Tag: Coach Murray

It Is What It Is: 2019 End-of-Season Power Rankings

(1) 1. Middlebury (9-0)

No surprises here – the Panthers capped off the first 9-0 season in NESCAC history with a convincing victory over Tufts in Medford. Rookie RB Alex Maldjian ’23 led the league in rushing with 905 yards on the season (100.6 per game) and he seems to be a shoe-in for the NESCAC Rookie of the Year award. The receiving corps took a big step up this year and that was in large part due to the enormous improvement of QB Will Jernigan ’21. The Georgia native must have spent the summer implementing the TB12 method because he looked like an entirely different quarterback this year than he did last year. As a sophomore in 2018, Jernigan was 8th in the league with 127 passing yards per game and 10 touchdowns on the year. In 2019 he finished 2nd in the league with 221 passing yards per game and 16 touchdowns. It’s starting to make sense why they went from 5-4 in 2018 to 9-0 this season. 

It would also be impossible to talk about this Middlebury team without talking about the defense – this unit led the NESCAC in interceptions and sacks, terrorizing opposing teams all year. The junior LB duo of Pete Huggins ’21 and Jack Pistorius ’21 finished tied for 4th in the conference in tackles with 72 each, they were both top-10 in TFLs, and they each added an interception for good measure. These guys would both be the best linebacker on any other team and the Panthers have them both! DB Kevin Hartley ’20 finished tied for 1st with 5 interceptions on the year and both Michael Carr ’20 and Finn Muldoon ’23 were top-10 in the NESCAC in picks as well. There’s no controversy this year – it’s safe to say that Middlebury was the best team and they proved it. Of their 9 games on the year, 6 of them were decided by one score or less and those include a double overtime victory at Amherst and a one-point scare against Colby. No matter who they were up against the Panthers were able to do just enough to find a way to win and that’s what championship teams do. Congrats to Panther Nation.

(3) 2. Wesleyan (8-1)

We’ve taken a lot of heat from Wesleyan fans over the past few weeks and deservedly so. Not a single one of us here at NbN believed that the Cardinals would be able to go 8-1 or honestly even 7-2. Even after their 5-0 start I thought that they were going to finish 6-3 or maybe even 5-4 given that they closed out the season with Middlebury, Amherst, Williams, and Trinity. Well they absolutely proved us wrong and I’m willing to admit that. Ashton Scott ’22 looks like the next star quarterback of the NESCAC and he made a legit POY case with his 17:3 TD:INT ratio and a league-leading completion percentage. Scott couldn’t have done it without the help of fellow classmate and breakout star Matthew Simco ’22 who finished 4th in the conference in both receiving yards and touchdowns, while finishing 3rd in receptions. The duo of Ben Thaw ’20 and Danny Banks ’22 are likely the best DB combo in the NESCAC with Thaw leading the league in picks and pass break ups and Banks coming in at 2nd in picks and 3rd in PBUs. The fact that Wesleyan was able to take down Amherst and Williams in consecutive weeks and going to 3 overtimes in the process is incredibly impressive and frankly it’s a shame that they couldn’t put up more of a fight against Middlebury because that would’ve been a ton of fun to watch. Either way this was a very impressive year for the Cardinals and with all the youth on their roster I don’t think this will be the last we’re hearing from these guys…

(2) 3. Williams (7-2)

I just want to go on record and say that if they’re able to avoid any major injuries to key players next year, the Ephs are my pick to win the 2020 NESCAC Championship. Yeah they lost two games this year and they lost those two games fair and square, but I really think this is the best team in the league. QB Bobby Maimaron ’21 has my vote for Offensive Player of the Year with his league leading 20 TDs and 2 INTs (also good for the best TD:INT ratio), while also adding the 4th most rushing yards in the conference. These are pretty incredible numbers and they’re also very difficult to sustain given that Williams almost exclusively runs RPOs. This kid is a stud. WR Frank Stola ’21 got off to one of the best starts to a season in recent memory for a receiver and Coach Raymond took full advantage, often using Stola as a decoy to draw away defenders during a few of their games later in the year. What may have taken the most pressure off of Maimaron was the Ephs’ menacing defense that led the league in both yards and points allowed. That’s how you keep your team in games. They say that defense wins championships so if this defense can ride the momentum into next year then it will be a very long season for anyone not wearing purple and gold.

(5) 4. Trinity (5-4)

In hindsight I kind of feel like we made the same mistake for Trinity that we did for Wesleyan, but the other way around. Because of their recent history, we assumed that the Bantams were pretty much the favorite for every game they played in. It turned out that they really weren’t that good this year, at least not by their standards. We all know how Coach Devanney loves running up the score so they had some lopsided victories over the Maine schools but when it came to the upper echelon of the league they really struggled. It took the Bantams until the 4th quarter to put away Hamilton and their 21-7 win over Amherst isn’t as impressive as it usually is because the Mammoths weren’t that great this year either. They lost one-possession games to Tufts, Middlebury, and Wesleyan, exposing their immaturity and showing that they tended to panic when time was winding down. Realistically this year is probably nothing more than a speed bump for this perennial powerhouse, but with the re-emergence of Williams and the improvements of Hamilton it’s time for the Bantams to start watching their backs.

(6) 5. Hamilton (4-5)

I’m really torn about what to say here because I was fully prepared to write a rave review about this year’s Continental team until they totally blew it in their final game against Bates. If you’re up 21-0 in the first half against a team that has only won once in the last two years then there’s really no excuse not to close that one out. With that being said, there are still a ton of positive takeaways from this season for Hamilton. They were able to beat both Amherst and Tufts for the first time in a while and they battled with Trinity until the final whistle. The emergence of David Kagan ’20 as a legitimate threat out of the backfield was huge to ease the burden for QB Kenny Gray ’20 who has really carried this team for the last four years. They also benefitted from an experienced trio of receivers in Christian Donahoe ’20, Will Budington ’21, and Sam Robinson ’20, each of whom stepped up in big moments, particularly given that WR Joe Schmidt ’20 was battling injury. I also think kicker Sam Thoreen ’22 deserves recognition because this guy is truly the best kicker in the league – he was a perfect 10/10 on field goals and 23/25 on extra points, giving him 53 points on the year which trailed only Mason Von Jess ’23 of Wesleyan. Coach Murray has done an outstanding job with this program and they are absolutely headed in the right direction, but they lose a lot to graduation this year so now we’ll have to wait and see if they can continue this positive trend with a new generation of faces.

