After losing star running backs Evan Bunker ’14 and Ben Crick ’14, the Bantams needed to turn to someone who would take over their dominant roles. Chudi Iregbulem ’15 has risen to the occasion. Iregbulem racked up one touchdown in his first three years at Trinity, so nobody knew what to expect out of the mysterious running back this year. Well, needless to say, Iregbulem has dominated the NESCAC. In his first game he scored three touchdowns in a rout against Colby. Iregbulem earned NESCAC Player of the Week honors, which sparked some chatter around the league. Three touchdowns for any player is outstanding, but for Iregbulem’s first start, it was downright impressive. Some might have said it was beginners luck, but Iregbulem answered with another dominant performance at Williams. He ran over Williams for three touchdowns, and caught one through the air. This established Iregbulem as a dominant player within the league. Hamilton seemed to have the answer for the Bantam back in Week 3, but he adjusted to rip through Tufts in Week 4. His best game by far came against Tufts this last week. Iregbulem earned another NESCAC Player of the Week award, and rightfully so. He ran for 184 yards, and found his way into the end zone four more times.
After not playing much his first three years, Irregbulem finally has the starting role, and he credits his success to multiple things.
“I’d say the biggest reason is the hard work I put in in the offseasons, knowing I would eventually get my chance. Also, due to the fact that we always have one of the strongest offensive lines in the league year after year.”
As of now, Iregbulem leads the league in touchdowns and has made his presence known. Many skeptics felt that Trinity would be at a major loss without their two running backs, but Iregbulem has silenced those skeptics. As the schedule strengthens down the stretch, Trinity is going to need their new star running back to come to play and continue his domination of the NESCAC. Trinity has came back from last years disappointing season with a vengeance, and much of this success has been a result of the commanding play by Iregbulem and their brick wall of an offensive line.
None of this would be possible without the holes big enough to drive a Cadillac through, created by the offensive line. Led by Matt Porter ’16, Joe Magardino ’15, Matt Flynn ’15, and Jake Golden ’15, the Bantam’s O-Line has paved way for the team to average 265.2 rushing yards per game. The two biggest questions of this year’s team were, how would the quarterback position perform, and how would the running game respond to the loss of Crick and Bunker? So far, both of these answers have been answered because of the guys up front.
Irregbulem is leading the league in every rushing category, and unseen in the box scores, has broken off a couple of huge runs that have swung the momentum of games. A perfect example of this is during last week’s game against Tufts. Tufts was giving Trinity a game as the Bantams found themselves looking at a 4th and 1 on the Tufts’ half of the field, in no man’s land (too far for a field goal, too close to punt). Irregbulem ran between the left side of the line, easily gained the yardage for a first down, then went on to make a safety miss and scored easily. Porter, a Junior from Chicago, IL has anchored the left side and has been playing just as an important role as Irregbulem in Trinity’s 4-0 record so far.
Porter says, “this year the line has more chemistry and we trust each other more. We are all confident and have the trust of the other skill position players.”
It should be no surprise to anyone why they have the trust of the rest of the team. Trinity leads the NESCAC in yards per game, averaging 413.5 ypg.
Trinity is currently 4-0 and getting hot at the right time. With Middlebury, Amherst, and Wesleyan to finish the season, the Bantams will have to play nearly flawless down the stretch. However they are not overlooking this week’s Bowdoin team who, despite being 2-2 and looking sluggish at times, tends to give Trinity difficulty.
“They always give us trouble” said Coach Devanney when talking about this week’s matchup. However, this year’s team knows what it’s going to take if they are going to reclaim the NESCAC title after missing out last year.
From Irregbulem: “I’d say that on offense we have an underdog mentality primarily because nobody in the league knew what to expect from our offense with the loss of Bunker and Crick. We’ve made it a mission to make a statement every game and play like we have a chip on our shoulder. In past years we played complacent at times because the offensive unit had been dominant for so long. But this year there’s a renewed sense of urgency and preparation for each game.”
If the O-Line keeps creating Moses parting the Red Sea type holes and Irregbulem keeps finding his way through them into the end zone, Trinity should put themselves in good position to reach Week 8 still undefeated and with a chance to take the NESCAC title.
