The football squad dropped its home opener this Sunday to Hamilton 17-7.
The game was supposed to be Saturday, but was moved to Friday because of the excessive rain; when it rained on both days, it was pushed to Sunday—the last time Wesleyan pushed a game back to Sunday was 23 years ago, in 1985.
But this Sunday, Andrus field looked great: the sun was shining by the second quarter and the players had no trouble on the surface that was formerly a swamp earlier this past weekend.
“The game being on Sunday worked out great,” said Vinny Colangelo ’09. “The weather was nice, the surface was fine and we had great fan support throughout the game.”
Wesleyan received the opening kick and began the game with good field position. Starting return man Drew Dominguez ’09 had solid kick returns all day. Blake DuBois ’12 marched onto the field for his first collegiate start as quarterback in for the injured Joe Giaimo ’11, who supported his team via webcast from home in New Jersey, where he is awaiting surgery in the upcoming week. DuBois had a good first start, connecting on 18 of his 39 attempts for 264 yards and one touchdown.
“[DuBois] played a very solid game in his first start with the team,” said Ryan Dugan ’10.
Wesleyan’s veteran offensive line did what it could for DuBois as he frequently had time to make plays in the pocket. DuBois’s first drive as a starter, however, resulted in an interception on what appeared to be a screen pass. Interceptions crippled Wesleyan’s offense all day.
Hamilton also started a true freshman, Jordan Eck, who turned DuBois’s first interception into an early touchdown. The Continentals converted a crucial third and one in Wesleyan territory on a run by another one of their freshman, Dylan Isenberg. From the four-yard line, Eck delivered a strike to his tight end for the score in the back left corner of the end zone.
Later in the first quarter on Hamilton’s second possession, Wesleyan made a great goal line stand to stop the Continentals from reaching the end zone again. This set up Hamilton’s kicker George Taylor ’11 for a successful 21-yard field goal. At the end of the first quarter, the Cardinals found themselves down 10-0 to what looked to be a very beatable Hamilton squad.
It took until the midway point of the second quarter for Wesleyan to put points on the board. DuBois put together a dazzling, three-play, 53-yard scoring drive that resulted in a 12-yard hook-up between DuBois to Kevin Leamy ’09. Leamy caught the pass at the four-yard line, shook a Hamilton defender off him and performed a perfectly executed superman leap to the left pylon before the Continental help could get there.
“Leamy played a great game,” said running back Shea Dwyer ’10. “His touchdown was literally all him, as he caught the ball and tossed a defender aside, then beat the pursuing defenders to the pylon.”
Unfortunately, this was the last time Wesleyan would put points on the board. The only other play that looked like it was going to add points to the scoreboard was a deep ball from Dubois to Ryan Walsh ’09 in the first quarter. Walsh, at top speed over the middle of the field between the Continental safeties, could not reel in a ball that surely would have gone for a touchdown. Walsh led the Cardinals in receiving with eight catches for 136 yards.
Hamilton dropped its linebackers into coverage all day against Wesleyan’s freshman starter. The Continentals rarely showed blitz, challenging DuBois to make plays down the field while also preventing him from tucking the ball and picking up yardage with his legs.
The Continentals crushed Cardinal morale in the fourth quarter when Eck lobbed a pass to Hamilton junior Max Foster on a blown coverage, which Foster jogged in for a 55-yard score with 12:15 left in the game.
Wesleyan could not establish its ground game and DuBois had to continually throw the ball downfield to try to pick up third downs. Not to mention the seven penalties against the Cardinals for 70 yards that were drive killers, especially in the second half. And, for the second game in a row, the Wesleyan defense and special teams failed to create a turnover of any kind.
Startomg safety Cameron Davila ’12 led the Cardinals defense with game-high 15 tackles. This was the first time Davila had seen any significant action and he stepped into his role very well, coming up and making ample stops to inspire the Wesleyan defense.
Also notable was kicker/punter Chris Helsel ’09, whose kickoffs and punts frequently forced Continental receivers to back up, resulting in two muffed kicks, though the Cardinals couldn’t recover either.
Wesleyan travels to Colby this coming weekend to try to get its first win, though its Maine counterpart is coming off a huge upset of defending NESCAC champion Middlebury this weekend. The Cardinals took the Mules down last year 23-14 and will look to do it again in 2008 this Saturday.
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