Tag: Joe Schmidt

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.

It’s Only Getting Better: Weekend Preview 10/12

Before we get down to it I just wanted to update everyone on the current standings for our writers picking the winners of every game. We’ve been fairly successful, although we still haven’t quite reached the exciting part of the year. Ryan is still the only one to have correctly predicted the final score of any game, as he picked Amherst 27-13 over Bates in Week 1. There’s still a lot of football left to play so we’ve got plenty more to come, but this is where we’re at as of now:

Matt Karpowicz: 16-4
Haven Cutko: 16-4
Ryan Moralejo: 16-4
Cameron Carlson: 15-5
Spencer Smead: 14-6

Colby @ Middlebury, 1pm, Middlebury, VT

This weekend’s slate of games does not offer a ton of intrigue, and it doesn’t help that it includes this matchup of the hottest team in the league playing probably the coldest. Colby was the one CBB team to not finish within a touchdown of their opponent last week in a shutout loss against Williams. Colby’s defense, led by LB Marcus Bullard ’21 who is second in the league in tackles, actually held up pretty well. Only Middlebury has held the Ephs offense to fewer points this season and they forced Maimaron and company to go 2 of 9 on third down. Unfortunately, the offense could not reward their defense’s commendable play and failed to cash in on an advantage in time of possession. The Mules did not turn the ball over, but punted five times and missed two field goals. That’s just extremely uninspiring football. They will need to do better than 237 yards of total offense and especially focus on converting third downs if they expect to have a chance against a strong Middlebury defense. 

The strange thing about Midd’s wild win over Amherst last week was that both teams had clear opportunities deep in enemy territory to just kick a field goal and win, but neither of them could do it. Middlebury is obviously happy being undefeated no matter how they get there, but they have to be thankful that a traditionally-executing Amherst team decided to outdo Midd’s late game miscues with one of their own and help hand the Panthers the win. Middlebury has gotten by this year with strong all-around play more than big names, but RB Alex Maldijan ’23 deserves recognition for coming in as a freshman and putting up 125 yards and 2 TDs in the biggest game of his college career. He currently leads the NESCAC in rushing and will be a big part of Midd’s success for the next few years. Expect him to continue his success against a run defense that allowed 227 yards on the ground last weekend. QB Will Jernigan ’21 has also enjoyed a nice season so far; he made up for a big interception in the first overtime last week by leading the game winning TD drive in the second. Unless the Colby offense wakes up in Vermont on Saturday, don’t expect a close one.

SS: Middlebury 31, Colby 6 
HC: Middlebury 28, Colby 10 
MK: Middlebury 28, Colby 14
CC: Middlebury 35, Colby 10
RM: Middlebury 33, Colby 10

Writers’ Pick: Middlebury

Trinity @ Bates, 1pm, Lewiston, ME

Expect Bates to come out fired up for this one. They’re in the dirty Lew coming off their best offensive performance of the season in a close loss to Tufts, who allowed 20 fewer points to Trinity in week one than they did to the Bobcats. We finally got to see what QB Brendan Costa ’21 can do, as he completed 19 of 28 passes with a touchdown and also ran for 62 yards on the ground. RB Christian Sanfilippo ’21 made the most of his carries, getting 6 for 11 yards…with three touchdowns. Props to Christian, because you’d be hard pressed to find a league where the guy second in rushing touchdowns is 36th in yards. Fullback numbers at their finest! We will see if Bates’ performance is a fluke when they meet a Bantam defense allowing the fewest yards per game in the league. Trinity is also the only team to allow fewer than 100 yards per game on the ground, led by their strong linebacker unit of Sean Smerczynski ‘20, Brian Casagrande ‘22, and Daniel Negron ‘20. Look for guys like DE Jimmy Christiano ‘21 and S Matt McCarthy ‘21 to be making plays on Saturday as they have all season. 

It doesn’t make a lot of sense that Trinity is only 2-2 given that they have dominated in many of the game’s biggest statistics as always. QB Seamus Lambert ‘22 leads the league in passing yards and is tied for the lead in touchdowns, showing that this offense is still as potent as any. On top of that, the Bantams still top the NESCAC in points and yards per game. Bates is also last in pass defense, and that doesn’t bode well coming into a matchup with the best receiving corps in the league. So while Bates may feel like they have a better chance than usual to beat Trinity for the first time since 1975, these cats need to understand that Trinity has been a few turnovers and penalties away from leading the pack as they almost always do. In addition, it’s looking like Trinity’s sophomores are forming the core of the team. Lambert, Casagrande, Devante Reid ’22, and others have a lot of football ahead of them, so don’t expect the Bantams to fall off very far from their usual dominance. Bates has reason to be feeling good about this weekend, but they just haven’t been consistent enough for this to be the year they snap the streak.

SS: Trinity 28, Bates 13
HC: Trinity 35, Bates 13
MK: Trinity 48, Bates 10
CC: Trinity 52, Bates 6
RM: Trinity 44, Bates 16

Writers’ Pick: Trinity

Bowdoin @ Amherst, 1pm, Amherst, MA 

We’re still in the middle part of the season before the best teams and the worst teams start to play each other, and that leaves us with ho-hum matchups like this one. Both teams are coming off games in which a win was very much within reach. Amherst had a late lead and then squandered opportunities in crunch time to beat Middlebury in a classic, while Bowdoin opened some eyes by coming within a touchdown of undefeated Wesleyan. Polar Bears RB Nate Richam-Odoi ‘20 once again carried the offense, accounting for 177 of the team’s 282 total yards. He will need to have a similarly huge performance if Bowdoin wants to have any chance in this game. On the other hand, QB Austin McCrum ’21 has yet to really get going this season and that has really limited Bowdoin’s offensive capability. Amherst’s defense is likely going to focus on stuffing the talented Richam-Odoi, so McCrum should have some opportunities to connect with guys like Greg Olson ‘21 and Bo Millett ‘21 against a pass defense that’s surprisingly second to last in the league. Unfortunately for Bowdoin, their defense may have an even taller task this weekend as the unit that allows the most yards per game will need to figure out how to stop the lethal combo of Ollie Eberth and James O’Regan. 

