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
