The Bates Bobcats football team was no match for the Cardinals on Saturday, as Wesleyan evened its record with a come-from-behind 28-20 victory on Andrus Field and improved to 24-4 all-time against its foe from Maine. Although it initially looked as though the Bobcats had the upper hand, as they took a 14-0 first quarter lead, Wesleyan scored 28 points to Bates’ six in the final 45 minutes.

Bates took it to the Cardinals early, scoring easily on its first possession, a 12-play, 62-yard drive capped by a trick play that appeared to be a field goal, but was actually a three yard run to the left for a touchdown. After an interception thrown by QB Blake DuBois ’12, Bates scored on a 32-yard run, and just like that, it was 14-0 Bates after 12 minutes of play.

But the Cardinals fought through their early struggles, scoring the final two touchdowns before halftime to even the score at 14. Steve Hauser ’11 scored both TDs, catching 11-yard and 4-yard passes from DuBois, who completed 18 of 33 passes for 244 yards in the game. Wesleyan special teams assisted the offense during the second quarter; Hauser’s second touchdown came with just 1:20 remaining in the half, following a 43-yard drive that started after the Cardinals forced Bates to fumble a punt snap.

In the third quarter, however, Bates regained the lead, again scoring on its first drive to take a 20-14 lead. For the second consecutive week, however, the Wesleyan special teams forced an opponent to miss an extra point, and thus Bates’ lead was only a six-point one. Wesleyan gained its first lead of the afternoon with 2:51 left in the third, as Hauser made his third and final reception for his third touchdown of the day. The catch was an excellent snag of a bullet from DuBois in the front left corner of the end zone. Matt Alexander’s ’12 extra point finally gave the Cardinals the lead at 21-20.

“Most of the time their cornerbacks were sitting in outside alignments that left slants wide open,” said Hauser when asked to explain his somewhat unorthodox stat line of three catches for 19 yards and three touchdowns. “Towards the goal line we really took advantage of these openings, which allowed for our first two scores.”

Hauser added that Bates began to recognize and correct that weakness as the game went on, but then “We started completing balls on the weak side to Pete Madera [’11 – five catches, 52 yards] to continue drives. [DuBois] and our wide receivers making some big plays downfield really helped us secure the win this weekend.”

The Bobcats, only behind by one, made valiant attempts to regain the lead in the fourth, driving to midfield twice. However, the Cardinal defense remained staunch, forcing a punt first and making perhaps the play of the game on the next. With 5:38 left in the game and the outcome still very much up in the air, outstanding sophomore linebacker Cyprian Oyomba stepped in front of a Bates receiver, intercepted a pass, and ran it back 54 yards for the game’s final score. Alexander’s ensuing extra point provided the final margin of 28-20 and took the life out of the Bates sideline.

The Bobcats failed to make another serious threat, and although the Cardinals couldn’t punch in another score, punter Kyle Weiss ’12 did his part, pinning Bates at its own one-yard line despite facing an 11-man punt block rush with 2:03 remaining.

Wesleyan’s win over Bates was its fourth in a row against the Bobcats and 21st in 23 games dating back to 1983. Although it looked grim early, with Bates taking a 14-0 lead, Hauser noted that the team was determined to pull out the win this week.

“We had to get this win,” he said. “In the past few weeks, we’ve let games slip away from us and we couldn’t afford to have that happen again this week. It felt great to come back and get the win.1-3 was clearly not a position we wanted to be in. Getting this win helped get us back on track and puts us in a much better position for the rest of the season.”

Wesleyan’s 2-2 record already ensures that the Cardinals will finish with a better record than last year’s team, which went 1-7. This Saturday, October 24, the Cardinals travel to Amherst for its first Little Three game of the year.