(4) 6. Amherst (4-5)

Much like the Bantams’ season, this one was a disappointment for the Mammoths. Their first losing season since 1993 is definitely tough to swallow, particularly when so many of their games were decided in the final minutes or even seconds. It sort of felt like they were losing steam every game – once they suffered their first loss in double overtime to Middlebury things really started to spiral out of control. They easily took down Bowdoin the following week but then blew an 11-point lead with 4 minutes left against Hamilton, lost in double overtime again, this time to Wesleyan, and were smacked in their final two games against Williams and Trinity to close out the year on a 4-game losing streak. It seems to me that we should have treated Amherst like we treated Wesleyan earlier in the year – they started the year with the easier portion of their schedule and took care of business, but struggled mightily against the top teams and at times seemed overmatched. This is pretty much what we expected the Cardinals to do, but instead they went the other direction and got better as the year went on, playing some of their best games late in the year and beating a few of the top teams. 

It’s clear that they really felt the losses of RB Jack Hickey and LB Andrew Yamin from last season because those guys were two of the best playmakers in the league. It felt like the Mammoths were lacking star power at times and that really showed; QB Ollie Eberth ’20 saw his interception totals balloon from just 1 last season to 13 this season. Thirteen!! That’s a ridiculous increase and it’s pretty much because he was only throwing to one guy. WR James O’Regan ’20 had twice as many touchdowns (8) as any other player on their roster and he had more than double the amount of receiving yards as the next most on the team. It’s hard to make things happen when defenses know exactly who you’re trying to get the ball to. This is definitely a season to forget for Amherst and they’ll lose their top two offensive players to graduation this year so it’ll be interesting to see who they bring in to replace these key pieces.

(7) 7. Tufts (4-5)

This was a really weird year for the Jumbos. It felt like every week a different team came to play. They felt the high of beating the defending champion Bantams in Week 1 and the low of getting blown out by Hamilton at home in Week 7. QB Jacob Carroll ’20 quietly led the league with 247 passing yards per game and was 2nd with 19 touchdown passes, but was sloppy with the ball at times and threw more interceptions than anyone in the league besides Eberth. QB Trevon Woodson ’23 looked excellent in his short stints as the backup, so it’s possible that they have a more than capable replacement waiting for next season. WR Frank Roche ’20 had an outstanding year as he led the league with over 100 receiving yards per game and was 2nd with 10 touchdowns, but they didn’t have many other receiving threats and the run game was essentially non-existant. LB Greg Holt ’20 led the league in tackles and will soon receive another All-NESCAC selection, but the defense was nothing special and forced the fewest turnovers of anyone besides Bowdoin. It seems like Coach Civetti is faced with a similar challenge to some of the other coaches in the league: his first generation of star players (i.e. Chance Brady, Ryan McDonald) have come and gone and now he has to continue the trend. All the pieces are in place to do that, but it’s hard to know what to expect from the Jumbos moving forward.

(9) 8. Bates (2-7)

Easily my most controversial* pick in the end-of-season rankings is putting Bates ahead of a Colby team that beat them head-to-head and finished with an identical record. It’s easy to forget, however, that the Bates-Colby game was all but won by the Bobcats when they scored a would-be game-winning touchdown in the final minutes before it ended up being nullified by one of those classic phantom holding flags that we’re all accustomed to in the NESCAC. It seemed like they only gained momentum from there because they destroyed Bowdoin the next week and successfully orchestrated a 21-point comeback against Hamilton in the final game to end up with a more respectable 2-7 record. Brendan Costa ’21 is probably the most underrated quarterback in the league and he showed towards the end of this year that not only can he run and throw at a high level, but he can lead crucial drives late with the game on the line. This type of thing only comes with experience and that’s something that Costa surely has now that he’s spent nearly 3 full years as the starter. The Bobcats also showed that they have some real offensive threats, although nearly all of them battled injuries this year. Christian Olivieri ’22, Jackson Hayes ’22, Sean Bryant ’22, and Mohamed Diawara ’23 are the core of a receiving unit that has seen some serious improvements and their committee of running backs headlined by Liam Spillane ’21, Jaason Lopez ’21, and Tyler Bridge ’23 looked competitive with the best of them in spurts. As evidenced by the plethora of underclassmen mentioned so far, Bates isn’t losing much to graduation this year. If they can add a few more pieces and pick up where they left off then this will be a very different Bobcat team in 2020.

*Yes, I do believe that the words “controversial” and “biased” can be used interchangeably.

(8) 9. Colby (2-7)

I’d say this ended up being a pretty standard season for Colby football. They were mildly competitive in some games, beat Bates and Colby, and gave Middlebury their biggest scare of the season. When the dust settled they found themselves the winners of the CBB for the second year in a row and because I anticipate hearing from someone how it’s ludicrous to put Bates ahead of Colby, I will address it – I was at the Bates-Colby game and to be blunt the Bobcats were the better team that day. Yeah they lost, but outplaying Colby and having the referees take away a win does not go unnoticed. The better team doesn’t always win in sports and that was the case here. The Bobcats went on to solidify this claim by taking down Hamilton (who obliterated the Mules in Week 3) in their final game.

At the end of the day, this was not a terrible season for Colby. Winning the CBB is still something to be proud of and QB Matt Hersch ’22 had himself a solid second season, averaging over 200 yards per game through the air. Chris George ’20 emerged as the replacement for Jake Schwern out of the backfield and he had a solid year, as did receivers Andrew DeFranco ’20 and Rory Glavin ’21. LB Marcus Bullard ’21 finished 3rd in the NESCAC in tackles, but other than him the defense was unremarkable. The Mules were 2nd to last in the league in sacks so the defense really wasn’t able to get much pressure on opposing quarterbacks. They were also 2nd to last in rushing yards allowed per game, so the front 4 will need to be a point of emphasis heading into next season. Colby has nothing to be ashamed of after this season, especially after nearly taking down the league champs in Week 5. Coach Cosgrove now has 2 consecutive 2-win seasons, so the bar is set. 3 is the magic number.