Amherst has not been a terribly exciting team this season and they err more towards the middle of the pack in most statistical categories, but they make up for it by playing relatively mistake-free football. They are always disciplined and well-coached, so it was surprising to see them let the biggest game of the season slip away as they did last weekend. Nonetheless, we cannot ignore that they were that close to beating the championship front runner, so we have to assume that they will come out firing on their home turf and let Eberth go to work behind a traditionally strong O-line. DL Joe Kelly ’21 has stepped up and done a great job filling the void left by Andrew Yamin; he currently leads the league in solo tackles and sacks. He will help control Richam-Odoi and force Bowdoin to engage their pass game a bit more. I think Bowdoin’s close game last week exposed Wesleyan’s weaknesses more than it did Bowdoin’s strengths. Expect the Mammoths to get back on track at home.

SS: Amherst 28, Bowdoin 10
HC: Amherst 27, Bowdoin 7 
MK: Amherst 41, Bowdoin 6 
CC: Amherst 35, Bowdoin 6
RM: Amherst 27, Bowdoin 7

Writers’ Pick: Amherst

Hamilton @ Williams, 2pm, Williamstown, MA

Williams has looked sharp since their opening week loss at Middlebury, winning the first three games of a five-game stretch in which they are home four times. It’s too bad that they don’t get another crack at Middlebury, because this is a team with the talent to run the table and definitely the chance to beat the Panthers in a future matchup. Alas, all the Ephs can do is take care of business and hope Midd falters. This week they face a Hamilton team that definitely looks improved, but still in their own tier above the CBB teams and below the teams competing for a title every year. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Hamilton did keep up with Trinity on the scoreboard until late, but Kenny Gray ’20 completed fewer than half his passes and RB David Kagan ’20 fell way off from his usual production this season and only managed 18 yards on 14 carries. That’s not going to get it done against the league’s top scoring defense. Given that Hamilton only managed 10 points against Wesleyan and that Williams shut out Colby last week, it’s hard to feel good about their offense on Saturday unless WR Joe Schmidt ’20 comes back and puts up big numbers. 

Williams’ offense did not have one of their better weeks last week, but you can’t blame Coach Raymond for once again taking a run-heavy approach a week after they totaled nearly 400 yards on the ground the week before. They wore Colby down with RBs Dan Vaughn ’22 and Joel Nicholas ’23 each getting 13 carries and averaging 8.5 and 7.1 yards on each carry, respectively. This offensive strategy has gotten Williams wins so far and it keeps Bobby Maimaron safe. Additionally, establishing the run game will open up holes for WR Frank Stola, who is in the OPOY running and leads the NESCAC in receiving yards and touchdowns. While Hamilton looks to be more competitive with non-CBB opponents thus far, their offense has not shown enough promise for anyone to feel good about their prospects against an Ephs defense allowing only 8.8 points per game. Williams has made a habit of finishing in the top 3 without a ring lately, and this season could be looking like more of the same. They could make a great case for the NESCAC to offer postseason play, but that’s a discussion for another day. 

SS: Williams 35, Hamilton 27
HC: Williams 31, Hamilton 10
MK: Williams 31, Hamilton 14 
CC: Williams 31, Hamilton 14
RM: Williams 37, Hamilton 20

Writers’ Pick: Williams

Tufts @ Wesleyan, 6pm, Middletown, CT

It’s fitting that the rare NESCAC night game is also our Game of the Week. The excitement of this game stems from the fact that includes probably the league’s two most perplexing teams thus far. Tufts has been wildly inconsistent, beating Trinity and playing Amherst close but also getting smoked by Williams and barely holding off a late game rally by Bates last weekend. Wesleyan is 4-0, but they have only played the league’s four worst teams and they did not do themselves any favors by only beating Bowdoin by a touchdown (the game was tied with 6 minutes left). That makes this game a tough one to pick- we don’t yet know what the result is when Wesleyan plays a good game against a good team. Another offensive weapon did emerge for the Cardinals, as RB Glenn Smith ’21 scampered for 108 yards and a big touchdown on a day where the talented young QB Ashton Scott ’22 did not have his best day. It’s yet to be determined whether or not kicker Mason Von Jess ’23 will be the next Eric Sachse or Steven Hauschka, but he has been a major special teams asset so far and his kicking ability could end up being a deciding factor in this game. 

Tufts’ offense needed to wake up at some point, and Bates’ horrid defense was their alarm clock. Coach Civetti made himself look like a genius with his two-QB offensive approach. Jacob Carroll ‘20 had a strong game with 223 yards and two touchdowns, and Trevon Woodson ’23 was a sharp 5-6 with another touchdown while also averaging 6.3 yards a carry on the ground. Implementing multiple quarterbacks frequently is a strategy prone to scrutinization, so we’ll see if that will be a pattern continuing this week or if Civetti felt he could experiment a little bit against lowly Bates. Wesleyan is not a defense you want to mess around against, especially with DL Taj Gooden ’21 back in the lineup. This is our Game of the Week so we will have additional coverage, but it should be a good one and everyone else in the league will have finished their games and be able to watch Wesleyan try to keep pace with Middlebury in the race for the title.

SS: Tufts 21, Wesleyan 20
HC: Wesleyan 28, Tufts 21 
MK: Wesleyan 24, Tufts 17
CC: Wesleyan 28, Tufts 14 
RM: Wesleyan 27, Tufts 16

Writers’ Pick: Wesleyan

It’s Finally Here: Weekend Preview 9/14

This year we’ve decided to tweak the weekend previews during football season. Instead of having one writer make every pick and write the article, we had 5 of our writers pick the winners and scores of every game. These picks are included at the end of the write up for each game. I then wrote each preview knowing which team our writers had selected as the winner. This week’s slate of games wasn’t very exciting because there was only one game where we didn’t all agree on a winner, but hopefully it gets more exciting when the standings get messy in the middle of the season. For now we’ll just have to see who gets the closest score!

