It looked like the Wesleyan football team did everything they needed to do to beat Bowdoin on Saturday. They shut down the Polar Bears’ ground game and piled up 353 yards of offense. Yet, once again, the Cardinals hurt themselves with costly turnovers, as they lost their sixth game of the season last Saturday at Bowdoin, 35-10.
“The only way we will be successful as a team is to not turn the ball over and to create turnovers,” said assistant coach John Raba. “We have been preaching that all season but haven’t found a way. If we can win that aspect of the game we will have a shot to win every game.”
On their first offensive drive, Wesleyan moved the ball 68-yards in 5:36 and Chris Helsel ’09 connected on a 27-yard field goal to put the Cardinal’s up 3-0 early in the first quarter. Unfortunately for the Cards, Bowdoin came right back on its next drive. The Polar Bears traveled 64 yards in 4:09 and capped the drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Rick Leclerc ’06 to Jeff Nolin ’06. The successful extra point put the Polar Bears in front 7-3. They would hold that lead for the rest of the game.
After forcing Bowdoin to punt early in the second quarter, Wesleyan started with the ball deep in its territory. On the second play of the drive, Bowdoin’s Dave Donahue intercepted quarterback Zach Librizzi ’07’s pass at the Cardinal 22-yard line. From there, the Polar Bears moved the ball 22 yards on three plays and scored their second touchdown of the game on 26-yard touchdown pass from Leclerc to Nolin.
A 58-yard drive by Wesleyan late in the second quarter ended with no points following a missed 32-yard field goal attempt by Helsel. Bowdoin extended their lead on the following drive to 21-3 on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Leclerc to Scott Brison ’06. The half ended and the Cardinals found themselves trailing 21-3.
The Cardinals came out of the break with a charge and Phil Banks ’07 found the endzone on a short run early in the third quarter. Sadly, it was the last time the Cardinals would reach the endzone in the game. Chris Helsel’s extra point made the Bowdoin lead 21-10, but it only went downhill from there. Bowdoin scored two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and then when it looked like Wesleyan was going to get back on the scoreboard, a Librizzi interception at the Polar Bear 8-yard line dashed the hopes of the Cardinal faithful. The two Bowdoin touchdowns was the end of the offense in the game, and the final score was 35-10 in the Polar Bear’s favor.
Banks led Wesleyan in rushing with 69 yards on 15 carries and led the team in receiving with six catches for 36 yards. Shem Johnston-Bloom ’06 led the Cardinal defense with eight tackles and a forced fumble. Behind Bloom, Wesleyan held Bowdoin to only 79 yards rushing on 37 attempts. However, Bowdoin quarterback Rick Leclerc had a career day. He set the Bowdoin College record by throwing five touchdown passes and helping his team improve to 5-1 on the season.
Wesleyan is still searching for its first win of the season. Their next opponent is Williams (4-2) during the Homecoming/Family Weekend celebration Saturday November 5. The team will try to limit turnovers and come away with the win when they return to Andrus Field next weekend.