WATERVILLE, ME -- Today’s season opener at Seavers Field was an historic game for a number of reasons, but ultimately, it will go down in the record books as another dramatic and important Eph victory, albeit a victory that looked doubtful when Williams was trailing by two with 3:08 left in the fourth quarter.
But the offense, which looked shaky at times this afternoon, pulled it together when it needed to most. Junior Pat Moffit and sophomore Matt Coyne co-orchestrated a 69-yard game-winning drive, capped off by Coyne’s 16-yard touchdown dash with exactly 1:00 on the clock to give the Ephs a 23-19 win.
Williams has now claimed victories in 610 of the 1,000 games they have played in their history, and they have extended their winning streak to four in a row over the last two seasons. The Ephs have defeated the Mules in four of the last five meetings, and they are officially the first team to win at Colby’s brand new Seavers Field.
“Colby’s a good football team and they are very well-coached,” acknowledged Eph head coach Mike Whalen. “We made a lot of mistakes today and they took advantage of them. We were lucky to come away with a victory.”
Indeed, Colby took advantage of a Williams’s mistake on the very first play of the game, when sophomore quarterback Nick Kmetz connected with sophomore wide-out Connor Walsh downfield on a 44-yard play-action pass. The fake handoff drew the Eph backfield out of position, and put the Mules on the Williams 21-yard line. After another big gain in the air on a gutsy fourth down play (this time a twenty yard pass to junior wide-out Patrick Burns) Colby’s senior tailback Dan Prunier muscled his way past the goal line to give the Mules an early 7-0 advantage.
The Eph offense was not as quick to strike, as they gained a total of 76 yards and 3 points on their first four drives of the season. The fifth Eph drive of the first half was their best offensive series of the first half, as they marched the ball from their own 31 yard-line down to the Colby’s 18. Senior kicker Scott Sobolewski, who had knocked home a 29 yard kick to earlier in the second quarter, was unable to convert a second attempt from 35 yards out. Williams trailed at the half 7-3.
“Offensively, we had problems with our execution,” said Whalen. “We had too many dropped passes and too many penalties…it seemed like we had problems with our concentration level out there, especially in the early going.”
Unfortunately, these issues with mental execution carried over into the second half, as Moffit’s pass ricocheted off the chest of his intended receiver and landed in the outstretched arms of Mule senior Roger Bel, who returned the interception 18 yards to the Eph 40-yard line. After a 17-yard facemask penalty and another clutch Kmetz-to-Burns fourth-down conversion, Prunier ran in his second touchdown of the day to extend the Colby lead to ten points. A blocked point-after-attempt, courtesy of Eph senior Ikenna Iheoma, held the score at 13-3.
After unsuccessful drives for both teams, Williams took on their own 24-yard line with 5:25 left in the third and broke through offensively. Moffit found his favorite target, senior wide-out Nick Caro, and they connected for a 31-yard gain which, after a personal foul on Colby, put the Ephs on deep into Mule territory. On a crucial third and long, the Ephs drew a pass interference call, and Coyne finished the drive with a 6-yard touchdown run to draw the Ephs within three, 13-10.
The first Williams touchdown of the year seemed to lift the spirit of the Purple Cows, as tenacious defensive play led to a Colby fumble on the following drive. Senior defensive back Matt Zanedis scooped up the loose ball and took it 32 yards to the endzone to give the Ephs their first lead of the game, 17-13.
“I think the defense played pretty well today,” remarked Whalen. “They came up with some big plays at key moments that allowed us to build some momentum. The forced fumble and the recovery for the touchdown sticks out as a play that gave us a much-needed confidence boost.”
Colby was not deterred in their efforts, however, as they plowed right back down the field on the very next drive via the three-pronged running attack of Prunier, Kmetz, and senior tailback Michael Cuqua. Another costly Eph penalty on fourth down kept the Mule’s drive going, and with 8:53 remaining in regulation, Mule head coach Ed Mestieri decided to go for it one more time on fourth down. Kmetz dove for the goal line from two yards out and just inched through a wall of defenders to reclaim the lead 19-17. Colby kicker David Bendit had his PAT blocked a second time, this one by sophomore Dan Canina. The blocked kicks put the Ephs in a situation where they could take the lead with a field goal.
Knowing that his team needed good field position to start their first fourth quarter drive, sophomore Bryce Bennett broke off an impressive 54-yard return to the Colby 47, but a detrimental clipping penalty nullified the inspired run and brought the spot all the way back to the Eph 19-yard line. A deflated offense was forced to punt after a short drive.
Williams would have another crack at the win however, as the defense got them the ball back at their own 31 with 3:42 left to play. Coyne completed two huge passes to Caro for 15-yards, and Moffit hit him a third time for an 11-yard gain that brought the ball past midfield. Three plays later, Bennett caught another Moffit pass, good for 23 yards, and Coyne carried the ball in from the 16-yard line on the following play, as the Ephs held on to steal the victory from Colby 23-19.
Coyne scored both Eph touchdowns on the game and rushed for 37 yards on 5 carries, while junior first-year starter Ryan Lupo added 57 yards on the ground. Moffitt did the majority of the passing and racked up 153 yards, 69 of those going to Caro. Bennett contributed 45 receiving yards as well. Sophomore and freshman linebackers Dylan Schultz and Chris Cameron led the defense with 10 and 9 tackles respectively.
“It was typical of a first game in that there were a lot of mistakes,” said Whalen. “From what I saw everybody has room to improve. We’re going to have to eliminate the penalties and clean up our game if we want to compete with Trinity next week.”
Next week’s matchup against perennial NESCAC powerhouse Trinity will take place in Hartford, CT at 1:30 PM on Jessee/Miller Field. The Ephs hope to stop the Bantams from taking a 12th straight victory.