(10) 10. Bowdoin (0-9)

It can’t be fun to be a Bowdoin Polar Bear football fan. Last in the almost every statistical category on both sides of the ball in 2019, 1 win over the last 4 years, and a new coaching staff that has an uphill battle every step of the way. RB Nate Richam-Odoi ’20 was 2nd in the conference in rushing yards; though he was pretty much the only bright spot on the offensive side except for maybe RB Brendan Ward ’22 who had a team-high 4 touchdown catches. LB Joe Gowetski ’20 finished with 84 tackles on the year, which was good for 2nd in the NESCAC, but the same could be said for him as Richam-Odoi – they didn’t really have anyone else on defense who made an impact and Gowetski couldn’t do it all himself, so it was a very long year. Hopefully Coach Hammer has a good recruiting class lined up for next year because things are looking grim otherwise.

Only Pride on the Line: Stock Report 11/6

Stock up

Bates Bobcats

In the interest of full disclosure I just want to say that I’m a senior at Bates and I’ve been waiting to write this “stock up” for a very long time. It’s no secret that this has been a frustrating past two years – losing 16 games in a row after a coaching change definitely makes you scratch your head a little. There is also quite a bit of flukiness that comes with a losing streak that long – they were a blocked PAT away from heading to overtime with Middlebury last season, they nearly orchestrated a 19-point comeback against Tufts in Week 4 this year, a phantom holding call nullified a would-be game winning touchdown against Colby in Week 7, and the injury bug bit at the wrong time over and over again. Well, I’m very happy to say that the streak is finally over and Bobcat fans can sleep easy for the first time in 728 days.

In all honesty, Bowdoin came out on Saturday and looked like they were playing against the Max Chipouras-era Trinity Bantams. Bates absolutely steamrolled the Polar Bears, outgaining them in total offense 523-296 and shutting down Nate Richam ’20 who has really been the only reliable threat in Brunswick. Brendan Costa ’21 played another very nice game, hitting WR Jackson Hayes ’22 for two deep touchdown passes in the first half and connecting with WR Sean Bryant ’22 for a long score in the second half. Fortunately Costa only had to attempt 17 passes because freshman RB Tyler Bridge ’23 had himself a career day, rushing for 188 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries. The Bobcat defense had by far their best game of the last two years, led by freshman Tony Hooks ’23 who looks to be a potential future All-NESCAC linebacker. Hopefully this is the spark that the Bobcats needed to start turning things around. It may be the end of the year, but getting your first win in a long time can start to change some attitudes. Bates will try their luck again this Saturday when they make the long drive to Hamilton.

Wesleyan’s ability to finish games

Last week I harped on Amherst’s late struggles this year, so it only feels appropriate this week to give this one to the Cardinals. We were very critical of Wesleyan early in the year when they started their schedule with the 4 (or maybe 5) worst teams in the league and then were trounced by Middlebury. They hadn’t proven much and I stand by our caution when assessing where they stood relative to the top teams. However, things are very different now. They just rattled off two overtime victories to win the Little Three Championship and have legitimately solidified themselves as the second best team in the league at this point. The Amherst game was a little fluky with both kickers hitting the upright in the first overtime, but the Cardinals have done it time and time again this year so I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt. Aside from these past two games, they also scored a touchdown with 6 seconds left to beat Tufts and they didn’t score the game winning touchdown against Bowdoin until there were less than 4 minutes left to play. Coach DiCenzo knows what he’s doing and this team knows how to win. They’ll head to Hartford this weekend to try and take down the Bantams for the first time since 2014.

Hamilton special teams

This is a unit we absolutely have not talked about enough this year. The Continentals easily have the best all around special teams in the league. Kick returner Sam Robinson ’20 is the most explosive return man in the NESCAC and he can flip the field position on you in a hurry. Their usage of Kenny Gray ’20 as a hybrid quarterback/punter has really paid off: Hamilton’s punt team has downed 20 kicks inside the 20-yard line this year and 7 of those kicks were inside the 5. Sam Thoreen ’22 is the only kicker in the league with more than 1 field goal attempt who is yet to miss and he’s 20-22 on extra points as well. These are the types of things that make the difference in games. Coach Murray has done an excellent job with the team this year and that is in large part due to his emphasis on special teams. If they can close out the season with a victory over Bates then they’ll be able to clinch their first winning season in a very long time.

Stock down

Trinity, Amherst, or Williams Winning the Championship

Since the year 2000 (when the NESCAC began recognizing a league champion for football) there have been 19 football seasons played. Trinity, Amherst, or Williams has won the championship outright in 16 of these 19 seasons, Amherst shared it with two other schools 2 of the years, and in 2007 Middlebury won the NESCAC Championship. That means this will be just the second time since most of the league’s freshmen and sophomores were born that one of these three schools won’t win the NESCAC title. The interesting thing is that each of these schools feels differently about this season based on the more recent past. For Amherst and Trinity (particularly Trinity) this year is a bit of a disappointment. These two have been consistently competing for the championship every year for as long as I can remember, but Williams is coming from a different place. Just 3 years ago they finished 0-8, then followed with a 6-3 and 5-4 over the next two years. If they can snag a win in their final game over the Mammoths then this will be their highest win total since they won the league in 2010. The final weekend will still bring a slate of good games, but it doesn’t feature the same crucial matchups between the teams that we are used to seeing at the top. Speaking of which…

Final weekend excitement

Unfortunately for us as fans, the final weekend of the year will not factor into deciding the league championship. Middlebury is 8-0 and Wesleyan is the only 7-1 team, but the Panthers defeated the Cardinals handily in Week 6 so they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker. For reasons unbeknownst to me, the NESCAC decided to do away with the tiebreaker rule this season, so technically if the two teams finish tied they will be considered “co-champions.” It seems silly not to have a tiebreaker system when the league literally just moved to a 9-game schedule so that everyone now plays everyone. It’s even weirder that they waited until the 3rd year of the new schedule to remove the tiebreaker rule. Last year Trinity finished tied with Amherst at 8-1, but the Bantams were awarded the league championship because they held the head-to-head tiebreaker. I’m not sure what transpired that caused them to change this, but it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. Fortunately NbN does recognize the head-to-head tiebreaker, so we would like to congratulate the Panthers on their well-deserved NESCAC championship.

