This past Saturday the Cardinals suffered a 53-0 loss to the Trinity Bantams, Division III’s 24th ranked team. The Bantams secured their first undefeated season since 1993.
“Trinity was by far the best team we faced all year. Their run game was real tough because it was supported by some of the biggest and best lineman in the entire conference,” said linebacker Adam Faris ’04.
Trinity’s rushing attack was a notch above anything else as the Bantams’ racked up 464 yards on the ground on 71 carries. The majority the yards were picked up by Bantams’ Thomas Pierandri ’04, who broke the all-time NESCAC single game record for rushing yards with 304. In doing so, Pierandri became the first Bantam running back to break the 1,000-yard barrier since 1996.
“Hands down the best team in the NESCAC. It was the best running game we’ve seen all year because their two tailbacks complement each other well with a great balance of size and power with speed and shiftiness,” said defensive back John Charters ’04.
Even as Pierandri broke the rushing record, what could have been a potential record breaking Saturday for a Cardinal quarterback turned into a bittersweet ending on an otherwise illustrious career. Cardinals quarterback Brennan Carney ’04 came up short of Wesleyan seasonal and career passing records but still ended the season first in the NESCAC in passing yards with 1,951 and in total offense with 1,939 yards. Carney is just one of a group of 21 Cardinals who closed out their careers this past Saturday without every being part of a sub .500 record, helping extend Wesleyan’s current streak to seven straight non-losing seasons.
Though Carney often caught most of the press for the success of this passing oriented offense, he would not have had such great numbers if it were not for his good old Mr. Reliable all-NESCAC wide receiver Pat Moffett ’04. Moffett followed up his tremendous production of a year ago with 42 catches for 804 yards and five touchdowns, good enough to make him the league’s only receiver to average over 100 yards per contest. Although Moffett’s season was tremendous and provided the fireworks, Mshangwe Crawford ’04 also had an amazing season. Crawford hauled in 36 balls for 566 yards, two touchdowns, and produced the breakout season the team needed from a receiver that only had one career reception before the season started. Together, the tandem developed into a dynamic duo that gave defenses fits.
Tight end Dan Long ’04 posted solid numbers even though he was limited to only six games by injury. Long ended the season fourth on the team in receptions with 18 for 153 yards. However, more than any skilled players on the offense, it was the offensive line that made some of the greatest strides. The group made incredible progress under the leadership of Matt Brooks ’04.
The team will also lose three of its top four tacklers. Tom Moran ’03, Charters, and Faris will see their football eligibility come to an end after a season that saw them combine for 184 tackles. As if replacing three of your top tacklers isn’t already hard enough, the Cardinals will need to replace the eight sacks that Mark Nordstrom ’04 and Bryan Kinneen’04 brought to the table.
Along with an offense and defense, the other key to football is special teams, which was never a real concern. Jim Rooney ’04 finished the season with a 38.4 yard punting average, including a Wesleyan career long of 72 yards and a very impressive 10 punts that landed inside the opponent’s 20. While place-kicker Vin Balsamo ’04 did not match his production of last year, he hangs up his cleats having tallied 72 career points as a member of the Cardinal football program.
“Our year in a nut shell was all about playing together because with the unfortunate events of last semester, people expected us to be a team in shambles but it actually boosted team unity and made us feel and play like a family,” Faris said.
“This season was all about the seniors. We had 21 guys who made it though four years of college football, starting or not, but the most important thing was that we finished out our careers together,” Carney said. “Even though the loss hurt, it was a great feeling to be standing next to those guys after the game knowing how much we had all gone through together.”
While the game obviously did not provide the lasting impression this Cardinal team wanted to leave its fans, it was indicative of the problems the team dealt with all season long. Unable to generate any production from the ground, the team was held to –12 yards by the nation’s number one rushing defense. Only one of their opponents was able to score in double digits all season The Cardinals also struggled to hold onto the ball as they lost the turnover battle 4-0, leading to a decisive time of possession advantage for the Bantams, who held the ball for a little over 41 minutes.
“Losing 53-0 in the last game of football we will ever play is not what any of us wanted. It wasn’t supposed to be this way and it was the wrong end to an otherwise good career for all of us here at Wes Tech,” said John Charters ’04.
While the cupboard for Cardinal football is definitely not bare, the team will need many younger players to step-up and fill the holes that have been left at countless critical positions. For now, the seniors can hang their hats on all the hard work, dedication, and commitment they showed to the program. No one will forget last season’s win over Amherst nor all the blood, sweat and tears they left on the field while wearing the Cardinal colors. More importantly, fans will not forget the pride and class with which they represented the Tech!
“There were a lot of seniors on the team so of course we wanted the season to go a little better than it turned out. But besides the wins and loses, the past four years have been a blast. As a group we have stuck together through it all by helping one another out and we are all good friends,” Moffett said. “When we are all old and wrinkly, we won’t remember what our records where when we played but we will remember the friends we played with.”
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