Hamilton @ Bowdoin, 1pm, Brunswick, ME

This is an interesting one to start off with. Neither of these teams had good seasons in 2018 and they’re both looking to bounce back in 2019 – Bowdoin even added a new head coach. On the Hamilton side, I love the Kenny Gray-Joe Schmidt QB-WR connection, and Joe Park ’22 had a terrific rookie season out of the backfield in 2018. Hamilton has a sneaky offense but they’re going to need their defense to compete in order for them to stay in games. Lafayette transfer Austin McCrum ’21 didn’t have a particularly impressive first season for the Polar Bears, but they return their entire receiving corps so hopefully they’ll be a bit more on the same page in year two. Nate Richam ’20 has proven to be one of the league’s best running backs when he gets good protection and he is likely the team’s deadliest offensive weapon. The only reason Hamilton gets the edge here is that they have proven slightly more in the past – and they haven’t lost to Bowdoin in 4 years. These two teams played an absolute shootout last season, so this one could be very exciting to watch.

MK: Hamilton 28-21
RM: Hamilton 32-21
SS: Hamilton 35-10
HC: Hamilton 28-14
CC: Hamilton 38-21

Writers’ Pick: Hamilton

Bates @ Amherst, 1pm, Amherst, MA

On paper this is a game that looks fairly lopsided. The Bobcats are coming off an 0-9 season, while Amherst was the league runner-up last year and is a perennial NESCAC powerhouse. One of the biggest problems for Bates in 2018 was that their offense wasn’t able to get much going, so the defense spent the entire game on the field. They have very solid skill players such as QB Brendan Costa ’21 and RB Jaason Lopez ’21, but the offensive line needs to give those guys a chance to shine or else it doesn’t matter. Everything isn’t all sunshine and rainbows in Western Mass either, because the Mammoths lost their top two rushers and their top receiver from last season. They’ve still got seasoned vet Ollie Eberth ’20 under center and James O’Regan ’20 out wide, but aside from them the offense is largely up in the air. Amherst has always been known for their defense and if that unit can get the job done then they won’t have any offensive questions to worry about. Should be a lot of purple on Saturday.

MK: Amherst 42-0
RM: Amherst 27-13
SS: Amherst 38-6
HC: Amherst 48-7
CC: Amherst 21-13

Writers’ Pick: Amherst

Colby @ Wesleyan, 1pm, Middletown, CT

If there’s one thing I can say about this game it’s that Colby has come a very long way. During my freshman year in 2016 this game was a blowout – 37-6 in favor of Wesleyan. The result wasn’t much better the following year, then in stepped Jack Cosgrove. Coach Cosgrove helped lead the Mules to a 3-6 season last year, including a 28-20 loss to the Cardinals in a very well played game. Heading into this season this game is very much in the air. Our writers gave the edge to Wesleyan, but let’s not look past this game too quickly. Wesleyan’s offense wasn’t particularly impressive last season and now they no longer have Mark Piccirillo taking snaps, so who knows what direction they’ll go. Colby, on the other hand, seemed to be just putting things together towards the end of 2018, settling on Matt Hersch ’22 as their quarterback. He saw some success there, but it will be interesting to see how he does without all-NESCAC running back Jake Schwern this season. Colby is still the underdog, but all I’m saying is this isn’t your classic Wesleyan-Colby football game.

MK: Wesleyan 28-17
RM: Colby 24-20
SS: Wesleyan 28-24
HC: Wesleyan 28-24
CC: Wesleyan 27-14

Writers’ Pick: Wesleyan

Trinity @ Tufts, 1:30pm, Medford, MA

This game follows nearly the opposite trend of the last one. Over the last three seasons Tufts-Trinity was a great game, but this year I’m not so sure. The Jumbo defense is always excellent but the loss of QB Ryan McDonald and their top three pass-catchers makes the offensive unit a hell of a lot less scary. The Bantams look as good as ever, returning two of the league’s best wide receivers in Koby Schofer ’20 and Jonathan Girard ’21 and their quarterback, Seamus Lambert ’22. And if for some reason Lambert isn’t doing the job, URI transfer Jordan Vazzano ’20 is ready to go. They’ll obviously suffer the loss of Max Chipouras, one of the best running backs in the history of the NESCAC, but Spencer Lockwood ’22 is in position to have a fine season as his replacement. All signs point towards Trinity for this one.

MK: Trinity 35-10
RM: Trinity 31-13
SS: Trinity 38-10
HC: Trinity 35-13
CC: Trinity 42-21

Writers’ Pick: Trinity

Williams @ Middlebury, 2pm, Middlebury, VT

There’s no doubt that this is the best game of the weekend – that is, best matchup combined with best title chances. Williams returns nearly everyone, headlined by QB Bobby Maimaron ’21, WR Frank Stola ’21, and LB TJ Rothmann ’21, who make up just a small part of this outstanding Eph junior class. They hoped to have a better year last year but were bit by the injury bug at the wrong time and the rest was history. Now they’re all healthy and ready to compete for a championship in Williamstown. You can never count out Middlebury, although I have to admit that this does not appear to be one of the better Panther teams in recent years. They return QB Will Jernigan ’21, TE Frank Cosolito ’20, and RB Peter Scibilia who were all key pieces of their offense last season, but the bar is set pretty high at Midd. Jernigan will have to navigate the passing game a bit better if he wants Midd to be able to compete with the top dogs of the NESCAC and I’m curious to find out if he can do that. Keep an eye on the score from the Green Mountain State.

MK: Williams 28-14
RM: Williams 27-17
SS: Williams 24-17
HC: Williams 38-14
CC: Williams 31-24

Writers’ Pick: Williams

Can’t Stop the Stampede: Week 6 Power Rankings

 

Week 6 Power Rankings 

Not a lot has changed from last week, although there were a few notable results from Week 6. Tufts grabbed a big win from Williams and Wesleyan looked like they had absolutely no fight in them at all. Even Colby finally got into the win column in a thrilling victory over Hamilton. Unfortunately Amherst is still number one, but we’ve still got a ton of excitement ahead of us in the final 3 weeks. See where each team is as the title race heats up:

(1) 1. Amherst (6-0)

Now that the Mammoths have reached the back half of their schedule, they deserve a lot more recognition for what they’re doing. Wesleyan is a good team that has put up a lot of points this year, and they could only muster 101 total yards against this terrific defense. To take this a step further, 104 of those yards were passing yards. Yes, this means that Amherst held the Cardinals to -3 rushing yards. This entire defensive unit is downright scary, especially when it comes to the run game. They currently lead the league in total yards allowed, rushing yards allowed, points allowed, and sacks which basically means that if you want to beat them then you’ll have to throw the ball, but you also won’t have very much time to do that so you’ll probably end up losing anyways. Things start to get pretty exciting this weekend when Amherst hosts Tufts in a game that will definitely have an effect on the league championship.