Ultimately what this does is take away most of the excitement of the final weekend. The Amherst-Williams game is always fun, but it won’t help decide a Little Three or NESCAC Championship. Wesleyan-Trinity will be intriguing too, but it just doesn’t have the same implications that it has had in the past few years. The fact that the conference gives us so much week in and week out means that we don’t know what to do with ourselves when there is suddenly less on the line. That being said, I don’t plan on doing anything else this Saturday afternoon besides watching as many NESCAC football games at once as I can. 

Trudging On: Week 7 Power Rankings

(1) 1. Middlebury

While Middlebury did not handle Bowdoin last Saturday as well as a lot of other teams have, they had a strong offensive effort and they remain the league’s only undefeated team. That is sufficient to keep them atop our rankings. The score may make the game seem closer than it was, but the Panthers were ahead 41-7 until Bowdoin put up 22 points in the fourth quarter. This may have been the fault of Middlebury’s backups, but either way the defense cannot be giving up 22 point quarters if Midd wants to go undefeated. The Panthers got it done on the ground again with 95 yards and 2 scores from RB Alex Maldjian ’23, and 53 yards with 2 more scores for QB Will Jernigan ’21. Jernigan now has seven rushing touchdowns to go along with 14 more in the air and deserves a lot of the credit for Middlebury’s success this year. Middlebury has had a few close calls, but their offense has played well enough lately to give their defense some room for error. While the title is theirs to lose, Middlebury still has to do their job and they will have their hands full this week against a Hamilton team that is having its best season in a long time. 

(2) 2. Williams 

The Ephs picked up a huge win in Hartford last weekend, handing Trinity their first home loss in 20 games. There are individual players to recognize for the team’s strong performance, but this was mainly a masterful coaching performance by Mark Raymond. He knew Frank Stola ’21 was going to get smothered and he did, which opened the door for Dan Vaughn ’22 to rush for 123 yards against the league’s top run defense, and for two other receivers to combine for three TD receptions. Not many teams win when their QB completes only 6 of 20 passes, but Williams has such a dominant run attack and defense that they were able to make up for this. Don’t forget that this is a team that went 0-8 in 2016-17. Defensively, Raymond again did his homework, as they attacked a reeling offensive line and sacked QB Seamus Lambert ’22 six times while holding the Bantams to a criminally low 42 rushing yards. I debated putting Williams at 1 because I think they have played better than Middlebury lately, but they still have an uphill battle for the championship. Raymond will need to win the chess match again this week as Williams pays Wesleyan a visit in a matchup of 6-1 teams. 

(5) 3. Wesleyan 

The Cardinals bounced back from getting smoked by Middlebury and won a double-OT battle with Amherst. Amherst won this Little Three battle last year, so it was a huge win for the Cardinals. This team should be in championship contention for the next few years because their sophomores have already given them lots of production. Ashton Scott ‘22 had one of his best games yet, tossing for 282 yards and 3 scores. Classmates Matthew Simco ’22 and Danny Banks ’22 were OPOTW and DPOTW. The Cardinals have erased many of the doubts we had about them after they breezed through the soft part of their schedule earlier in the season, but unfortunately they’ll still need Middlebury to lose to have any shot at the title. The Cardinals will have two dogfights in their next two games with Williams and Trinity, but they have proven that they can win close games. In addition, their sophomores are looking like the core of the team, which will bode very well for the coming years.

(4) 4. Amherst 

Like Trinity, Amherst is a team with perennial success and high expectations that has seen this season spiral out of hand. As Cam outlined in this week’s stock report, Amherst has had their season marred by their inability to close out tight games. They have lost three games by three points, and two have gone to double overtime. Whether it be due to blown leads or turnovers, Amherst just has not been able to perform in the clutch and both their offensive and defensive units have regressed back to the middle of the pack after being extremely solid the last few seasons. They’ll need QB Ollie Eberth ’20 to be better than his 3 interceptions last week, and they’ll also need a running game to emerge quickly- Eberth cannot be the leading rusher every week. It’s clear that the loss of some of their studs from last year (Jack Hickey, Andrew Yamin) is still being felt. While it’s great to see more parity and competitiveness across the league this season, some teams have to pay the price for that, and this year those teams appear to be perennial bullies Amherst and Trinity. They host Trinity this week in what is effectively a 4th place game, and while the Bantams were not impressive last week either, it’s hard to feel good right now about the Mammoths’ chances in a tight game. 

(3) 5. Trinity 

Trinity continued its humbling season with its first home loss in 20 tries against Williams. Offensive line and special teams play were areas of concern, but the main issue was the coaches’ inability to adjust to what Williams was giving them. Tijani Harris ’22 is a talented back and has had a strong season, but running him off tackle out of the shotgun over and over again right into the teeth of Williams’ linebackers is not going to fool anyone. Trinity has to learn to adjust to what other teams give them and not just keep hammering the same few plays that have won them games in past seasons. Their inability to protect Seamus Lambert ’22 hurt their talented receivers’ ability to make plays. Defensively, Trinity was successful in shutting down Frank Stola ’21, but Williams was able to adjust and ride their run game to victory while taking shots downfield at the right times. Losing seasons are just not something that happens in Hartford, and that should be motivation enough for Trinity to grind out a win in one of its next two games. However, they have two tough opponents in Amherst and Wesleyan. The Bantams have the right guys on both sides of the ball to win these games, but they need to give Lambert more time to find his receivers and show a little bit more creativity in their play calling if they want to bounce back. 

(7) 6. Hamilton 

Just a few weeks ago, Hamilton was 2-3 and seemed destined for the 7 spot in the standings that they have gotten pretty used to with in recent years. Since then, the Continentals have taken down Amherst and Tufts and with Bates and Middlebury left on the schedule, there’s a strong chance that they’ll end up with their first winning season since 1996. This is a testament to coach David Murray. No matter the score or situation, his guys always play hard and their efforts are finally starting to pay off. If Middlebury coach Bob Ritter does not win Coach of the Year, Murray has to be the next guy in the conversation. We are finally seeing Kenny Gray ‘20 perform to his ability; last week at Tufts he completed 21 passes for 236 yards and 3 TDs. Hamilton also has two proven runners in Joe Park ’22 and David Kagan ’20. Middlebury’s defense has not been stellar lately, so the way Hamilton’s offense is playing should absolutely be a cause for concern. Given that Middlebury barely squeaked by Colby and allowed Bowdoin to go off in the fourth quarter last week, I think their game against Hamilton this week should be a tight one. 

