exchange
of punts to get great field position at its own 43 yard line. Six plays
later, Crawley was in the endzone for the first time on the afternoon, burrowing
in from a yard out with 6:16 left in the first period. Sophomre QB Sean
Gleeson completed two passes for 38 yards to complement four runs for 19 yards
by Crawley.
Crawley then covered 28 of the 40
yards Williams needed for its second score, that at 12:56 of the second period,
with five rushes, the final going for 10 yards. Crawley capped the first
half during which he amassed 141 yards on the ground with a four-yard TD run at
4:23 of the quarter to make it 20-0. Again, it was a short drive of just
44 yards which included a 15-yard penalty against Wesleyan and 21 yards from
Crawley on five attempts.
After Williams opened the second-half
scoring with a 27-yard freshman Matt Gustafson field goal, Wesleyan got on the
board with a seven-yard TD run from Freshman Garth Mitchell early in the fourth
quarter. The next Williams score followed a Wesleyan fumble at the
Wesleyan 15-yard line forced by Williams senior Dicken Counts with a sack.
A seven-yard pass from Gleeson to sophomore Cory Catelli upped Williams scoring
to 30. Wesleyan countered with an 11-yard pass from sophomore Zach Canter
to junior Matt Barnum with 3:03 to play for the final score set up by senior Bob
Coppola's blocked punt. Statistical Summary of Wesleyan/Williams
Game
Trinity College completed its
second straight 8-0 campaign and extended the nation's longest current
collegiate win streak to 22 games by downing Wesleyan University in the season
finale for both teams. Wesleyan closed out the year with its first losing
season since 1996 at 3-5. Trinity also claimed its third consecutive New
England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) title.
Though Wesleyan scored first and led 6-0 after one
quarter of play on a one-yard run by freshman Garth Mitchell, it was all
Trinity from that point as Trinity took the lead for good with 12:50 remaining
in the second quarter. Junior wide receiver Dan Mackay caught a four-yard TD
toss from junior QB Bill Schweitzer to cap a short five-play, 34-yard drive
and sophomore Kevin Swinarski's extra point gave the visitors a 7-6 edge.
Wesleyan held the lead for 10:32 seconds in the contest before that score.
Trinity had trailed in a game for a total of just 7:23 all year to that point.
Trinity added two more scores before the half for a
19-6 lead as Trinity held a 172-115 edge in total yards. Trinity used a
197-24 advantage in offensive yards during the second half to score three more
TDs, one on sophomore Gennaro Leo's four-yard burst at 13:55 of the fourth
quarter to cap a 14-play, 94-yard march that consumed 6:16, while shutting
Wesleyan out. Leo led Trinity with 16 carries for 93 yards. Senior DB Aaron
Goldstein scooped up a Wesleyan fumble near midfield and raced the 44 yards
for a score to make it 33-6 just 21 seconds later and a pass from Schweitzer
to senior Brad Soules on a crossing pattern resulted in a 38-yard TD with
11:34 to play. Schweitzer, who split time at QB with two other players,
completed seven of 12 passes for 110 yards with three TDs,
Trinity rolled up 242 yards on the ground from its 50
rushes, slighly below its team average of 296 yards coming into the game.
Wesleyan also held Trinity below its seasonal average for total yards of 443
as Trinity collected 369 in the contest. Trinity ended the year averaging 39
points a game.
Wesleyan entered the game with the top passing offense
in the NESCAC, averaging over 256 yards a contest. Wesleyan completed only
seven of 21 passes for 46 yards.
Senior Drew Finkeldey, who entered the game as
Trinity's top runner and third in the NESCAC, averaging over 122 yards a game,
was held to 49 yards on 16 attempts by the Wesleyan defense. Statistical Summary of Wesleyan/Trinity
Game
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