Logo: Wesleyan Athletics

Wesleyan 16, at Hamilton 15

Saturday, September 27, 1997 at Clinton, N.Y.

GAME NOTES

Coming off the bench for the final 21 minutes of action, QB Jake Fay engineered two scoring marches in the fourth quarter to carry Wesleyan to a come-from-behind win, 16-15 over Hamilton. Wesleyan advanced to 2-0 on the year with the win while Hamilton fell to 0-2.

The Cardinals' usual starter, Fay sat out the opening 39 minutes of play with an ankle injury, but was called into action with six minutes to go in the third quarter as Wesleyan trailed 12-3. The Cardinals had mounted just 163 yards of offense to that point while Hamilton had 231. With Fay going 9-for-16 for 153 yards (two of his incompletions were spikes to stop the clock), Wesleyan outgained Hamilton, 176-75, down the stretch but more importantly held a 13-3 edge on the scoreboard.

Going 58 yards on six plays after Hamilton's Greg Bemis connected on a 43-yard field goal on the opening play of the fourth quarter for a 15-3 Hamilton lead, Wesleyan closed to 15-10 when Tom Themistocles bolted over the right side for a nine-yard TD run with 11:44 to go. Forcing a Hamilton punt after the kickoff, Wesleyan again marched into scoring territory and gained a 1st-and-goal at the Hamilton four-yard line with six minutes to play. But Hamilton stiffened and held on fourth down from that point. Wesleyan's Terry Sears made a key stop on halfback Chris Kelly, who led Hamilton on the ground with 25 rushes for 132 yards, forcing another Continental punt with two minutes left. Starting at their own 45, the Cardinals needed a 31-yard pass from Fay to Mike Hakim on 3rd-and-26 (following a sack) to keep their final drive alive. Fay then completed three more passes, the final going to Matt Perceval for 14 yards for the go-ahead score with 34 seconds to go.

Wesleyan stopped Hamilton on its final drive, forcing four straight incompletions. Wesleyan evened the all-time series with Hamilton at 13-13-1.

SCORING SUMMARY 

1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr - Total
Wesleyan (2-0) 0 3 0 13 - 16
Hamilton (0-2) 0 12 0 3 - 15

1st Quarter 
No scoring

2nd Quarter 
Hamilton - Jason Dewar 2 pass from Robbie Peters (kick wide) 14:56 (12-play, 75-yard drive)
Wesleyan - Ben Kozik 27 field goal 7:36 (13-play, 71-yard drive)
Hamilton - Nick Moore 1 run (kick wide) 1:19 (9-play, 47-yard drive)

3rd Quarter 
No scoring

4th Quarter
Hamilton - Greg Bemis 43 field goal 14:55 (12-play, 67-yard drive)
Wesleyan - Tom Themistocles 9 run (Ben Kozik kick) 11:44 (6-play, 58-yard drive)
Wesleyan - Matt Perceval 14 pass from Jake Fay (pass failed) 0:34 (10-play, 55-yard drive)

TEAM STATISTICS 
HAMILTON WESLEYAN
First Downs (Run-Pass-Penalty) 15 (9-6-0) 18 (8-9-1)
Rushing Attempts 42 40
Positive Yards Rushing 199 170
Negative Yards Rushing 22 31
Net Total Yards Rushing 177 139
Net Total Yards Passing 129 200
Passes Attempted-Completed-Intercepted 24-14-0 30-14-2
Total Offensive Plays 66 70
Total Net Yards 306 339
Average Gain Per Play 4.6 4.8
Penalties: Number-Yards 6-46 8-40
Fumbles: Number-Lost 2-1 1-0
Interceptions By: Number-Yards 2-34 0-0
Punts: Number-Yards-Average 5-170-34.0 3-111-37.0
Punt Returns: Number-Yards 1-(-1) 2-16
Kickoff Returns: Number-Yards 4-72 4-100
Fumble Returns: Number-Yards   0-0 1-0
Time of Possession 26:42 33:18
Third-Down Conversions 5 of 14 6 of 15
Fourth-Down Conversions 1 of 3 0 of 3
Sacks by: Number-Yards   3-19 1-7

 


INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Wesleyan - John Pascucci, 23-111; Tom Themistocles, 9-24, 1 TD; Mark Schofield, 4-4; Jake Fay, 4-(-18). Hamilton - Chris Kelly, 25-132, Nick Moore, 9-28, 1 TD; Karl Knight, 5-13; Robbie Peters, 3-4.

PASSING: Wesleyan - Mark Schofield, 14-5-2, 47 yards; Jake Fay, 16-9-0, 153 yards, 1 TD. Hamilton - Robbie Peters, 24-14-0, 129 yards, 1 TD.

RECEIVING: Wesleyan - Matt Perceval, 4-70, 1 TD; Mike Hakim, 3-54; Nate Moore, 3-28; Tom Themistocles, 2-16; Jeff Boutwell, 1-20; John Pascucci, 1-12. Hamilton - Shawn Lyons, 4-48; Karl Knight, 4-17; Kelby Valenti, 3-38; Mike Padilla, 1-16; Dave Stedman, 1-8; Jason Dewar, 1-2, 1 TD.

PUNTING: Wesleyan - Rob Stager, 3-111, 37.0 average. Hamilton - John Manley, 5-170, 34.0 average.

Attendance: 2,000