Wesleyan Game Notes

115th Meeting

Williams College Ephs

vs.

Wesleyan University Cardinals

1:00 pm

Saturday, November 7th

Corwin Stadium at Andrus Field

Middletown, CT

SERIES: Began in 1881 and was the first game in the history of the Williams football program. Since then, the Ephs have compiled a 72-37-5 record against the Cardinals. It is tied with the Amherst/Wesleyan and the Hampden-Sydney/Randolph-Macon series for the seventh most played rivalry in Div. III. Williams is riding a 9-game series win streak.

Williams routed the Cardinals in last year’s homecoming at Weston Field by a final of 48-14, amassing six touchdowns on 471 yards offense. The Ephs most recent loss in the series came in 1999, when Wesleyan won in Middletown 33-28 to end a 15-game Williams win streak and a chance for back-to-back undefeated seasons. The last team to beat the Ephs before that happened to be the Cardinals in 1997, a 28-14 defeat in Connecticut.

COACHES: Mike Whalen (36-9) 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 and can make it five in a row with wins at Wesleyan and Amherst. He is a perfect 5-0 in his head coaching career against his alma mater.

Frank Hauser (68-74) is in his 18th season as head coach of the Cardinals. He too is a graduate of Wesleyan, and also was a member of both the football and wrestling programs before graduating in 1979. Hauser joined the coaching staff in 1986 as defensive coordinator before taking the head job in 1992. He has served as the offensive coordinator and QB coach for the past 13 seasons. The adjunct professor also taught and coached at Glastonbury High School in Middletown before stepping into the role of collegiate level coach. Hauser is 2-15 in his head coaching career 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.  In addition, Wesleyan is providing a webcast of the event. Click HERE and scroll down the webcasts on the right-hand side.

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

STREAKS: The Ephs have not lost since the fourth-quarter heartbreaker at Trinity in week two, and have outscored their opponents 140-41 during the 4-game streak that has tied them with the Bantams for second place in the NESCAC standings. They rolled over Hamilton 42-0 at Weston Field last week in their most ferocious all-around performance on the year. Senior tri-captain Nick Caro tied a single-game record for most touchdown receptions with 3 in the first half for 97 yards. Junior quarterback Pat Moffitt racked up 4 passing touchdowns on 264 yards in his one half of play, while junior linebacker Dylan Schultz caused a combine loss of 37 yards on 5 tackles and 2 sacks.

The Cardinals are riding the coat tails of a dramatic late-game 43-39 victory at Bowdoin. Wesleyan opened up a 21-0 lead early in the game, thanks in part by a blocked punt and 25-yard touchdown by senior running back Shea Dwyer, who earned Special Teams Player of the Week honors for his effort. The Polar Bears fought their way back into striking distance, however, and eventually took their first lead of the game only 1:17 remaining. But the Cardinals converted on a lofty 4th-and-13 situation and scored on a deep throw two plays later to salvage the win and even their record at 3-3. Junior linebacker Justin Freres took Defensive Co-Player of the Week for a bizarrely thorough contribution that included 12 tackles (11 solo), an interception, two forced incompletions, and a fumble return on a failed two-point conversion attempt that he returned 92-yards the other way for two points in the win.

Wesleyan will be looking to avenge a loss at the Williams’ homecoming last year with a win at their own homecoming game this Saturday. They will also attempt to snap a 9-game series losing streak against the purple cows.

BY THE NUMBERS…

30.7/17.5… Points per game Ephs (leads NESCAC)/Cardinals

14.3/21.2… Points allowed per game Ephs (2nd in NESCAC)/Cardinals

220.0/197.8… Passing yards per game Ephs/Cardinals

176.0/237.8… Passing yards allowed per game Ephs (2nd in NESCAC)/Cardinals

172.7/75.5… Rushing yards per game Ephs (leads NESCAC)/Cardinals

67.5/90.8… Rushing yards allowed per game Ephs/Cardinals

+6/-4… Turnover margin Ephs (2nd in NESCAC)/Cardinals (2nd to last in NESCAC)

102.8… Yards per game for Ephs’ Ryan Lupo (leads NESCAC)

63… Total tackles for Cardinals’ Justin Freres (5th in NESCAC)

39.8… Average yards per punt for Ephs’ Will Cronin (leads NESCAC)

222/163… Passing yards for Ephs’ Pat Moffitt/Cardinals' Blake DuBois in last year’s matchup

27… Unanswered points for Ephs’ in last year’s 48-14 win over Cardinals

STARTING LINEUP

Williams College Ephs

Offense

TE -- Jon Carroll -- #86
T -- Steve Denza -- #58
G -- Simon Kloeckner -- #65
C -- Tim Bishop -- #64
G -- Kevin Rose -- #73
T – Mike McGuire -- #54
RB -- Ryan Lupo -- #23
QB -- Patrick Moffitt -- #5
WR – Nick Caro -- #22
WR – Bryce Bennett -- #8
WR – J.C. Stickney -- #11

Defense

DE – Tim Kiely -- #30
DT -- Colin Curzi -- #97
DT – Ben Halbower -- #99
DE – Dan Canina -- #92
LB – Dan Johnson -- #37
LB -- Dylan Schultz -- #55
LB – Pat Barren -- #20
DB – Ben Oliva -- #12
DB -- Dan O'Mara -- #21
DB -- Will Cronin -- #9
DB -- Matt Zanedis -- #27

PK – Scott Sobolewski -- #94
P -- Will Cronin -- #9


Wesleyan College Cardinals


Offense

LT -- Andrew Erlagen -- #65
LG -- Tim Lee -- #51
C -- Nick Seara -- #60
RG -- Matt Sheeks -- #69
RT -- Zach Sadler -- #55
TE -- Mike Ferris -- #27
QB -- Blake DuBois -- #7
RB -- Shea Dwyer -- #5
WR -- Mike Dudley -- #10
WR -- Steve Hauser -- #18
WR -- Pete Modera -- #9


Defense

DL -- Chuck Riether -- #92
DL -- Nick Ferris -- #98
DL -- Pete Sugarbaker -- #95
OLB -- Justin Freres -- #46
ILB -- Andy McKeon -- #97
ILB --Colin Hartwig -- #49
OLB -- AJ Chan -- #42
S -- Jordan Greene -- #24
S -- Cameron Davila -- #2
CB -- Derrick Williams -- #21
CB -- Larry Bellota -- #31

PK -- Matt Alexander -- #80
P -- Kyle Weiss -- #3