When The Argus last caught up with the Wesleyan football team, their year had gotten off to a spectacular start with an incredible 41–10 victory over Bates in the season opening game on Saturday, Sept. 17th. Since then, the Cards have gone on to prove that the win was certainly a forecast of even greater things to come, as the team boasts a 4–1 record that ranks them tied for second in the NESCAC standings and gives them a strong shot at winning this season’s NESCAC Championship.

The week after the Bates win, the Cards faced their first true test of the season, as the team traveled north to take on Middlebury in what promised to be one of the toughest matchups on their schedule.

The game got off to a shaky start with a field goal attempt from kicker/punter Daniel Yoon ’24 on the Cards’ second drive blocked through the end zone for a touchback. With two punts from both teams at the end of the first quarter, the score was still stuck at 0–0 going into the second. But the Panthers came through on their first drive of the quarter with a nine-play 54-yard drive ending with a five-yard touchdown that brought the score to 7–0. The Panthers then followed this up with a 52-yard drive ending with a 31-yard touchdown to extend their lead to 14–0. 

Wesleyan fought back at the end of the quarter with their best play of the day with a 92-yard drive capped off with a backwards pass from captain and quarterback Ashton Scott ’23 to captain and wide receiver Logan Tomlinson ’23, who then sent the ball 22 yards to tight end Ezra Jenifer ’23 in the end zone for the first Cardinals goal of the game and cutting the Middlebury lead to 14–7. 

Tomlinson cited the moment as an indicator of the team’s offensive versatility.

“We like to scheme up double passes and other smoke and mirror plays from time to time to catch teams off guard,” Tomlinson said. “We knew we liked the play, we thought it would hit, and we called it at the perfect time.”

The fourth quarter saw no points from either side until a forced fumble by captain and defensive tackle Nick Helbig ’23 gave the Cardinals possession, but after going 4-and-out the Cardinals went for a field goal attempt by Yoon which went through and narrowed the Panthers’ lead further to 14–10. 

Unfortunately, though, as the Cardinals gained momentum, the Panthers came out strong in the fourth with two turnovers and one interception as well as another touchdown, plus a field goal that kept them firmly ahead and secured their 24–10 victory.   

In spite of the loss, there were still some stellar performances from the day with Tomlinson reeling in nine passes for 146 yards in the second highest receiving-yards day of his career at that point in addition to throwing Wesleyan’s only touchdown. The Cardinals defense also featured standout moments, as they held the Panthers offense to 4.02 yards per play, with Helbig recording two sacks and a forced fumble and captain and cornerback Danny Banks ’23 recording his 13th career interception.      

Going forward, the Cardinals were determined to do better and learn some crucial lessons from the game. 

“The captains made us realize that we used the one strike that we had so it gave us the opportunity to get better and fix the bad things that we wanted to get rid of and replace them with good habits,” quarterback David Estevez ’23 said. 

Helbig also noted the team’s improvement in the aftermath of the loss.

“It’s definitely a game that we see as a turning point in the season in terms of our energy and our effort in practice,” Helbig said. “We know that we can’t afford to have a down week at all or else that could happen again.”

With last week’s loss in the rear view mirror, the team approached their matchup at Hamilton on Saturday, Oct. 1st with renewed vigor.

The Cardinals’ tenacious spirit was palpable from the get-go with the team scoring touchdowns on each of their first five possessions. The game opened with a 26-yard run play from Estevez followed up with a 63-yard Estevez pass to wide receiver Chase Wilson ’25, bringing the score to 14–0 in just six minutes of play. Scott then connected with Tomlinson for his first touchdown of the day to cap off the first quarter. The team came in hot at the start of the second with a 2-yard run by running back Owen Brickley ’23 to bring the score to 28–0 followed by another Tomlinson touchdown off an Estevez pass putting the score at an incredible 35–0 at the end of the half.

The second half saw standout moments from a number of young players, including the career debut of quarterback Niko Candido ’25 who threw his first touchdown in the fourth quarter in a 16 yard pass to Wilson as well as a touchdown by running back Kellan Walker ’25 to cap off the game, which ended in a final score of 49–14. The 49 points are the most the Cardinals have scored since 2018 and the most any NESCAC team has scored since 2019.

Banks pointed to the top tier performances of the underclassmen in the second half as highlights of the game.

“A lot of young guys came in and made some big plays in that game so it’s really good to see the younger guys buying into the process and the impact that the older guys have been able to have on them,” Banks said. 

Candido agreed that the older team members have had a strong positive influence on him and other underclassmen’s performances this season.

“Especially the two quarterbacks, Ashton and Estevez, those are my guys,” Candido said. “Last year, I watched them all year. They’ve taught me so much. But also, the leadership from Helbig, LT [Logan Tomlinson], all those guys, you can see the senior class really loves the game and loves the team.”

Coming off of yet another decisive victory, the Cards were resolved to not have a repeat of their week two performance against Middlebury and approached their Oct. 8 game against Colby with the utmost conviction.

“We knew going into the game it was gonna be a real dog fight and to add, one of our new coaches was from Colby so we definitely knew the Colby players were gonna be fired up going against one of their old coaches,” Estevez said. “We were really just focused on executing our game plan and not worrying about theirs.”