(2) 2. Trinity (5-1)

There is only one takeaway from Trinity’s 48-6 victory over Bowdoin but it’s a big one: 6 games into the season the Bantams went with a different starting quarterback. I don’t know whether it was due to injury or the poor play of Jordan Vazzano, but rookie QB Seamus Lambert ’22 got the start and went 22 of 29 for 280 yards and 3 touchdowns to just 1 interception. He spread the ball around to 7 different receivers and given his 76% completion percentage, he essentially solved the two largest problems that the Bantams were facing at the quarterback position. A matchup with Middlebury isn’t a cakewalk, so keep an eye on who’s under center this weekend for Trinity.

(4) 3. Tufts (5-1)

RB Dom Borelli ’19 did it all against the Ephs

Congrats to the Jumbos who kept their title hopes alive by knocking off Williams on Saturday. It wasn’t easy however; with the game deadlocked at 21 going into the half, both defenses came out of the locker with much more energy. A passing touchdown by starting RB Dom Borelli ’19 in the third quarter ended up being the only score of the second half and was enough to propel them to victory. Tufts is a team I’d be very afraid of because they clearly can find all sorts of ways to score and they relentlessly keep pressure on opposing quarterbacks with their outstanding group of linebackers. They have a real shot at taking home the crown, but they need a win this weekend at Amherst in our game of the week.

(3) 4. Williams (4-2)

The past two weeks haven’t been good to the Ephs who have now dropped their last two games. QB Bobby Maimaron ’21 ran for 135 yards and a touchdown, but it wasn’t enough as he could only manage 107 yards through the air. Leading WR Frank Stola ’21 caught 9 passes but for just 44 yards and no scores, showing the lack of vertical threats present in the game against Tufts. As a fan (and as a fellow human being) I’m bummed that TJ Rothmann ’21 is out with a broken jaw because he is an impact player on the defensive end and this unit is reeling without him. Williams now finds themselves in the same position they were last year – the good news for us is that last year they took down Amherst in their final game to prevent the Mammoths from winning the championship. Could it happen again this year? They say history repeats itself…

(5) 5. Middlebury (4-2)

What a wild turn of events for the Panthers. One week after bringing home a huge win against Williams they were just an extra point away from heading to overtime against a winless Bates squad. It was a pretty solid effort on the offensive end, but the defense wasn’t really able to stop a Bobcat offense that ranked last in the league in almost every category. It’s possible (and I certainly hope) that this game says more about Bates than it does about Middlebury, because the Panthers have just started putting things together. QB Will Jernigan ’21 is really coming into his own, going 17-26 for a career-high 266 yards and 3 touchdowns on Saturday. I think this game was just a stumble and that Midd is surely going to be prepared for a big matchup against Trinity.

(6) 6. Wesleyan (3-3)

It’s never a good thing when you’re punting out of this formation

Losing 33-3 to one of your rivals on Homecoming Weekend is a bad look. Finishing a game with negative rushing yards is a bad look. Possessing the ball for 10 fewer minutes than your opponent is a bad look. Week 6 was not a good one for the Cardinals, to say the least. As the streakiest team in the league Wesleyan has had a lot of ups and downs, so we’ll go ahead and throw this one in the “down” category. The defense wasn’t good, Piccirillo couldn’t get anything going vertically, and there was no rushing attack whatsoever. I don’t mean to be too harsh, but this team was supposed to be a title contender. No way did anyone think that they’d have 3 losses before playing Williams and Trinity. They do still have one game left with Bowdoin, but all I’m saying is that ending with a losing record is a bad look.

(7) 7. Hamilton (2-4) 

The long bus ride must have gotten to them because the Continentals did not show up to play against Colby this weekend. The Mules have been playing well and are certainly on the rise, but Hamilton has more talent and frankly should have won this game. QB Kenny Gray ’20 couldn’t get anything going in the air and a solid effort running the ball wasn’t enough to make up for it. WR Joe Schmidt ’20 hasn’t been the same difference maker that he was last year and it’s hard to say whether that’s a result of a down year from him, Gray, or both. Probably both. Whatever the case may be, Hamilton has to refocus for their matchup with Williams or else they’re in danger of really embarrassing themselves.

(8) 8. Colby (1-5)

RB Jake Schwern ’19 is doing a great job taking some of the pressure off of first year quarterback Matt Hersch

I’m going to say nearly the exact opposite for Colby that I said for Hamilton. Things are looking good in Waterville. First of all, the Mules’ secondary receives more credit than it has gotten this year. This unit allows just 159 passing yards per game, which is second to just Trinity for fewest in the league. They did a terrific job containing the prolific arm of Kenny Gray and have quietly been putting together a fantastic season. On top of this, QB Matt Hersch ’22 continued to look excellent, orchestrating several impressive drives culminating in the final drive that resulted in the game-winning field goal. Whatever Coach Cosgrove is doing up there is working and they’ll look to keep it up this weekend in their first CBB matchup with Bates.

(10) 9. Bates (0-6)

They had their chances. The Bobcats trailed 28-6 late in the first half and came roaring back within 1 before ultimately losing 35-34 to the Panthers on Saturday. They had 3 full possessions while down a point and were unable to put the finishing touch on a remarkable effort. It turned out that the blocked extra point from Bates’ first touchdown of the day made the difference, and Middlebury escaped with this one. QB Brendan Costa ’21 looked very legit, finding 6 different receivers for 177 yards and 3 touchdowns while adding another 111 yards rushing on 13 attempts. Bates’ offense goes as Costa goes, and on this day Costa had it going. All they can ask for is another performance like this one, and they could really use it in a rivalry matchup with Colby in Week 7.

