While homecoming weekend saw the warming return of alumni to campus, the Wesleyan football team suffered a cold loss to undefeated rival Amherst, 37-10. The loss brings an end to Wesleyan’s three-game winning streak and drops them from third to fourth place in the NESCAC. The Cardinals were previously tied for third with Trinity.
Throughout the first quarter, strong defense by both teams caused the game to remain scoreless until Amherst found the end zone on an eight-yard pass with less than one minute left in the period. Early in the second quarter, the Wesleyan offense tallied three points of their own off a nifty 22-yard field goal by Sebastian Aguirre ’14. The field goal was the first of Aguirre’s career, as well as the first field goal attempt the Cardinals have tried this season. Despite narrowing the gap to 7-3, the Cardinals were outmatched, as Amherst scored two more touchdowns of their own before the half, the first on a 29-yard pass and the second on a 13-yard pass. Amherst’s quarterback, Alex Vetras threw four touchdown passes on the day, earning him NESCAC offensive player of the week accolades.
Trailing 21-3 at the half, the Cardinals were stifled as the Lord Jeffs maintained their momentum on defense before scoring on another 29-yard pass to go up 28-3 with just over nine minutes left in the third quarter. Amherst went on to kick a 32-yard field goal and score on a one-yard touchdown run with a failed extra point to open its lead to 37-3. Wesleyan finally snapped the Amherst 30-point scoring run with a touchdown of their own after a successful 70-yard drive, scoring a touchdown on a 1-yard plunge by Shea Dwyer ’10 with just under one minute left in playing time.
Dwyer, who came into the game having rushed for an average of 189 yards per game, accumulated just 95 yards on 25 attempts. In strategizing against Wesleyan, Amherst knew their ground defense would have to stand strong to limit Dwyer, who has scored 11 of the 17 Cardinal touchdowns this season. While rushing for only half of his average yards per game this season, Dwyer now has 871 yards on the season, just 20 yards shy of the Wesleyan single season rushing record. The Cardinals still have three games left to play.
Next week the Cardinals will once again be at home to take on the Polar Bears from Bowdoin on Oct. 30, at 1 p.m. Bowdoin is in a tie for last place with four other NESCAC teams and has just one win on the season.
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