Tag: Devon CArillo

Shake it Up, Shake it Up (Woah-oh-oh!): Week Five Power Rankings

Week Five featured arguably the most surprising result of the season thus far, with Wesleyan affirming their status as a big time contender by shutting out Amherst 20-0.  It feels strange to be writing an article about NESCAC football without Amherst in the top three, but it’s always nice to try new things so let’s see if I can get through it.  The status quo held up in the rest of the league, with Trinity and Middlebury remaining undefeated and no real surprises in the lower levels.  Now without further dudes (cred to Family Guy), let’s get into the Week Five Power Rankings:

 

1.) Trinity (5-0)

To shamelessly borrow from Rory’s flawless research, Trinity has scored between 36 and 38 points every week this season.  Of course, the other end of that stick is that they have yet to play any of the other top teams in the league.  Their only quality win thus far is a 36-28 home win over Tufts, which was an impressive performance to be sure, but not as impressive as Wesleyan or Middlebury’s wins over Amherst.  The Bantams have arguably the three best teams to close out the season, starting with a home game against Middlebury next week that might very well determine the league championship.  Right now Trinity is the best team in the league, with quarterback (and legendary Chicagoan racketeer) Sonny Puzzo ’18 and running back Max Chipouras ’19 both standing as legit POY candidates.  But things could look very different by the end of the season.

2.) Middlebury (5-0)

Last week the Panthers got moved down in the rankings two days after scoring 49 points on the road.  Predictably, they had some gripes, expressed to me in loud voices in the dining hall as I walked back to my table with my chicken and peas.  However, the Panthers  got off to a slow start again this week against one of the lesser teams in the league, trailing Bates 9-0 at the end of the first quarter before rattling off 28 points in a row to put the game away.  Quarterback Jared Lebowitz ‘18 struggled early, throwing two interceptions (although heavy rain may have contributed to the early sloppiness).  The Panthers have now started very slowly in the last two weeks against two teams that are far from Trinity’s level.  These mistakes haven’t mattered against Williams or Bates, but one against Trinity could cost them the NESCAC championship.

3.) Wesleyan (4-1)

Welcome to the top three, Wesleyan!  We’ve been expecting you (here Trinity and Middlebury open the doors to the exclusive “NESCAC Upper Tier” night club, where T-Pain is playing 24/7 and there’s no need to do homework on Saturdays.)  Wesleyan’s defense has been their calling card this season, giving up only 7.2 points per game. However, their offense has stepped up at times as well.  QB Mark Piccirillo ‘19 hasn’t committed a turnover yet this season, and running back committee Lou Stevens ‘17, Dario Highsmith ‘20 and Devin Carrillo ‘17 have given the Cardinals a dynamic running game.  We went most of this season thinking that Wesleyan wasn’t dynamic enough to overcome the offensive firepower of the top teams, but they made us all look pretty foolish last weekend.

4.) Tufts (4-1)

A side effect of the Wesleyan win over Amherst is that Tufts’ win over them in Week One is now a quality win.  The Jumbos have been quietly playing pretty well this season at 4-1, but their quarterback inconsistencies have kept them squarely out of the top tier.  However, Chance Brady proved this weekend that sometimes it doesn’t matter who your quarterback is, so long as you have Smash Williams 2.0 as your running back.  Brady ran away (pun intended) with Offensive Player of the Week honors, putting up 157 yards and four touchdowns.  Brady is the type of player that can carry a team, and he has the chance to really seal up that reputation next week against Amherst.

5.) Amherst (3-2)

Image result for darth vader
“Luke, I am your father. But I am NOT a very good contractor.”

I expected myself to feel very gratified at the prospect of writing a Power Rankings in which I get the pleasure of putting Amherst outside the top three.  It’s something that I have never gotten to do, as Amherst had never lost a football game in my college career prior to this season.  But faced with this opportunity, I feel less gratification and more melancholy.  Stories simply aren’t that fun if there’s no villain.  Imagine if Darth Vader got demoted for failing twice on the Death Star (I mean honestly, the rebels blow up the first one, so he builds the same ship that can be destroyed in the same way?  Just poor logistical planning) and becomes a Storm Trooper.  Or if Voldemort had to retake Beginning Potions.  That is how the league without Amherst dominating feels right now.  Amherst probably has lost the chance to finish at the top this season, as Middlebury and Trinity will most likely not lose another game other than whoever loses their match-up next weekend.  The best they can do now is play out the season and prepare their youngsters to restart the dynasty next season.

6.) Colby (2-3)

The Mules have been battling Bates all season for “Best of the Rest” status, and they took a big step towards sealing that title with a 27-7 shellacking of Hamilton.  Colby’s defense has been a hallmark of their success this season, and this weekend’s performance was no different.  They forced three turnovers, including a fumble that was then returned for a touchdown.  Colby has already played (and lost to) Amherst, Middlebury and Wesleyan, meaning that they have three winnable games left.  The Mules have a good shot at finishing the season .500 or better, which would be a major accomplishment for a program that has struggled mightily for the last few years.

7.) Bates (1-4)

Bates came out very aggressive against the Panthers this weekend, and led 9-0 after the first quarter.  Unfortunately, the Bobcats’ season-long issue of putting together multiple strong drives reared its head again.  After a 48 yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, the Bobcats didn’t score again for the rest of the game, while the Panthers rattled off four touchdowns and put the game far out of reach.  Bates has shown flashes of contention this season, but seem to lack the consistency to make themselves anything more than those brief moments of sunlight on a dark and cloudy day.