(9) 10. Bowdoin (0-6)

I know you can’t expect much when you’re a weak team playing against one of the league’s best, but the Polar Bears have to be disappointed with what they’ve gotten out of QB Austin McCrum ’20 so far this year. When you transfer from a Division I school there’s obviously a lot of hype, especially at a position as important as quarterback. With a league-worst 13 interceptions to go along with the fewest yards per attempt and lowest efficiency rating among starters, McCrum is showing us why he ended up in Division III after all. Bowdoin takes on Wesleyan this Saturday, followed by Bates and then Colby in the final two weeks. That gives them 3 chances to end their losing streak that currently sits at 23 games. Good luck, fellas.

Nothing New: Week 1 Power Rankings

With the first week in the books we finally got a glimpse of what each team is looking like this year. Obviously one game is a small sample size, but we’ve learned a thing or two about the league this year. Trinity is still Trinity, Wesleyan is not to be taken lightly, and the bottom of the league is still looking more or less the same. I’m sure this year will bring plenty of surprises like we see every year, but Week 1 didn’t bring too much excitement. There were exactly zero games decided by less than 12 points and besides Bates vs. Amherst none of the games were within 27. So much for more parity this season. Fortunately, this made it a bit easier to do the power rankings, so let’s see where each team falls:

  1. Trinity

The two time defending champs did nothing to make me believe they aren’t still the league’s premier team in a 35-0 drubbing of Colby. RB Max Chipouras ’19 put up a stat line (15 carries, 173yds, 3TD) that would be ridiculous for anyone else, but given his standards I’ll call it “good.” A potential reason for concern is that QB Jordan Vazzano ’21 completed just 9 of his 26 pass attempts for 210 yards, although 97 of those yards were on one play. It was his first game with a new team, but 8-25 for 113 yards sounds a heck of a lot different than 9-26 for 210 yards. Either way, it’s easy to win when your defense doesn’t give up any points, and the Bantams continued to look outstanding on that side of the ball. A matchup with Bates in Week 2 isn’t particularly imposing, so Trinity will have another week to workout the kinks before they head to Williamstown for their first big test.

  1. Wesleyan

Sean Penney ’21 has clearly found a role as the goal line back for Wesleyan

The Cardinals played host to Middlebury in Week 1 and made an absolute statement. Putting up 52 points is absurd even against the weaker teams in the league, let alone the Panthers. We all know how good QB Mark Piccirillo ’19 is, but I was very skeptical given that Wesleyan graduated 4 of their top 5 pass catchers from last season. Well they came out with a very balanced offensive attack that featured 3 rushing touchdowns from Sean Penney ’21, and just 19 pass attempts by Piccirillo. The Wesleyan defense looked excellent as well, and Ben Thaw ’20 put on the defensive performance of the week with 2 interceptions – returning one for a touchdown. Coach DiCenzo showed that he has already found his team’s identity, and will certainly game plan well for their Week 2 showdown at Tufts.

  1. Tufts

I’m not quite sure whether the Jumbos’ 29-2 victory over Hamilton says more about them or the Continentals, but I’m going with the former. This was exactly the type of statement win that Tufts wanted to make in Week 1, highlighted by QB Ryan McDonald ’19 rushing for 98 yards and 4 touchdowns to go along with his 99 passing yards. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the season opener for Tufts was the outstanding effort by their defense. They intercepted 3 Hamilton passes, forced 1 fumble, and had 6 sacks. Granted the Continentals don’t have the strongest offense in the league, but it’s mostly the same personnel that dropped 28 points on the Jumbos in Week 1 last season. Tufts is clearly getting better and their defense will be tasked with slowing down a versatile Wesleyan team that just hung 52 on Middlebury. Mark this one on your calendar, folks.

  1. Williams

Bobby Maimaron ’21 is a weapon. Let’s make that very clear. He completed 13 of 23 passes for 146 yards and 2 touchdowns, while tacking on 78 more yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground. He can seemingly do anything, but he doesn’t have to because the Ephs boast one of the best receivers in the league in Frank Stola ’21 and one of the best running backs in the league in TJ Dozier ’21. Oh, and don’t forget about linebacker TJ Rothmann ’21 who looks like one of the most promising defensive players in the league. Notice anything these guys all have in common? They’re only sophomores. Look out NESCAC, Williams is here to stay. Mark Raymond is turning this program back into a dynasty and I, for one, am very afraid. They’re ready to be in the conversation with the conference’s elite because their championship window is just opening.

  1. Amherst

Bo Berluti ’19 was the only Mammoth receiver to get anything going against Bates

A 19-7 victory over Bates isn’t the most impressive feat, but a win is a win. Plus, the Mammoths had no idea what to expect from a team that completely changed their schemes on both sides of the ball. Amherst is still Amherst and they’ll find ways to grind out wins. Jack Hickey ’19 is a workhorse out of the backfield, racking up 22 carries for 137 yards against the Bobcats. Ollie Eberth ’20 completed 9 of his 13 passes to his two favorite targets, Bo Berluti ’19 and James O’Reagan ’20, but there don’t seem to be too many reliable options beyond those two guys. Fortunately, their defensive unit is as good as any, so they don’t need to be putting up 30+ points every game to be successful. They’ll host a Hamilton team in Week 2 who looked like a JV squad against Tufts, so if that performance is any indication then this one should be a cake walk for the Mammoths. Editor’s Note: 5th?! Cmon, Cam. They have the best defense in the league and returned their whole lineup. I guarantee they move up in week two.

  1. Middlebury

Middlebury showed us that they still have quite a bit to figure out. They did not come to play against Wesleyan and got ripped apart. I know that the suffocating defense of the Cardinals is a nightmare for opposing teams and Mark Piccirillo is pretty good, but the Panthers couldn’t even keep it within 30? Not a great start. Their defense was abysmal, and the offense couldn’t pick up the slack either. Seemingly the only bright spot was that 9 different receivers had multiple receptions, indicating that the pass-heavy offense that they’re known for is still very much in effect. Jack Meservy ’19 showed promise by completing 25 of 43 passes and 2 touchdowns, but also threw 3 picks and didn’t have a single completion for more than 18 yards. I’m confident that the Panthers will start to put things together, but this game should serve as a wakeup call. Luckily they host Bowdoin this weekend, so they’ll have an opportunity to continue finding out what works and what doesn’t.

