Cardinal football was looking to start off the season on a good note, but couldn’t follow through with the fundamentals. Not only did Wesleyan have a hard time holding onto the ball when it counted, the team failed to tackle. In their 24-10 loss to Middlebury, the Cards were on their heels from the opening kickoff to the final whistle.
The game started with a Middlebury return for a touchdown and it was an uphill battle from there. Although Wesleyan trailed the entire game, there was still hope at halftime with the Cards down by a touchdown at 17-10.
Unfortunately, the Cards could not execute when it counted. With the Cards driving after the half, Shea Dwyer ’10 fumbled the ball on the goal line, giving up possession.
“Two plays. It’s just two plays that kept us from winning that game,” said Anthony Marsella ’09 referring to the fumble and the play in which Middlebury scored its second touchdown of the game when the Cards missed several tackles.
George Smalanskas ’09 agreed.
“We gotta find people that hit,” he said.
There were some encouraging moments of the game, however. Wesleyan’s defense played exceptionally well considering its special teams were so poor.
Captain Timothy O’Callaghan ’08 had a record 13 stops and 3 tackles for a loss on Saturday, as well as recording 1.5 sacks. Vinny Colangelo ’09 and Peter Overman ’09 were right behind with 11 and 10 stops respectively. Colangelo is trying to fill the shoes of former captain and All-NESCAC selection Quincy Francis ’06. Zach Librizzi ’08 also had a great game, leading the league with a completion percentage of 61.2 percent and marked a 107.6 passer rating this last week.
It will be a long week of practice if Wesleyan hopes to leave Hamilton next week with a win.
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