8.) Hamilton (1-4)

After the end of last season, in which Hamilton won two of their last three games, many experts (meaning me) thought that they might be primed for a big step forward this season.  However, the Continentals have not quite lived up to their early season promise.  An exciting win over Bowdoin aside, Hamilton has looked very much like the team they have been the last three seasons.  This weekend’s 27-7 loss to Colby was the pinnacle of this disappointing season; Colby is a team that Hamilton simply has to beat if they want to climb out of their perennial losing reputation.

9.) Williams (0-5)

Williams has shown signs of life in the last few weeks, particularly against Middlebury two weekends ago.  However, they also battled Tufts for most of the first half last weekend, and have by and large acquitted themselves well this season, when taking into account the coaching upheaval of the off-season.  The Ephs appear to have discovered a star in versatile end Tyler Patterson ‘19, and have a golden opportunity against Hamilton next weekend to come away with a huge moral victory.

10.) Bowdoin (0-5)

Bowdoin has given up an average of 481 yards per game this season.  That’s 100 yards more than Williams, and by far the worst in the league.  The Polar Bears have been lost at sea on defense for much of 2016, floating on stranded icebergs from the melting Poles.  They do have Bates and Colby left on their schedule, giving them two chances to come out of this season with at least a win.  But as of now, they’re the underdogs in even those match-ups.

Contenders All Survive – Saturday Wrap-up

Well, we watched a good twelve hours of sports yesterday that made us remember why we love October so much (how was your Saturday?). The first five hours were spent with a NESCAC game (or a few) streaming on a computer. We said it would be a somewhat boring day so of course two of the crazier games this year happened. Here is your wrap-up.

Bowdoin (2-2) 30, Hamilton (0-4) 24

The first game of the day was a wild one at the end. The teams scored 22 points in the final 2:24 with three attempted onside kicks and a Hail Mary to boot. The craziness started when, after a Hamilton TD made it 22-17,  the Continentals recovered an onside kick, only to see it erased by an offsides penalty. Bowdoin managed to recover the next attempt and Tyler Grant ’17 scored two plays later to put Bowdoin up 30-17 with 2:06. Then Amman Weaver ’18 took the ensuing kickoff back to the house, but Bowdoin once again recovered the onside kick attempt. Bowdoin had to punt with under 30 seconds left and saw Hamilton block it to take over at the Bowdoin 27 yard line with nine seconds left. Bowdoin finally clinched it when Dan Johnson ’15 intercepted Chase Rosenberg ’17 in the end zone with three seconds left.

Bowdoin has a complete game recap or you can watch the entire game on the Hamilton stream. Start it at the 2:48:00 mark to see the end of game craziness.

Wesleyan (4-0) 24, Bates (1-3) 10

The Cardinals sweated this game out as the Bobcats proved to be worthy adversaries despite playing without their starting quarterback Matt Cannone. Wesleyan struggled to move the ball on the ground except in the wildcat as Devon Carillo ’17 gained 92 of their 143 yards as the wildcat quarterback. This was a 17-10 game in the fourth quarter before Wesleyan converted a short field off of a fumble recovery into a touchdown on a screen from Jesse Warren ’15 to Jay Fabien ’15. The Bates website has a full recap and photos from the game.

Amherst (4-0) 35, Colby (0-4) 10

This was a 3-0 game in favor of Colby after one half, but quarterback Max Lippe ’15 entered the game for his first appearance of the season and changed the Amherst offense. After a Jimmy Fairfield-Sonn ’16 interception, Lippe entered and on his first attempt completed a 68 yard pass to Brian Ragone ’16 to set up the first Amherst touchdown. From that point on Amherst rolled with a Ned Deane ’15 interception return for a touchdown to make it 28-10 on the first play of the fourth quarter essentially ending it. For Colby, the game was like a broken record of their entire first half where they stayed close for a while before fading late. Amherst has a complete game recap or you can watch highlights featuring analysis from Head Coach EJ Mills below.

Trinity (4-0) 35, Tufts (2-2) 14

We came within one point of exactly nailing this score (we had Trinity 34-Tufts 14), as the Bantams used a big second quarter to move past Tufts. The Jumbos took the lead after another long Zack Trause ’15 punt return led to a short touchdown, but after that Trinity’s run game took over. Chudi Iregbulem ’15 led the way with 184 yards and four touchdowns. The home winning streak for Trinity now stands at 53 games. A fake punt pass from Michael Budness ’15 to Bryan Vieira ’18 helped give Trinity their second touchdown and the lead they would never relinquish.

Here is the full game recap.

Middlebury (2-2) 23, Williams (1-3) 20

The last game of the afternoon was also the closest as it took overtime to decide this one. The first half was a defensive battle with another 3-0 score, this one in favor of Williams. The Panther defense, like they have done all year, got Middlebury going with a fumble recovery for a touchdown by Will Bain ’15. Williams was up a touchdown late in the fourth quarter but could not close the game out on offense giving the Panthers back the ball with a little over two minutes remaining. That was all the time Matt Milano ’16 and company needed to tie up the game. In overtime Williams got the ball first and stalled inside the five yard line before settling for a field goal. A beautiful pass from Milano to Brendan Rankowitz ’15 won it for Middlebury and sent the entire Panthers team into the end zone in celebration.

Complete game recap and photos can be found if you follow the link.