c/o Wesleyan Athletics
Cardinal football continues its strong start to the season with another big victory, this time over Hamilton, 28–10. This improves the Red and Black to a 2–0 overall record, and avenges Wesleyan’s humiliating loss to the Continentals last year on Family Weekend. Both wins were scored against conference competitors.
The offense did not play as well against Hamilton as they had in the season opener against Colby the week before, but they still controlled the game. The Red and Black continued to lean on the run offense heavily, rushing 39 times throughout the game.
Quarterback Ashton Scott ’22 led the way in the rushing attack, with 21 attempts for over 80 yards. Wide receiver and quarterback David Estevez ’22 also helped the effort with another 10 rushes for over 55 yards. However, Hamilton had a stout run defense and while the Cardinals’ rushing attack did some good work, their production on the ground was not as successful as last week or much of last year.
The aerial attack, led by Scott, was the decisive blow against Hamilton. He finished 10–16 passing for 170 yards, 3 touchdowns, and a 111.98 passer rating.
Scott posted a very satisfactory accuracy percentage of 62.5 while spreading the ball to his receivers. In fact, no player caught more than three passes, while five players gained over 15 yards on the day. Joe Scancarella ’21 caught the first score of the day with a 30-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter while Connor Gregoire ’22 caught two touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters, both in the red-zone.
However, there were some issues on offense, as Scott threw an interception in the second quarter. Wesleyan can no longer boast a perfect turnover ratio. In addition, the Red and Black offense was forced to punt six times throughout the matchup, and only converted three of their nine third downs.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Cardinal defense was able to stop 11 of 18 third down conversions and three of four fourth down conversions. Hamilton had to punt five times.
Sam Kirk ’20 set the pace of the game when he caught a pick in the first quarter. Though he fumbled the ball, Wesleyan kept possession and went on to take the lead with the first touchdown of the game on the very next drive.
John Lewis II ’21 and Isaiah Miller ’22 also got interceptions in the fourth quarter to cement the lead. Ben Thaw ’20 then stole the show with a pick six in the fourth quarter from 30 yards out to seal Wesleyan’s victory.
Jackson Eighmy ’21 contributed eight tackles with a sack and another tackle for loss on the defensive line, with Nick Helbig ’23 and Nick Livingston ’21 both contributing a sack and a half each.
The Red and Black defense is now the second best in the conference, behind only Middlebury for points per game. No other team comes close in turnovers; Wesleyan has had eight takeaways in two matches while the closest teams can only claim to having four.
Special teams were more a mixed bag this week than last. Mason von Jess ’23 missed his only field goal attempt but went four for four in extra points. Disregarding interception returns, Wesleyan dominated in return yardage, gaining 85 yards to Hamilton’s 56. This is even more impressive considering that Wesleyan punted and kicked off to Hamilton far more.
Moreover, Wesleyan was significantly more disciplined than the Continentals, only giving up 3 penalties for 25 yards in comparison to Hamilton’s six penalties for 70 yards. Both the penalties and the special teams success helped mitigate inconsistency on offense to grab this important victory.
This Saturday, the Cardinals will be playing Bates at home. Bates boasts the worst scoring offense in the conference and the second-worst defense, missing out on last place to Bowdoin, the team’s next matchup on Oct. 5.
Jacques Slaughter can be reached at jslaughter@wesleyan.edu.