It was a slow start for the Cardinals who entered the second quarter trailing 7–3, but the offense wouldn’t be held in check for long as they scored 28 unanswered points in the second quarter alone. The first Wesleyan touchdown of the day came from a 27-yard pass from Candido to Tomlinson deep in the end zone, which propelled the Cardinals to a 10–7 lead. Brickley and running back Charlie McPhee ’22 MA ’23 then ran in back-to-back touchdowns at the end of the quarter. Finally, a 29-yard pass from Estevez to wide receiver Thomas Elkhoury ’24 gave the Cards another touchdown (which was Elkhoury’s first of the season) and secured a commanding 31–7 lead by the end of the half. 

On the defensive side, linebacker Jake Edwards ’24 built on his stellar season recording eight tackles and two tackles for loss. Helbig was also a key contributor, forcing his fourth fumble in as many games. Helbig currently sits atop the NESCAC leaders in forced fumbles with four, twice as many as second place.

The Mules managed to get in one more touchdown at the end of the fourth quarter but could not make up the deficit, leaving the Cardinals with a commanding 31–14 victory. 

Tomlinson noted the victory as indication of the team’s growth so far this season. 

“We took advantage of every opportunity,” Tomlinson said. “We were down 7–3 at one point and then from that point we scored 20 points in the second quarter unanswered. That’s the type of opportunity that versus Middlebury we didn’t take advantage of where then we corrected those mistakes versus Colby.”

Riding high off of their two straight victories, the Cardinals then played hosts to Tufts in the lone night game of the season. With 1,019 total yards combined, the two most explosive offenses in the NESCAC met on Saturday, Oct. 15 in what promised to be a cutthroat battle. 

“A lot of times you hear people say, ‘It’s just another game, you don’t want to get wrapped up in the moment,’” Tomlinson said. “But we really leaned into it. This is Tufts, this is at home, this is under the lights, this is the two best offenses in the NESCAC. So we really understood that this was a pivotal game for our season and that game was gonna tell us what type of team we were gonna be.”

After a scoreless first quarter, the Cardinals picked up speed with a 17-yard pass from Candido to captain and wide receiver Matt Simco ’23 to put the Cards on the board 7–0. Later that quarter, a 40-yard pass from Estevez to Tomlinson (the reigning NESCAC Offensive Player of the Week) on the 3rd-and-16 play set the Cards up for a 1st-and-goal at the 5 and Estevez found Tomlinson open for a 1-yard pass that sent the score to 13–0. 

The third quarter saw the Jumbos bounce back with two touchdowns of their own that put them in the lead 14–13, but the Cards were undeterred and opened the fourth quarter with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Candido to tight end Matt Luttenberger ’24. Tufts responded swiftly with a 74-yard touchdown only a minute later. Down 22–19, Candido then led the Cardinals on a 9-play, 79-yard touchdown drive that was capped off by a Brickley touchdown run that gave the Cardinals a 26–22 lead with less than five minutes remaining. 

Candido attributes his ability to perform under pressure in only the third game of his collegiate career in part to the ability of the team to fully rely on one another.

“It felt really good to be in there and especially during crucial moments and see that my coaches trusted me,” Candido said. “I couldn’t have done it without the [offensive] line and our receivers. All around everyone was just trusting each other which is what you need in a team sport.”

On the final drive of the game, the Jumbos found themselves inside the red-zone with a chance to steal a road victory. But fortunately, the Cardinals’ defense pulled through majorly as defensive tackle Keith Henderson ’23 and defensive lineman Zach Glenn ’25 recorded consecutive sacks to seal the 26–22 victory.

Banks credits the defense’s stellar performance to their ability to stay locked in and focused under pressure.

“We had to rely on our guys and our coaches keeping us in the moment and putting us in the right position to make big plays and to be in the spot to win the game for the team,” Banks said. “We liked having that pressure on our backs so it was good to have that outcome the way that it did.”

Helbig added that he thinks the outcome of the game was indicative of the defense’s progression as a unit.

“The fact that we made those plays in the fourth quarter indicates our team is getting better and able to focus in those crunch time situations,” Helbig said.

Coming up this weekend, the Cardinals head up to Bowdoin, whom they have not lost to since 2011, for their first away game in three weeks. Currently, the Polar Bears are 1–4 and have not won a game since their season opener against the Hamilton Continentals.

But the team knows now more than ever not to take this week a win this week as a given and intends to approach this game with the same tenacity they have with every matchup.

“We don’t want to take anyone lightly,” Estevez said. “Bowdoin almost beat us last year so they definitely have some talent. Going into this week, we’re really trying to not take them for granted and take it as if this is our last game ever.”

Beyond that, the Cardinals still have several more massive games including both Little Three matchups against Williams and Amherst and the highly anticipated final matchup of the season against in-state rival Trinity, which could potentially be the NESCAC Championship deciding game of the season.

While at this point the team is just continuing to take it day by day and not focus too far into the future, Tomlinson acknowledged that the potential for this team is high and he is ready to see what they’re capable of achieving. 

“We have an opportunity to make this season end in a way that when we look back, we can say we did everything we set out to and that’s a rare position to be in,” said Tomlinson. “Any team, the goal is always to win a championship and that’s been no different here. Some opportunities have slipped in the past and we’re face to face with the opportunity again and we want to look back at it as we did everything that we knew we could. It won’t be a story of some insane crazy turnaround. It’ll be more like we had a mission, we knew we were capable, and we got it done.”

Erin Byerly can be reached at ebyerly@wesleyan.edu. 

Sam Weitzman-Kurker can be reached at sweitzmankur@wesleyan.edu.