(6) 7. Tufts 

It may surprise you to hear that Tufts currently leads the league in passing yards per game, thanks in large part to QB Jacob Carroll ’20. Unfortunately, their run game has not been able to match this production, which is a big reason why Tufts really has not had any impressive wins since Week 1 against Trinity. The defense shows up when it wants to- they only allowed 8 points to Trinity and shut out Bowdoin, but gave up 36 to Hamilton last week and 33 to Bates earlier this month. With talented guys on the unit like LB Greg Holt ’20 (74 total tackles this season to lead the league) and Jovan Nenadovic ’22, there’s no excuse for this type of inconsistency. At this point, I would contend that Tufts has the lowest ceiling of any non-CBB team, and I feel more confident in Hamilton’s chances when it comes to taking down Middlebury in the next two weeks. 

(8) 8. Colby 

Don’t let the Mules get hot! It took seven weeks, but we finally saw a Maine team break through into the win column last week as Colby got an edge in the CBB race with a thrilling win over Bates. The hosts raced out to an early 23-0 lead at halftime and appeared to have the game in command before Bates stormed back and scored a 2 point conversion to make it 23-20 early in the fourth. Colby showed a balanced offense with QB Matt Hersch ’22 completing 15 passes for 206 yards and no picks, as well as RB Devin Marrocco ’22 accounting for three scores. Defensively, Colby bent but didn’t break in the second half. LB Marcus Bullard ’21 has been a standout and is second in the league at 10.4 tackles per game. While many expected Colby to take a step forward in the win column this season, they have hung with good teams (Amherst, Middlebury) and Coach Cosgrove has not had his own recruiting classes on the field yet. Cosgrove is one of the best coaches you’ll find in the state of Maine and has proven himself at the D1 level. Combine this with a good young quarterback and the new athletic facility being built next year, and Colby should be in good shape to make progress in the next few seasons. This week, they host a disappointing Tufts team and have a good chance to set themselves up for a three-game winning streak to end the season. 

(9) 9. Bates 

The Bobcats came close to snapping a fat 17 game losing streak at Colby last weekend, but unfortunately their second half rally ran out of steam. The Cats have at least gotten some production from QB Brendan Costa ’21 lately; he threw for 268 yards and two TDs last weekend. It seems that Bates is trying to run an offense that does not suit their strengths, which has hindered their ability to win games…although it’s hard to tell what these strengths actually are. The Bobcats converted more than half of their first downs and won time of possession, but had their efforts marred by 10 penalties. These guys deserve a lot of credit for not giving up in unfortunate circumstances, but they’re running out of chances to prove they can compete. Like Coach Cosgrove, Bates coach Malik Hall has not had his own recruiting classes completely on the field yet so maybe it’s too early to fully evaluate him. At the same time, though, people in Lewiston can’t be happy with the lack of progress made on his watch. His seat continues to get hotter, so we’ll see if Bates can manage to dodge another winless season with a win against Bowdoin or Hamilton in their final two. 

(10) 10. Bowdoin

At first glance, it looks like Bowdoin actually put up a decent fight in their game against Middlebury last weekend (47-29). However, the fact remains that they were down 41-7 at the end of the third quarter and likely had their way with Middlebury’s bench players. Sorry Bowdoin fans, but NBN is committed to unbiased reporting and we did not want to suggest that Midd’s performance was any less dominant than it was. That being said, Bowdoin’s offense was better in that fourth quarter than it was in several of their games this season. RB Nate Richam ’20 continued his strong case for All-NESCAC with 105 yards and another TD. QB Austin McCrum ’21, who has bore the brunt of our criticism for the better part of this season, actually had a solid game- 146 yards and two TDs with no picks. McCrum is a D1 transfer and has another year of eligibility, so hopefully he can turn it around next season and have more of these strong games. Luckily for Bowdoin and first-year coach BJ Hammer, they know they can compete in their next two CBB games, and despite their winless record they will have a chance to earn bragging rights within the vast state of Maine. 

Close to the End: Stock Report 10/29

Stock up

Hamilton’s legitimacy

Only 5 years ago the Continentals were coming off their second straight 0-8 season. Coach Murray had just been hired and he began to turn things around. In 2015 they went 2-6 and followed that with 3 consecutive 3-win seasons, leading up until this year. Now they’re sitting at 4-3 with 2 games left to play having just rattled off back-to-back wins over Amherst and Tufts. Not exactly where we expected to see Hamilton through 7 weeks. QB Kenny Gray ’20 isn’t putting up jaw-dropping numbers, but he has done an excellent job minimizing turnovers this season. David Kagan ’20 is having himself a fine year out of the backfield, averaging 4.9 yards per carry and leading the team with 7 rushing touchdowns. Defense has often been the issue in the past and they haven’t been great this year, but they’ve done just enough to give the offense a chance to win the game. Their last two games are against Middlebury and Bates so at the very least it looks like this will be the first winning season for the Continentals in a long time. Perhaps their momentum will be enough to play the spoiler at Midd this weekend…

Wesleyan WR Matthew Simco ’22

Simco played a little as a freshman, but he has really broken onto the scene as a sophomore in 2019. He started to get consistent touches early in the year and it appears that his connection with classmate Ashton Scott ’22 is getting stronger by the second. In their two biggest wins of the season over Amherst and Tufts, Simco caught 13 passes for 277 yards and 3 touchdowns, providing a much-needed spark for the offense at times. He’s now the league’s 5th leading receiver yardage wise and he’s tied for 2nd in the conference in touchdown receptions. I’d call that a pretty good All-NESCAC case at this point in the year. The Cardinals still have to play likely the two top defenses in the league in Williams and Trinity, so we’ll have to keep an eye on Simco’s progress when he matches up with the league’s best.

