The Little Three rivalry has not been kind to Wesleyan on the gridiron this year. Amherst tarnished the potential glory of Homecoming Weekend and the football team’s undefeated record in one fell swoop, and the Cardinals’ trip to Williamstown, Mass., went no better. Miscues again got the better of Wesleyan on Saturday, Nov. 3 as the Williams Ephs capitalized on their opponent’s slip-ups. A lapse in containment here, a missed opportunity there, and the Cardinals fell 19-7 to its traditional rival.
Though Wesleyan’s record drops to 5-2 on the year, the loss was not without highlights. Once again, the Cardinals matched the opposition yard for yard and conversion for conversion, but once again, the game came down to making the most of the other team’s mistakes. For the most part, Wesleyan was getting what it wanted in each individual facet of the game; the execution was simply lacking. Perhaps on another day the ball would have bounced Wesleyan’s way. Such is football when the process is sound yet yields meager results.
Jay Fabien ’15 is a perfect example of that idea. The wide receiver shined on Eph turf, hauling in seven passes for 118 yards on the day, but his impressive output ultimately did not lead to a ton of scoring for the Cardinals. Fabien’s yardage came largely from two completions, a 56-yarder in the third quarter and a 31-yarder in the fourth. The lengthier reception brought Wes to the brink of field goal range, but the offense stalled on the next set of downs and kicker Sebastian Aguirre ’14 went wide right on a 33-yard attempt. The 31-yard catch also looked like it would kick-start a scoring drive for the Cardinals, but Jesse Warren ’15 was picked off two plays later, giving the ball back to Williams and derailing Wesleyan’s comeback efforts.
Outside of that interception, Warren otherwise gave a strong performance in Williamstown. He was just 16 of 33 passing on the day, but he made up for the inconsistency with 248 yards through the air. It’s a good thing he was so productive, because the Ephs defense stuffed the usually stellar Wesleyan running game. A Cardinal had run for over 100 yards in each of the first six games of the season, but no one even came close against Williams. LaDarius Drew ’15 turned his 27 carries into just 59 yards, churning out a miserable 2.2 yards per carry. A silver lining for Drew and the running game came when the sophomore scored on a four-yard plunge midway through the third, Wesleyan’s first and only points of the day. The offense came up empty on its two other trips to the red zone, however, and the team clearly missed its motor on Saturday.
On the defensive side, Wesleyan was prone to flashes of brilliance and befuddlement in roughly equal measure. The positive came against the pass, as the Cards harried Williams’ QB Tom Murphy into a brutal game. Murphy connected on only seven of his 24 passes, good for just 96 yards. Though Nik Powers ’15 registered the lone Cardinal sack on Saturday, the defense was relentless in its pursuit, pressuring Murphy into mental errors. That’s how Donnie Cimino ’15 came up with his team-leading sixth pick with the first half winding down, stymying an Ephs drive into Wesleyan territory.
Unfortunately, no one had any answers for Williams in the ground game. Alex Scyocurka picked up 205 of his team’s 209 rushing yards, the bulk of which came on a demoralizing run early in the first quarter. It was still scoreless then, and Warren had just stuck Williams on its own seven-yard line with a punt. Though it looked like the Cardinals had the Ephs where they wanted them, Scyocurka shrugged off several would-be Wesleyan tacklers on the first play of the drive, taking the ball 93 yards to the end zone. The defensive breakdown gave the Williams a lead it would never relinquish, and it left the Cardinals searching for answers they would never find.
Wesleyan comes home to Andrus Field for its final football game of the season, facing off against the 7-0 Trinity Bantams on Saturday, Nov. 10. Already the most successful season of coach Mike Whalen’s tenure at Wes, this team has a chance to really make a statement with one more win. The Cardinals may not have a shot at the NESCAC title themselves, but they can spoil an undefeated season and a championship for Trinity, and they can complete the winningest Wesleyan football season in 14 years.