In a thrilling overtime win over Bates last Saturday, which took the Cardinals mentally back to their battle with Bates in 2005, fate was kinder to the Cards than it had been a year ago. How fitting, that as an extra point decided last year’s game, a field goal was what clinched the 17-14 victory for Wesleyan last Saturday.
As the final seconds wound down in regular time, Coach Hauser and every other Cardinal could not help but reflect on the outcome of last year’s game with Bates. Granted, circumstances had changed: there was no rain this, no turf field, and no weather forced the game to be played at Trinity. Instead of the Outside Linebacker missing his assignment and allowing the Bates running back a primrose path to the end zone, it was Brian Mahr ’07 who crumpled the opposing rusher in the backfield for a five-yard loss. The Bobcats were now forced to the air, hoping for a first down or, even more miraculously, a touchdown.
But when a blown coverage on Wesleyan’s part resulted in Bates quarterback Brian Colon’s fourth-down pass to the Cardinals end zone, it was the Cardinals who were lucky. An overly enthusiastic Colon beamed the ball directly into his favorite receiver, Matt Gregg’s helmet. Now, without facing the pressure of needing to score as they had last year, it was a level-headed offense that took the field. After driving down to the ten-yard line, Coach Hauser entrusted the game to his kicker, Chris Helsel ’09.
It was a questionable decision at the time, as Helsel had missed two earlier field goal opportunities from 31 and 25 yards. Plus, a similar play cost Wesleyan the game last year; a muffed snap which led to Wesleyan losing by one point in overtime. Things were to be different on Saturday, as Helsel connected on the 27-yarder to clinch the win, improving the Cardinals to 2-2 prior to meeting a strong 3-1 Amherst team.
Quite often, schools will schedule a weak team for the Homecoming weekend, but in Wesleyan’s case it is not that simple. Wesleyan, part of the Little Three along with Williams and Amherst, has a tradition steeped in greatness. Little Three games mean more to Cardinal Alumni than the final record or the score of the Trinity game. The importance of the Amherst game might be the largest advantage Wesleyan has going into this week.
“These games between the Little Three make you feel like you’re a part of something bigger,” said George Smalanskas ’09. “The energy is exciting. You feel like you’re at a Big Ten game.”
Amherst is ranked in the top two of NESCAC schools in five of six key categories. Amherst leads the NESCAC in both pass defense and scoring defense. They are second in rush defense, scoring offense, and pass offense.
In addition to battling a tough opponent this Saturday, the Cards will be fighting the injury bug, particularly the loss of starting wide receiver, Mark Noonan ’08. Noonan went down at Bates, tearing his ACL early in the game, and will be out for the rest of the season. Losing Noonan hurts the Cardinals in many aspects, with perhaps the most important being his role in Wesleyan’s gadget plays, such as the scoring play in the Middlebury game in which he connected with Danny Granatell ’10 for a touchdown.
Luckily for the Cardinals, Granatell rose to the occasion against Bates and went on to win NESCAC Rookie of the Week. He caught seven passes and totaled 111 yards, almost quadrupling his yard total for the year. A big-game player, Granatell stepped up when he has to and will be called upon to fill a very important roll on Saturday.
It will be an interesting game, with Amherst’s starting quarterback, Nick Kehoe, recently named Offensive Player of the Week. It will also feature a vicious match-up, as Joe Pepe ’07 and the rest of the Wesleyan secondary will attempt to shut down Kehoe’s offense and show the home crowd and all the Alumni how they play in big games.
Wesleyan will have a tough time, but the residue of the emotional win against Bates and playing in front of such a large crowd will certainly be an advantage. Kehoe is vulnerable to blitzes, as he is quite uncomfortable in the pocket.
Expect Wesleyan to send the house and rely on zone protection early in the game to keep Kehoe from finding the open man. Offensively, Wesleyan will try to move the ball through the air, but don’t think that they will be afraid to rush the ball, as well. Wesleyan’s five rushing touchdowns this season should be proof enough of that.
The Cardinals must come out hard early on Saturday, because Amherst is simply too strong of a team to come back against in the second half.
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