WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - The Williams College Ephs (5-1) set the tone of this game early and they upheld an aggressive and urgent level of play throughout the entirety of the 60 minutes in a convincing 42-0 shutout victory over the Continentals of Hamilton (1-5) at Weston Field.
In strikingly appropriate fashion, senior tri-captain Nick Caro, who has battled back from a broken leg suffered against Hamilton last season, tied the program record against the Continentals today for touchdown receptions in a single game with three in the first quarter. Caro joins Nick Gemelli (‘94), who also did it against Hamilton in the ‘93 campaign, as well as Todd Ducharme (‘92), who nabbed three against Wesleyan the in ‘91 season.
"I think [Nick] definitely had a little more motivation under him today," acknowledged Eph head coach Mike Whalen. "We really couldn't be happier with how hard he has fought to get back to the level that he is at right now, and he truly looked like the Nick Caro of old this afternoon. As a coach, those are the kind of stories you love to see happen."
Caro's scores were his only catches on the day, good for 97 yards including a 61-yard reception at the start of the second quarter to put the Ephs up 21-0. Fellow wide-out Bryce Bennet also had a 61-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter, as well as seven additional grabs in the game for a total of 122 yards. Eph junior quarter Patrick Moffitt went 14 for 18 passing with 4 touchdowns and 264 yards in the air in what was undoubtedly his best performance of the year.
"A lot of people look at Pat's statistics and assume he's having an average year," discussed Whalen, "but in reality we've had a lot of dropped passes and we've been inconsistent with our pass protection. Hamilton plays a high-risk defense...blitzing about 80 to 90 percent of the time, and since Pat is a quarterback who always keeps his eyes downfield, we knew that if he could avoid their rush he could make big plays today. He did an amazing job of that and that's why we were able to have big gains."
On the reverse side of the football, the Eph defense notched another outstanding performance on their belt, limiting a struggling Hamilton offense to 10 first downs and 153 yards. Junior Pat Barren and sophomore Dylan Schultz led the unit with five total tackles each, all solo. Schultz also broke through for 2 sacks good for a combine loss of 17 yards. The comfortable 35-0 lead at halftime allowed Whalen to reach into the depth chart for the second half, allotting guys like junior Dan Johnson some much-needed playing time.
"This was the first time all year we had our starting group of linebackers out there," noted Whalen. "We need guys like Dan Johnson to get reps...and the more time we can get him as he recovers the better off this program is going to be down the road. Anytime you can rest your starters and get guys in the game that don't normally see a lot of action, it's a very good thing.... We used to have more of these kind of games, but not as much anymore, so it's nice to be able to have one and take advantage of it."
The Eph defense, which Whalen says he "cannot speak highly enough about at this point," made a statement immediately in this contest, forcing a fumble on the game's second play from scrimmage. It seemed that the Hamilton defense was up for the challenge of matching Williams' tenacity, as they responded with a courageous goal line stand thanks to a timely swat by Continental defensive back Ted Finan on first down and a concerted pursuit of the run on the following three attempts, causing a turnover on downs.
That would be the high point of the day for the Hamilton defense however, as the Ephs went on to convert touchdowns on five of their next six drives. After a punt out of Hamilton's own endzone was partially blocked by sophomore Dan O'Mara, junior Ryan Lupo sprinted out-of-bounds for fifteen yards to the 8-yard line, and Moffitt found Caro two plays later for his first score on a well-executed slant route to give Williams an early 7-0 lead.
Their next score required a bit more effort, as the purple cows stormed down the field from their own 12-yard line to their opponents red zone behind the rushing efforts of sophomore Matt Coyne, junior Tom Wohlwender and Lupo. Moffitt and Caro finished the deal again, this time with a connection from 25-yards out to expand the advantage to 14.
The next two scores came via the aforementioned 61-yard pass plays to Caro and Bennett. On the first play of the series and of the second quarter, senior leader Caro broke two tackles and dragged a Hamilton defensive back into the endzone with him for a quick six. Moffitt was nearly picked off at the sideline on the first play of the next series, but he redeemed himself with a clutch pass over the middle to sophomore J.C. Stickney for a big first down on 3rd-and-long. On the subsequent 3rd-and-even-longer situation, Moffitt scrambled and steeped up out of the pocket to avoid a blitz from the edge, then fired a long spiral to Bennett, who was wide-open in the endzone for the fourth Eph touchdown of the day.
Hamilton did finally manage to stop the Eph attack on their next series, but it did not last for long, as Bennett and Lupo led another march downfield, this one ending with an easy 2-yard run past the pylons by Lupo to make it a 5-touchdown lead. Senior Matt Zanedis punctuated the half with an athletic interception as the Ephs strode into the locker room with soaring confidence.
In the second half, the tempo of the game slowed considerably, but it was still the same story. Coyne replaced Moffitt at the helm, and he found sophomore B.J. Griffin down the sideline and junior Jamal Jefferson in the endzone for back-to-back gains, good for 35 and 27 yards, respectively.
As much time as there was on the clock, it seemed that the 42-0 lead was insurmountable at that point. Any time that Hamilton got something going on offense, a timely interception or tackle in the backfield would dash their hopes. Continental quarterback Dan Peters was picked off twice in the fourth quarter, once on fourth down by O'Mara and a second time by junior Ifiok Inyang. A fumble caused by an untouched KC Murphy (freshman) and recovered by sophomore linebacker Conor Ryan with three minutes left in regulation put a definitive seal on the 42-0 win.
"We knew they were young at the quarterback position, so our focus was to get at him as often as we could," said Whalen. "Our guys didn't have the best practice situation this week because of the flooded field, but we worked hard with what we had, and we worked hard out there today as well.
"Ideally, we would like to be 6-0 going into the Little Three games, but we're gonna work hard this week and we'll be ready to play a very good Wesleyan team at their homecoming this Saturday."
With Trinity's loss to Middlebury today, the Ephs are now tied with the Bantams for second palce in the NESCAC, behind only the undefeated Lord Jeffs of Amherst, who Williams will battle on the 14th of November for homecoming at Weston Field. Next Saturday, the action will begin at 1:00PM in Middletown, CT, where Little Three bragging rights and the NESCAC championship will be on the line and in the hands of the purple and gold.