  1. Bates

The Bobcats should feel about as good as you can feel after a 19-7 loss. Amherst is one of the league’s best, and Bates refused to go away. In fact, it was still a one score game with 5 minutes left to play. The defense looked very solid, led by DB Jon Lindgren ’20 and LB Pete Daley ’19 who had 12 and 8 tackles, respectively. The new offense is going to need a bit more work as they were only able to muster 7 first downs the entire game. Someone besides QB Brendan Costa ’21 is going to have to step up on offense, because he’s the only one making plays at this point. It’s not good when your punter has almost triple the amount of punt yards as you have in total offense. Yes, the Mammoths play very tough defense, but so does Trinity, who the Bobcats will face in Week 2. The expectations shouldn’t be too high for this one, but after a solid showing in Week 1 Bates should continue to focus on making progress. It’s the little victories.

  1. Hamilton

Apparently I was way too high on Hamilton going into this season. They returned a ton of key offensive players including QB Kenny Gray ’20, RB Mitch Bierman ’21, and WR Joe Schmidt ’20 who all did damage in 2017. I thought this would put them in position to have a breakout season and while this still could happen, it looks much less likely. Their offense put up a goose egg and was actually bailed out by their defense to avoid the shutout. Not to say that their defense played particularly well, but allowing 29 points isn’t a terrible effort. Alex Ganter ’19 looked solid, recording 7 tackles and 1 sack that resulted in the safety. Needless to say, the Continentals have a lot to figure out right now, as they’ll go back to the drawing board in preparation for their visit to Western Mass this weekend to take on the Mammoths.

  1. Bowdoin

Austin McCrum didn’t look like a quarterback who once had D1 potential this past weekend

As Colby mentioned in the Stock Report, there has to be a bit of disappointment from Polar Bear fans after a poor performance from transfer QB Austin McCrum ’21 in their season opener against the Ephs. Bowdoin needs to establish their offensive threats after losing their top two receivers from last season in Nick Vailas ’18 and Bryan Porter ’18. RB Nate Richam ’20 looked serviceable, but they really could not get anything going on offense at all. Linebackers Liam Dougherty ’21 and Joe Gowetski ’20 had decent games, but they ran into a hot Williams offense that dominated the game from start to finish. It’s a tough road ahead for the Polar Bears who face Middlebury, Amherst, and Tufts over the next three weeks. They’ll try to take baby steps each week to improve steadily until they reach the weaker portion of their schedule later in the season.

  1. Colby

The last two spots in the power rankings could go either way, but I put Colby in the cellar because of their inability to score a single point in Week 1. The game plan against Trinity was clearly ground and pound, as RB Jake Schwern ’19 carried the ball 29 times for 108 yards. QB Jack O’Brien ’20 only threw for 93 yards, and the Mules actually had 5 players with negative rushing yards. The defense could have been worse, but it’s hard to judge given that the Bantams had their reserves in for the entire second half. It’s hard to play the league’s best right from the get-go, and the result was pretty much as expected. Like Bowdoin, their upcoming schedule does not look promising so the focus will be on progress. Colby hired Coach Cosgrove for a reason, and he can’t be asked to produce results this quickly. Rome wasn’t built in a day, right?

It’s Not Too Early: NESCAC Football Preseason Awards

Now that you’ve read all of our team previews, it’s time preview the individuals. This year more than any year in recent memory, the league is just stacked with talent across the board. Plus when you factor in how many teams could make a run at the title, there are really so many players in contention for awards this year. Let’s see how they stack up.

Coach of the Year: Dan DiCenzo, Wesleyan

Barring a Williams-esque turnaround, which I don’t see happening (sorry Maine), this award is going to go to someone at the top of the standings. As evidenced in the Season Previews, it’s going to be crowded at the top with a whole lot of contenders, so your guess is as good as mine. But I’ll my chances with the 4thyear man in Middletown for a few reasons. First, despite posting consecutive 6-win seasons, the Cards are facing a bit of a rebuild with their personnel. Okay, rebuild is probably too strong of a word, but the faces on the field are going to look a little different this year, especially on offense. Sure, First Team QB Mark Piccirillo ’19 is back and the talk of the league (more to come on that), but everything else is going to look a lot different. WR Mike Breuler is gone, which really can’t be overstated, as the 2017 Player of the Year was absolutely dominant, finishing with 87 catches, 1172 yards, and 10 TDs. Oh, and the NESCAC plays a 9 game schedule. Dario Highsmith has transitioned to WR, leaving the backfield a relative unknown. The defense will be strong as ever, but it’s the offense that will tell this team’s story. Also, their schedule shapes up nicely to Coach DiCenzo to make a run at this award. They have one of the toughest Septembers in the league, hosting Middlebury before traveling to Tufts. If they can grab those two they look set to cruise into contention, before a grueling Week 8 @ Williams followed by the finale at home vs. Trinity. They’ll be tested early, and they’ll be tested late, and if they can pass both tests DiCenzo will be a huge reason.

Defensive Player of the Year: 

  1. TJ Rothmann ‘21, LB, Williams

This is probably a little out of the box here, but if any defensive player in the league has the chance to improve the most it’s Rothmann. We often see just how big a jump in production is made between years 1 and 2, and as the only freshman named to the All-League defense last year, Rothmann fits that bill. Williams is going to make its name stopping the run this year, and his 83 returning tackles are going to be a big reason why. The biggest question is whether or not they’ll have the team success to get his name in this conversation.

  1. Andrew Yamin ‘19, DE/LB, Amherst

It would be natural for the reigning DPOY returning for his senior year to be at the top of the list, but that would make way too much sense. Instead, the Amherst star falls at #2. 13.5 sacks and 21.5 tackles for a loss are a lot to follow up. Yamin very well may be the best defensive player in the league this year, and he might have the numbers to back it up, but as we’ve seen many times, once you set the bar for yourself, it can be really hard to reach. Yamin is going to have to at least match these numbers this year if he wants to repeat, and in a linebacking core shared with LB Andrew Sommer, there might not be enough to go around.

