The Cardinals dropped their final football game of the season on Saturday, taking a 40-6 defeat at the hands of a dominant Trinity squad. The Bantams entered the game riding a 21-game winning streak, the longest stretch by any college football team in the nation. Despite struggling against a scrappy Wesleyan defense all afternoon, the Bantams came away with twenty-second straight win to cap off a second consecutive undefeated season at 8-0 and clinch three consecutive NESCAC title.
The Cardinals took some positives from the loss, after hanging close against a high-level opponent.
“I was happy with the team, we played hard all year no matter what the situation was,” said Joe Pepe ’07. “Especially with Trinity; we knew they were heavy favorites, but it was the seniors’ last game and we came out and played hard for the them. The score wasn’t really indicative of the game.”
The loss put the Cards at 3-5 overall, ending a disappointing season that was the first losing campaign for the team since 1996. An inability to move the ball consistently and convert in the red zone crippled the Wesleyan attack; four of the five losses came in games in which the Cardinals scored seven points or less. Built around an offensive strategy that favors the pass, the Red and Black did have the number one ranked passing offense in the NESCAC at season’s end with an average of 230 yards per game.
The aerial emphasis was lifted for Saturday’s match up, however, as the Cardinals threw just 21 times for 46 total yards. Playing away from its tendencies, the Red and Black surprised the Trinity defense with a rushing charge early on, relying on Phil Banks ’07 and getting some solid gains from Zach Canter ’07 out of the pocket.
On only the second play of Trinity’s first drive, Bantams quarterback Josh Pitcher was picked off by Pepe, giving Wesleyan the ball and quickly spoiling Pitcher’s day. The interception was the first pick given up by the Bantams in 148 passing attempts this year.
“The tight end was open, but the ball slipped through his hands and I just kind of fell under it,” Pepe said.
The interception led to Garth Mitchell ’08 picking up his second rushing touchdown of the season from one yard out to end an 11-play drive from the Trinity 32-yard line. The point after attempt was blocked, and the Cardinals settled for a six-point lead, becoming the first team to hold an advantage over Trinity during the entire 2004 season.
“We showed that when we come to play, we can play with anybody in this league,” said co-captain Shem Johnston-Bloom ’05.
A defensive battle took place over the next 11 minutes, as the Cardinals successfully shutout the Bantams until the second quarter.
Wesleyan’s defense successfully quieted the league’s top rusher, holding Drew Finkeldey to only 47 yards, a third of his average 122. The Bantams finished the game 53 yards below their average for rushing yards and 74 below their average for total offensive output, as Bob Coppola ’05 led all defenders with 14 tackles, six of them solo.
In the second quarter, Trinity took a 7-6 lead on a four-yard pass from replacement quarterback Bill Schweitzer to running back Dan Mackay. With Wesleyan having solved Finkeledey, Trinity offensive coordinators utilized other backfield options, collecting 242 total rushing yards on the afternoon and getting a particularly strong day out of sophomore Gennaro Leo who collected 93 yards on 16 carries. Schweitzer was deadly accurate for the Bantams, completing seven of 12 passes for 110 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Bantams’ rout.
Now in the off-season, the Cardinals must answer a lot of questions about the shape of next year’s team. With a variety of young options at quarterback, it will undoubtedly be up to the returning candidates to fight it out for the role next year. The fight must be won before the start of the regular season, and consistency and confidence will help breed Wesleyan’s next leader from out of the pocket.
The receiving core, though deep, will be thinned out by the graduation of key veterans Mshangwe Crawford ’04, Sam Fletcher ’04, and Tim McGee ’05. The much needed diversification of the Wesleyan offensive attack can only be accomplished by adapting a more complete running game, responsibility for which will rest on the shoulders of the young running core, new talent and a more formidable offensive line.
Defensively, the Cardinals were stronger than the numbers would indicate, as the offensive struggles placed a greater burden on the defensive unit.
The Cardinals showed some moments of brilliance during the season, despite suffering some disappointing stretches, and ultimately not playing to their potential.
“We have the right players in the right places,” Johnston-Bloom said. “It’s about making the plays, the big plays…third downs on both sides of the ball.
”The team was very young this year. We graduated 23 seniors, had only nine returning starters, and some older guys were playing out of position to help us recover from the losses. There are going to be some growing pains in that kind of situation,“ he said.
With an ever-changing league and some promising youth, not to mention the possibilities that exist for next year’s recruiting class, the Cardinals will have a chance to bounce back from the 2004 season and establish a new winning tradition next fall.
”I think we are going to be a lot better next year, because a lot of guys got experience and showed they can play,“ Mitchell said. ”The team really showed its character. We lose a great group of senior leaders on the team, but I think we have a good group of underclassmen ready to step up next year. I think we are going to surprise some people next year.“
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