Williams’ game planning

This is really just meant to be praising the Williams coaching staff. Coach Raymond has truly done an excellent job putting this program back on track. It feels like every week the Ephs are the most prepared with schemes and the more disciplined team. Raymond is trying to turn himself into the NESCAC version of Bill Belichick* – tailoring the game plan every week to isolate and attack their opponents’ weaknesses as opposed to identifying his team’s strength and focusing on that. They’ve had a game this year where Maimaron has thrown for 290 yards on 38 pass attempts and they’ve also had a game where Maimaron has only completed 4 passes for 90 yards. Both times they won. Although they might not get the league crown this season, it’s starting to feel like a Williams dynasty is brewing. Coach Raymond appears to be earning the title of league’s best coach and if he can continue to recruit like he has then it’s hard to envision the Ephs slowing down any time soon.

*Sorry Wesleyan fans, I know this one hurts a little bit.

Stock down

Amherst’s ability to finish games

You had to see this one coming. The Mammoths have now lost 3 games this year and it might not be fair to say that they should have won all 3 but they certainly should have won 1 or 2. Of their 3 losses, 2 came in double overtime and in the other they blew an 11-point lead with 8 minutes left. That’s not what you want to see. The defense is certainly at fault too, but one of the biggest reasons behind Amherst’s late struggles has been the sloppy play of QB Ollie Eberth ’20. In both the Middlebury and Wesleyan games, Eberth threw costly interceptions in overtime that led to defeats for the Mammoths. In the Hamilton game the offense didn’t score a single point in the final 26 minutes and they watched their lead slip away. There are obviously a lot of factors that go into losing close games and often times they can be results of a fluke. When it happens 3 times in one year you have to start to wonder what kinds of decisions the coaches are making down the stretch. They’ll give it another shot this weekend when they host Trinity.

Tufts

It really has been a strange year for the Jumbos. They opened the year on one of their biggest victories in recent program memory over Trinity, then proceeded to get smacked by Williams, lost to Amherst, struggled against Bates, lost to Wesleyan in a tight game, took Bowdoin to town, then got waxed by Hamilton this past weekend. They’ve been a tricky team to get a read on, but losing to the Continentals is a bad sign. Tufts has recently found themselves in the middle of the league – ahead of the Maine schools and Hamilton and then typically snagging a win against one or two other teams as well. This year it seemed like that would be the case again when they opened with a win against the Bantams, but now that they have just two games left against Colby and Middlebury there’s a very real chance that the Jumbos finish below .500 in 2019. At the same time this streaky team could easily end the season on a high note, picking up the pieces of a relatively broken year. 

Only Two at the Top: Week 5 Power Rankings

(1) 1. Middlebury (5-0)

The Panthers were one missed kick away from being on the wrong end of an Earth-shattering upset at home against Colby last weekend. Midd fans can’t feel good about how close that game was, but the bottom line is that they’ve still beaten our third, fourth, and fifth ranked teams and currently hold the best chances at a NESCAC title- so they remain at the top of our rankings. Will Jernigan ’21 served as a better running back than quarterback this weekend, accounting for 153 yards and three touchdowns on the ground only. On the other hand, he threw an interception and lost two fumbles. Middlebury was very lucky to beat Colby with all those miscues, and they know they cannot put out a similar performance and expect to beat Wesleyan this weekend. Jernigan and other offensive weapons will have to be better on Saturday or Middlebury may find themselves leapfrogged by Wesleyan come this time next week. 

(4) 2. Wesleyan (5-0)

Ashton Scott ’22 and company got their first taste of a real NESCAC opponent this weekend when Tufts came to town for the night game. The Cardinals needed every bit of 60 minutes to survive, as they got a last second touchdown catch by Matthew Simco ’22 to break a 13-13 tie. The game may have been close because Wesleyan had not seen that level of competition, or because they are evenly matched with Tufts- we will find out more on that front this weekend. Scott looked solid again going 19-33 with 2 touchdowns, but the real hero of the day was freshman kicker and Special Teams POTW Mason Von Jess ’23. Von Jess came up huge and did not miss either of his two field goals or extra points, tallying 8 points in a game Wesleyan won by 7. I hope he got the game ball afterwards, because Wesleyan should be thankful for him given that kicking miscues were certainly on the forefront in the NESCAC that day. We will salute Mason as the Cardinals live to see another day, but they still have to finish with Middlebury, Amherst, Williams, and Trinity. Those are the teams that will show you what your squad is really made of, so we’ll see how many wins Wesleyan can manage in that gauntlet. 

(3) 3. Williams (4-1)

Is there a team playing better football right now than the Ephs? WR Frank Stola ’21 continued to make a mockery of his competition to the tune of 4 receiving touchdowns in a 35-10 romp over Hamilton. It will be interesting to see what defenses will throw at him the rest of the season, because not one team has been able to keep him out of the endzone. Stola’s excellence has made QB Bobby Maimaron’s stat lines look unreal as well. 11 for 19 with five touchdown passes. Part of why Williams is so tough to contain is their ability to run the ball as well. Teams have to prepare for Stola, but also for the league’s top rushing offense. On top of Maimaron’s dual-threat abilities, Joel Nicholas ’23 and Dan Vaughn ’22 are solid backs for a unit that put up 400 rushing yards just a few weeks ago. The defense has been just as stellar; they’re still allowing the fewest points in the league at only 9 per game. We all wish the Ephs played Middlebury at the end of the season instead of week one, but this team is playing well enough to handle their tough games in the last few weeks of the season and possibly shake up the championship picture. 

(2) 4. Amherst (4-1)

This is another team that wishes they could have their Middlebury game back, because they have played consistent non-flashy but winning football in all their other games this season. They beat Bowdoin easily enough to avoid a heart attack like Colby gave Middlebury, continuing to win the games they should win. Ollie Eberth ’20 had possibly the best day of any NESCAC QB last weekend. He went 15-21 for 261 yards and two TDs with no picks, again hooking up with his boy James O’Regan ’20 for a score. There is a lot of QB talent in the league this year so Eberth may not get the hype he deserves, but he is right up there with the other guys and is a proven winner. Amherst’s defense has always been a solid unit and this year they have had multiple guys stepping up to fill the void left by Andrew Yamin. DB Ricky Goodson ’21 was all over the field last weekend with four tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, an interception, and a blocked kick. A lot of guys are happy to get one of those achievements once in a season, but this man got all of them in one game- rightfully earning him DPOW honors. The Mammoths make the trek out to Clinton, NY this week before their Little Three games sandwiched around an always-exciting matchup with Trinity. 

