22nd Meeting

Williams College Ephs (1-1)

vs.

Bates College Bobcats (0-2)

1:00 pm

Saturday, October 10th

Weston Field

Williamstown, MA

SERIES: Began in 1988. Williams holds a commanding 20-1 lead in the series. The lone Bobcat victory came in 2003 when they stunned Williams 10-7 at Weston Field and snapped a string of fifteen straight Eph wins over the Bobcats.

In last year’s matchup at Garcelon Field in Maine, Bates struck early in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead. However, the Bobcats were unable to score again until the final two minutes of play, as Williams reeled off 27 unanswered points en route to a 27-14 road victory. The Ephs would take four out of their next five games to finish the year 6-2.

The 2007 season was last time these two squads squared off at Weston Field, and that game also saw Bates with the early lead, a 20-0 advantage they held late into the second quarter. The Ephs clawed their way to within one point by the third quarter, and eventually won the contest 31-26 to avoid an 0-3 start. Williams would rally to sweep their remaining five games that year to finish with a 6-2 record.

The Williams - Bates game from the 2000 season is the only one of the series to go into overtime, resulting in a 17-14 Eph victory.

The Ephs have shutout the Bobcats six times total over the twenty-one years of competition, the most recent one coming in 2002, 24-0.

COACHES: Mike Whalen (33-9) is in his sixth year as Eph head coach this season. During his stint, Williams has never finished worse than 6-2. Whalen was the head coach of the Williams wrestling program from 1996 to 2003, during which time he also served as the Ephs offensive line coach. He held the title of offensive coordinator in his last three years as an assistant coach.

Whalen led the 2006 Ephs to the sixth perfect season in Williams history, extending the Eph win streak at the time to 14 and earning NESCAC Coach of the Year honors. He was also the only New England coach to finish in the top 25 in Liberty Mutual's Coach of the Year program among coaches in all divisions.

Whalen graduated from Little Three rival Wesleyan in 1983, where he was captain of both the football and wrestling squads. He earned All-New England and All-American honors three times in his athletic career, and has coached football at Springfield, Penn, Lafayette, and Colgate.

Whalen has led Williams to four consecutive Little Three titles. He is 5-0 in his head coaching career against Bates.

Mark Harriman (18-62) is in his 11th season as head coach of the Bobcats. He also serves as the team’s defensive coordinator and the inside linebacker coach, as well as the assistant director of the college’s athletics program. Harriman has won two CBB (Colby-Bates-Bowdoin) titles in his head coaching tenure. He has a 1-10 record against Williams.

RADIO - INTERNET: The Williams College student station, WCFM (91.9 FM) will air the game live locally and on the Internet. To hear the game on the Internet on WCFM go to wcfm.williams.edu and click on the Listen Live link.

W-A-T-C-H or Listen on TEAMLINE: TEAMLINE is a pay-to-view and a pay-to-listen service for this contest. You can access TEAMLINE on the Internet by clicking here.

TELEPHONE: Dial TEAMLINE at 1-800-846-4700 and follow the prompts. The Eph access code is 0126.

LIVE STATS LINK: Click here.

STREAKS: Williams had a four-game win streak ended last week in a loss at Trinity, 26-21. The Bantams claimed victory after recovering an onside kick, and they marched the ball down the field for a game-winning score with just seconds remaining.

Bates has dropped their first two games of the season to Trinity and Tufts, and they are looking to end a five-game win streak by the Ephs in the series and a two-game streak on Weston Field.

BY THE NUMBERS…

22.0/10.5… Points per game Ephs/Bobcats

22.5/25.0… Points allowed per game Ephs/Bobcats

191.0/190.5… Passing yards per game Ephs/Bobcats

193.5/160… Passing yards allowed per game Ephs/Bobcats

107.5/81.5… Rushing yards per game Ephs/Bobcats

79.0/179.0… Rushing yards allowed per game Ephs/Bobcats

196/167… Passing yards in last year’s matchup for Ephs’ Patrick Moffitt/Bobcats’ Ryan Katon

88/55… Receiving yards in last year’s matchup for Ephs’ Nick Caro/Bobcats’ Matt Gregg

8/11… Total tackles in last year’s matchup for Ephs’ Dan Johnson/Bobcats’ Ted Durkin

91.0… Rushing yards per game for Ephs’ Ryan Lupo (leads NESCAC)

137.0… All purpose yards per game for Bobcats’ Tom Beaton (3rd in NESCAC)

STARTING LINEUPS

Williams College Ephs

Offense

TE -- Jon Carroll -- #86
T -- Graham McCulloch -- #72
G -- Simon Kloeckner -- #65
C -- Tim Bishop -- #54
G -- Kevin Rose -- #73
T -- Mike McGuire -- #54
RB -- Ryan Lupo -- #23
QB -- Patrick Moffitt -- #5
WR -- Nick Caro -- #22
WR -- Tommy Tysse -- #1
WR -- Todd Schnuck -- #81

Defense

DE -- E. J. Toppin -- #29
DT -- Colin Curzi -- #97
DT -- Nichola Mirkovic -- #56
DE -- Tim Kiley -- #30
LB -- Chris Cameron -- #42
LB -- Dylan Schultz -- #55
LB -- Eric Anderson -- #43
DB -- Ikenna Iheoma -- #25
DB -- Dan O'Mara -- #21
DB -- Will Cronin -- #9
DB -- Matt Zanedis -- #27

K -- Chris Cleary -- #14
P -- Will Cronin -- #9


Bates College Bobcats

Offense

LT -- Dave Myerson --#75
LG -- Justin Medeiros -- #78
C -- Tom Berry -- #59
RG -- Matt Conetta -- #52
RT -- Mark Sylvester -- #70
TE -- Sean Wirth -- #87
WR -- Matt Gregg -- #4
WR -- Tom Beaton --#1
QB -- Ryan Katon -- #8
HB -- Ryan Weston -- #82
RB -- Judd Smith -- #25

Defense

DE -- Rich McNeil -- #49
DT -- Devin Horvath -- #90
DT -- Mark Liu -- #91
DE -- Tyler Kuehl -- #96
OLB -- Brett McAllister -- #24
ILB -- Santo Dettore -- #47
ILB -- Ted Durkin -- #46
OLB -- Myles Walker -- #41
CB -- Kyle Starr -- #3
FS -- Kyle McAllister -- #28
CB -- Cam Evans -- #14

K/P -- Gavin Segall-Abrams -- #16
LS -- Sean Wirth -- #87