In what turned out to be one of its closest games of the year, the Wesleyan Football team recorded another win last weekend against the boisterous Bates Bobcats. Wesleyan, now tied with Trinity for third place in the NESCAC, stands at 3-1 on the season. The 27-20 victory over Bates saw two Wesleyan Cardinals receive NESCAC player of the week accolades. Punter and wide-receiver Kyle Weiss ’12, and linebacker Cyprian Oyomba ’12 won the awards for special teams player of the week, and defensive player of the week, respectively. Oyomba, with 16 total tackles, including 10 solos, led all tacklers on the game, and recovered a game changing fumble with the score tied in the fourth quarter with just 1:52 remaining. Oyomba currently leads the NESCAC in average tackling with 12.5 per game. Weiss punted excellently for the Cardinals, averaging 42.8 yards a punt over five kicks, with a long punt of 60 yards. In addition to keeping the Bates offense in their own zone, Weiss also caught two passes for 16 yards on offense.
Neither team saw much offensive success in the first half as the Cardinals trailed the Bobcats 7-0 after two periods. Bates scored with only minutes remaining the second quarter on a fifteen-yard pass into the end zone to shatter the scoreless streak by both teams. However, the Cardinal offense would not stay quiet for long as wide receiver Pete Modera ’11 caught a 35-yard pass from Matt Coyne ’12 for Wesleyan’s first strike of the day in the third quarter. Coyne would go on to pass for 109 yards on nine completions of 21 attempts. After a few defensive stops propelled by Oyomba, the Cardinal offensive capitalized yet again. Attempting to trick the Bates defense, Coyne took the snap and immediately made a lateral pass to Weiss who threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to Modera for his second touchdown reception of the day.
Bates scored the next two touchdowns, failing to make their extra point attempt on their second touchdown to take the lead at 20-14, but the Cardinals responded in the fourth quarter with a nifty 32-yard run by Shea Dwyer ’10. Dwyer, who currently leads all NCAA football players in rushing with 189 yards per game, saw his fourth straight game rushing over 100 yards. With Dwyer’s touchdown, the Cardinals had the opportunity to take the lead with a successful extra point kick, however, the attempt failed, and the game remained tied at 20.
Late in the fourth quarter, after Oyomba recovered the Bates fumble, the Cardinals had one final chance to win the game before heading into overtime. On a 4th-and-1 attempt on the Bates 20, quarterback Coyne faked a handoff to Dwyer and ran the ball 20 yards up the left side to take a 27-20 lead with just 52 seconds remaining. The Bobcats were unable to capitalize in the little time they had left, and the Cardinals walked away victorious once more.
This Saturday, the Cardinals welcome the Lord Jeffs from Amherst College for the homecoming game at 12:30 on Andrus Field. Amherst, who is undefeated on the season, will be the toughest opponent yet for the Cardinals as they seek to improve their record with a fourth straight win.
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