  1. Greg Holt ’20, LB, Tufts

This felt like such a slam dunk that I’m confident enough to feel like I’ve completely jinxed it. The 2016 Rookie of the Year took the jump into the First Team as a sophomore, and there’s only one more level to ascend to. Holt’s 84 tackles last season were good for 3rdin the league, but it’s their Class of 2018 that make him the favorite to win this award. The Jumbos graduated a staggering three All-League defensive linemen in 1stTeamer Micah Adickes and 2ndTeamers Doug Harrison and Zach Thomas. Those were some bad dudes, but they’ve left a hole in their departure and Holt is going to fill it. Not only will there be more to go around for Holt, but we already know that he can do it. He had an incredible 98 tackles in just 8 games his freshman campaign, and if he hits that century mark this season you can begin drafting the press release. His tackles for loss and sacks should see an increase as well. I’ll take Holt.

Honorable Mentions: DL Corey-Jean Jacques ’19, Trinity, LB Andrew Sommer ’19, Amherst, CB Tim Preston ’19, Tufts

Offensive Player of the Year:

  1. Ryan McDonald ’19, QB, Tufts

What’s with all the Tufts love, right? On paper, this pick doesn’t make a lot of sense. McDonald threw for just 11 TDs last year and paired them with 10 INTs. He was wildly inconsistent, but the entire pretense of this pick rests on the senior being able to develop into the kind of player he showed in flashes, but for all 9 games. McDonald threw for 267 yards against Trinity and followed it up with 336 against Williams the following week. His last three weeks, his passing high was 179 yards, and he was 14-31 with a pair of interceptions in that same game, a loss against Amherst. But McDonald could be the most talented player in the league because of his ability in the air coupled with his ability on the ground. He was third in the entire league with 722 rushing yards and rushed for 145 yards in his final game vs. Middlebury. If he can become a little more accurate and turn those 11 TDs and 10 picks into 15 TDs and, say, 6 INTs, he won’t even need much more improvement on his 1879 passing yards (2ndin the league) and aforementioned 722 rushing yards.

  1. Max Chipouras ’19, RB, Trinity

For the more casual readers of this site: yes, Max Chipouras is still here. The 2015 Rookie of the Year has been trucking linebackers and piling up the stats for what feels like forever, but he has finally arrived at his senior season. It’s a testament to Max that he led the league in both rushing yards with 947 and rushing touchdowns with 10 and it felt like his year was just okay. But when you take a closer look at the box score, you realize the kind of damage he could’ve truly done. He had 4 games with a YPC of 6+, but only had 50 carries in those games. Why wasn’t he given the ball more? Probably because Trinity outscored their opponents 190-27 in those games. Chipouras led the NESCAC in every major rushing category and he was taking his cleats off at halftime for nearly half of the season. In theory, Trinity shouldn’t be as dominant this year, and their offense not as balanced with QB Sonny Puzzo gone. They should have to give Chipouras the ball more, and that should lead to some serious numbers. If they decide to leave this guy in the game this year, they might have to rewrite the record books.

  1. Mark Piccirillo ’19, QB, Wesleyan

I wanted to put Piccirillo at #2 so badly. Like so badly, you have no idea. The plan going in was to be contrarian and predict a regression while Chipouras carries a greater load and steals it away from his CT neighbors. But then you look at Piccirillo’s stats from last year, and it’s just impossible not to install him as the favorite. 2657 yards. 70.4% completion percentage. 20 TDs. That’s before mentioning the 474 rushing yards (6thin the league) and 4 rushing TDs. I mean those numbers are insane. Now before you tell me that WR Mike Breuler is gone and any other arguments—save it—they were literally exactly what I was going to use to justify putting him at #2. In fact, I’m going to agree with some of those arguments. Piccirillo is probably going to regress. I mean it’s hard enough to throw for 2657 (2657!!) yards a second year in a row, and even harder without being able to throw it up to D3 Randy Moss 20 times a game. But the rushing numbers will probably go up due to the uncertainty in the backfield and increased playmaking responsibility on their senior quarterback. Coach DiCenzo always has the Wesleyan offense humming and Piccirillo will be the face of that. The team success certainly won’t be an issue, and quite frankly if he turns it over 15 teams again like he did last year, it probably won’t make a difference either. He’s the best player on one of the best teams in the league. I didn’t want to do it, but I have to go with Piccirillo.

Honorable Mentions: QB Bobby Maimaron ’21, Williams, WR Conrado Banky ’19, Middlebury, WR Joe Schmidt ’20, Hamilton

Is This the Year?: Hamilton Football Preview 2018

QB Kenny Gray ’20 looks to breakout after a solid 2017 campaign.

Is This the Year?: Hamilton Football Preview 2018

2017 Record: 3-6

Projected Record: 4-5

Projected Offensive Starters (*7 returning)

QB – Kenny Gray ’20*

RB – Mitch Bierman ’21

WR – Christian Donahoe ’20

WR – Joe Schmidt ’20*

TE – Trevor Pinkham ’19*

LT – Sam Palomaki ’20*

LG – Stephen Kelley ’19*

C – Micah Balogh ’19*

RG – AJ Rattee ’21

RT – AJ Cantarella ’20*

Projected Defensive Starters (*8 returning)

DB – Colby Jones ’19*

DB – Bryce Phillips ’20

DB – Justin Leigh ’20*

LB – Tyler Hudson ’19*

LB – Cole Burchill ’19*

LB – Tim Russell ’21

LB – Sean Tolton ’19*

DL – Alex Ganter ’20*

DL – Michael Friedman ’19*

DL – Jeff Martinez ’20

DL – Will Rothschild ’19*

Projected Specialists (*3 returning)

K – Joe Suski ’21

P – Billy Wagner ’20*

KR/PR – Joe Schmidt ‘20*/Sam Robinson ’20*

Offensive MVP: Wide Receiver Joe Schmidt ’20

(Courtesy of Hamilton Athletics)

The 2017 First Team All-NESCAC selection is back for more. This kid is an absolute stud receiver, finishing his second season 3rdin the NESCAC in receptions (55), 2ndin receiving yards (811), and tied for the league lead in touchdowns with 10. He also is capable of having a huge game, as he showed in Week 1 last year against Tufts, when he caught 8 passes for 214 yards and 4 touchdowns. 4 touchdowns! Now that Wesleyan’s Mike Breuler ’18 is out of the picture, Schmidt officially becomes the conference’s top receiver. With budding star Kenny Gray throwing to him, he’s in a fantastic position to duplicate (or even top) his outstanding 2017 performance. Schmidt is an absolute nightmare for opposing secondaries.