(5) 5. Trinity (3-2)

The three-time defending champs had a fun trip to Maine last weekend. If Bates had any momentum from playing Tufts tight the week before, it was quickly put to rest as Trinity easily took a 30-0 lead into halftime and cruised to a 51-0 beatdown. Don’t let Trinity’s two losses distract you from the fact that regardless of the opponent, they are capable on any given Saturday of making you wish you never set foot on a football field with them.Too many Bantams to name were making plays on Saturday, but WR Koby Schofer ’20 deserves recognition for breaking the school record for receiving TDs with 21 (and four more games to play). He has been a top tier WR for the better part of his college career and is just one of many scoring threats on that offense. Trinity has accumulated the most yards of offense and allowed the fewest, so if they can minimize their turnovers and penalties they are still more capable of running the table. While they certainly will not be overlooking Colby this week, Trinity has a great opportunity in the Coop to get more momentum going as they head into their tough Little Three games at the back end of their schedule.

(6) 6. Tufts (2-3)

It was a brutal loss on Saturday for the Jumbos, who hung right with undefeated Wesleyan on Saturday until giving up a touchdown in the final few seconds. I’m still not sure what to think of these guys, because they can look like two completely different teams from one week to the next. One thing they will need to improve immediately is their league-worst run game. You know you’re struggling in a statistic when you’re worse than all 3 CBB teams. This weakness was especially apparent Saturday night. In what was a pretty mediocre offensive effort by both teams, Tufts only accounted for 54 rushing yards and really could have used a good bruising tailback to tire out the Cardinals defense and keep Ashton Scott on the bench. The good news is that they’re still second in passing yards without a big name veteran QB like Eberth or Maimaron. The other good news is that Tufts has played the hard part of their schedule and have Bowdoin, Hamilton and Colby in their next three games. If Coach Civetti can dig up that defense that only allowed Trinity eight points in week 1, the Jumbos will be in good shape to salvage a winning record and give Middlebury all they can handle in the season finale. 

(7) 7. Hamilton (2-3)

After turning some heads with strong performances earlier in the season, Hamilton looks like they’re starting to settle back into their ever-so comfortable 7 ranking. I personally was out of line in ranking Hamilton fifth a few weeks back, because they have shown time and time again that they’re in their own little New York tier above the Maine teams and below everyone else. You have to wonder what Coach Murray tells his guys at the beginning of the season, because in recent history it seems like they’re almost predestined for that 7 slot. Nonetheless, they still have a lot of football left to be played and all of their remaining games are winnable. Hamilton will need RB David Kagan ’20 to revert to his early season form, as his yardage has dipped and he has not found the endzone since September. They also need better performances from a defense that has not allowed fewer than 24 points in a game this season. They’ll be facing a well oiled machine in Amherst this weekend, but the offense has enough talent to keep the Continentals in the game if they play well. 

(8) 8. Colby (0-5)

It’s never easy losing a game on a missed last second field goal, but it hits even harder when you’re a winless team that squandered a prime opportunity to take down the undefeated top dogs. Colby played the best game of their season, but unfortunately that excellence did not extend to special teams. The Mules left five points on the board in missed kicks and wasted a terrific performance by QB Matt Hersch ‘22.  He outplayed Will Jernigan and kept Colby in the game on a day where he was not getting any help from the run game (49 net yards rushing). Hersch, Trinity’s Seamus Lambert ’22 and Wesleyan’s Ashton Scott ’22 are all talented and will be fun to watch for the next two years as the NESCAC’s next batch of stud quarterbacks. LB Marcus Bullard ’21 continued his outstanding season with an absurd 15 tackles, a sack, and an interception. He deserves to be in the DPOY conversation, so hopefully Colby’s record will not prevent him from that. The Mules have a tough task this weekend as they visit a Trinity team that has beat the other CBB schools by 54 and 51 points, but last weekend was a reminder that Coach Cosgrove’s team can compete with anyone. 

(10) 9. Bowdoin (0-5)

It’s honestly usually a toss-up between Bowdoin and Bates for these last two spots until they play each other, but Bowdoin’s winning the battle this week. Yes, they lost 36-14, but that’s a lot better than the 51-0 shellacking Bates took. Bowdoin has also at least been able to establish a consistent offensive threat in RB Nate Richam ’20. Against Amherst, he had his third straight week with both 100+ yards and a touchdown. I have the utmost respect for this guy- he has been a great player on a horrible team for four years now but refused to quit or transfer as many would. Defensive standouts Franny Rose ’21 and Joe Gowetski ’20 also deserve press as they have proven to be solid players in unfortunate circumstances. Bowdoin switched quarterbacks before halftime and gave Matthew Marcantano ’21 some looks, which I cannot disagree with at all because Austin McCrum ’21 has been brutal all year. In appropriate Polar Bear fashion, Marcantano came in and went 11-27 with two picks. Didn’t miss a beat! Jokes aside, the backups should have been given some more chances in blowout games earlier this season. The offense was not exactly humming with McCrum in, and maybe Marcantano would have played better against Amherst if he had more game experience leading up to this point. Either way, let’s hope new coach BJ Hammer brings in some better offensive talent in his next recruiting class, or it’ll be more of the same in Brunswick for the next few years. Who wouldn’t want to play for a guy named BJ Hammer?

(9) 10. Bates (0-5)

It’s one thing to lose games because the other team is just more talented, but we saw some coaching moves out of Bates’ Malik Hall on Saturday that were just straight up questionable. Brendan Costa ’21 is clearly their best quarterback, but for some reason we did not see him until late in the second quarter. Messing around with your lineups and trying new things is all fun and games until you do it against Trinity and find yourself down 30 at halftime. Bates was obviously no powerhouse before Hall took over for Mark Harriman right before last season, but his seat has to be getting warm due to the lack of progress Bates has made during his tenure. I’m not going to sugarcoat it- your team putting up 105 yards of offense and only 28 on the ground is a fireable offense. That being said, Bates has been competitive in a few games this year and still has both CBB teams and Hamilton in their last three games so a win or two is not out of the question. 

Will Clinton, New York Become a Destination Opponents Fear?: Hamilton Football 2016 Season Preview

Who is going to be throwing the ball to Charles Ensley '17 this year for the Continentals? (Courtesy of Hamilton Athletics)
Who is going to be throwing the ball to Charles Ensley ’17 this year for the Continentals? (Courtesy of Hamilton Athletics)

Projected Record: 3-5

Projected Offensive Starters (*Five Returning)

QB: Cole Freeman ‘18

HB: Marcus Gutierrez ‘18

FB: Jason Nastovski ‘18*

WR: Charles Ensley ‘17*

WR: Chase Rosenberg ‘17

TE: Jordan Jenkins ‘17*

LT: Rob McClure ‘17*

LG: Stephen Kelley ‘19

C: (to be determined)

RG: Richie Nelli ‘19

RT: Matt Snider ‘17*

Projected Defensive Starters (*Nine Returning)

DE: Tyler Hudson ‘17*

DT: Nick Sobczyk ‘17*

DT: Poppy Green ‘17*

DE: Brent Lobien ‘17*

LB: Matt Glebus ‘17*

LB: Mickey Keating ‘17*

LB: Sean Tolton ‘19

CB: James Giattino ‘17*

SS: James Taylor ‘17

FS: Colby Jones ‘19*

CB: Conor Powers ‘17*

Projected Specialists (*Two Returning)

PK: Zach Altneu ‘18*

P: Billy Wagner ‘20

KR/PR: Alex Waugh ‘18*/Charles Ensley ‘17

Offensive MVP: WR Charles Ensley ‘17

Losing LaShawn Ware for the year is pretty brutal, but luckily 2015 All-NESCAC selection Charles Ensley is back for the Continentals. Ensley had 665 receiving yards last year, coming to an average of 83.1 Y/G, both of which were good enough to rank him at second in the league. The kid has wheels, which makes him a huge deep threat, so whoever ends up winning the quarterback competition (Cole Freeman ‘18 vs. Brandon Tobin ‘18) will be testing opposing secondaries to Ensley’s side of the field.

Defensive MVP: DE Brent Lobien ‘17

Brent Lobien wreaked havoc in the backfield last year, evidenced by his nine and a half TFL and five sacks. He had the third-most tackles on the Hamilton defense, and he forced a fumble and recovered two. Simply put, Lobien is a ball hawk, and he will help lead Coach Murray’s defense along with the other three seniors on the Hamilton defensive line.

Biggest Surprise in Camp:

Chase Rosenberg ‘17 is no longer going to be taking snaps under center. Instead, the senior has moved to wide receiver where he looks to become a secondary target behind Ensley. Rosenberg is an athletic 6’1”, so it makes sense that he has made the move since the primary quarterback battle features Cole Freeman ‘18 and Brandon Tobin ‘18. It seems like this switch is happening more and more since the emergence of Julian Edelman as one of Tom Brady’s favorite targets. Let’s just hope Rosenberg’s quarterback, whether it turns out to be Freeman or Tobin, doesn’t get unfairly punished by league officials like Edelman’s has been…

Biggest Game: vs. Bowdoin, October 15th, 12:00pm

Hamilton ended the year on a high note by winning two of their last three games, but they are faced with a tough schedule to start the year as they face Amherst, Wesleyan and then Trinity. That’s why their matchup with Bowdoin in week four is the most important game on their schedule. It’s unlikely that they get through the first three unscathed, so getting back on track with a win at home against Bowdoin will be monumental for the Continentals.

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Summary:

What killed Hamilton last year was their 0-5 start. Though the Continentals have won 2 of their last 3 games, they travel to Amherst and Wesleyan before finally playing at home, where they will host Trinity. I wouldn’t say that’s the easiest first three games of the season. Luckily, the Bantams have a significantly easier final 5 games: vs. Bowdoin, at Colby, vs. Williams, vs. Middlebury, at Bates. Bowdoin and Colby will likely be two of the worse teams in the league this year, and it is especially important that Hamilton has a home game following their tough opening stretch. Williams’ new coach, Mark Raymond, is a very highly touted head coach who had a great deal of success at St. Lawrence over the last 6 years. However, Raymond was only hired in February, so he has had limited time to work with his players, something the Continentals are hoping to take advantage of. Middlebury should be down this year compared to recent years after suffering the losses of Matt Minno ‘16 and Matt Milano ‘16, and writer Liam O’Neil is actually putting Middlebury on upset alert in this Week 7 matchup as shown in his Top 10 games of 2016 article last week. Playing at Bates is never easy, but Coach Murray’s squad could be in the midst of a hot streak at this point, so anything could happen.

It’s important to remember, however, that if Hamilton wants to win these games, they are going to need to make some huge strides on offense. They ranked dead last in YPG last year, in large part due to their abysmal rushing attack, which gained just 2.3 yards per carry last year! Simply put, Hamilton could not string together drives last year, evidenced by their league worst 15.1 first downs per game. And even when the Hamilton offense did manage to get into scoring positions, they struggled to convert those chances into points. Though the sample size is small (6 attempts), Hamilton only hit 16.7% of their field goals – in other words, they hit ONE FIELD GOAL last year. For a team with a pretty respectable defense, getting 3 points where you can is crucial. For example, in their opener against Tufts, the Continentals lost by 3 points in overtime. They also missed two field goals.

On the defensive side of the ball, however, Hamilton is in very good shape once again. They do lose their top two tacklers, but defensive end Brent Lobien ‘17 and linebacker Matt Glebus ‘17 are back to anchor the Hamilton defense along with seven other returning starters. Coach Murray is confident that their defense can keep them in games (they were 5th in the conference in points allowed) and I understand why. This is an experienced group (9 of the 11 starters are seniors), and they play a physical style of football that starts up front. Lobien and defensive tackle Nick Sobczyk ‘17 tied for fourth in the league with 5 sacks last year, and the other end Tyler Hudson ’17 was right behind them with 4 sacks. This group can get pressure on the quarterback, so the question becomes whether or not the offense can convert defensive stops into points. As of now, it’s hard to say yes, but maybe Hamilton can prove people wrong this year.