Defensive MVP: Linebacker Tyler Hudson ’19

(Courtesy of Hamilton Athletics)

Hamilton boasts one of the best linebacker groups in the NESCAC, and Hudson is right at the front of that group. He has earned First Team All-NESCAC accolades in each of the past two seasons, leading the league in solo tackles (2ndin total tackles) last year. The converted defensive end is one of the best true athletes you’ll find at this level and at times it feels like you can’t run a play without him getting involved. I’d like to see his sack numbers improve a bit, but there really isn’t much this guy can’t do. The Continental defensive unit is a force to be reckoned with and Tyler Hudson is the face of that unit.

Biggest Game: September 15thvs. Tufts 

While it might be just the first game of the season, it’s a big one. The last two meetings between these two teams have ended in overtime victories for the Jumbos. Hamilton has been just one possession away from victory each time but has come up empty as Tufts has proven that they can win these close games. With the amount of returning stars in Hamilton’s lineup, I think this could be the year that the Continentals make a leap into the upper echelon of the conference. It all starts Week 1 when the Jumbos roll into town and this Continental team comes to play with a chip on their shoulder.

Best Tweet:

https://twitter.com/HamCollFootball/status/1033556077172994053

As a non-football player I have to say that catching a punt doesn’t look particularly difficult. However, it clearly is, evidenced by how many muffed punts there are by people whose job it is to catch punts. I know how good it feels to get out of conditioning at the end of practice, so this definitely hits home a bit. This right here is what a team looks like, so let’s see if they bring this type of intensity every Saturday this year.

Everything Else:

Hamilton always seems to find themself in a weird place. They’ve been pretty consistently better than the CBB schools but worse than everyone else in recent years. There wasn’t a whole lot of turnover in their starting lineup on both sides of the ball, and they’ve got some true stars in their lineup who are ready to lead. Kenny Gray ’20 continues to get better and I think he has a chance to be in the same conversation as elite NESCAC quarterbacks such as Mark Picirillo from Wesleyan and Ryan MacDonald from Tufts. A difference maker in this lineup is going to be running back Mitch Bierman ’21 who split carries in the backfield during his rookie season. He proved to be a monstrous red zone threat, as he still finished 6thin the conference with 6 touchdowns. If he can adjust to a larger workload, this will provide a much-needed rushing attack to complement the powerful arm of Kenny Gray.

Mitch Bierman ’21 is going to be the x-factor for this offense.

Their defense has players who have proven that they belong among the NESCAC’s best, but they haven’t quite been able to put it together as an entire unit. Guys like Cole Burchill ’19, Colby Jones ’19, and Alex Ganter ’20 are going to have to step up more than they have in the past, as they now have several years of experience under their belts. There isn’t really a whole lot to say about the Continentals other than they need to be better against the leagues tougher opponents. Wins over Bates, Bowdoin, and Colby have become commonplace for them at this point, so their season will be defined by how they fare against teams like Middlebury and Tufts, against whom they have come up just short over the past few years. Kenny Gray and co. have a chance to make some noise, so we’ll see if they’re ready to finally change the way things have gone recently.

The Last Football Show: Week 9 Weekend Preview

As always, make sure you check out Matt’s excellent piece on the Game of the Week, Amherst @ Williams. But that is far from the only good game here on the last weekend of the season. Middlebury @ Tufts has major championship implications, as does, of course, Trinity vs Wesleyan. And the other games feature young teams battling it out for pride and confidence, which can often produce the best games. This is how the season ends, not with a whimper, but with a bang.

Middlebury (6-2) @ Tufts (5-3), 12:30 PM, Medford, MA

It would take a good deal of help from Wesleyan and Williams for this game to have championship ramifications but it could. If Wesleyan beats Trinity, Williams beats Amherst, and Middlebury beats Tufts, then the Panthers would be one of four teams (Trinity, Wesleyan, Amherst and them) who finish at 7-2. Additionally, Middlebury would have the head to head tiebreaker over Wesleyan and Amherst. There’s a lot of moving parts to that equation, but all of them are very possible, so Middlebury has quite a bit to play for in this game. Tufts has no championship hopes, but they;d love to play spoiler and grab a win over an elite team.

As has been the case for Middlebury for the last two weeks, the big key is the play of Jack Meservy ‘19. He got knocked around by Trinity (the best secondary in the league) and did some  knocking of his own against Hamilton (arguably the worst.) Against the Continentals he flashed a nice touch on deep balls, throwing two deep touchdowns to speed merchant Jimmy Martinez ‘19. Tufts ranks somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of NESCAC secondaries (with Hamilton and Trinity as the two ends.) Tim Preston ‘18 is a threat, but he hasn’t gotten a ton of help this year, and Tufts defensive numbers are middling at best. A good showing here could cement Meservy’s spot as next year’s starter… or Lebowitz could come back. We shall see.

Ryan McDonald ’19 is made to attack the Middlebury defense.

Middlebury’s defense has been really excellent since Lebowitz went down, allowing the offense many chances to put it together. But they haven’t faced an attack quite like Tufts yet. Ryan McDonald ‘19 challenges defenses with his legs even more than Puzzo and Maimaron, two quarterbacks whom Middlebury often allowed to escape the pocket and move the chains through scrambling. And plus, the Jumbos’ run game is starting to look more like last year’s albeit without one star. In their last three weeks, which feature a win over Williams and an impressive loss to amherst (31-26,) Tufts has used a committee of talented backs to beat teams on the ground and set up play action throws on the run for McDonald. It’s hard to predict which back will be the lead, but Mike Pedrini ‘21 and Andrew Sanders have both played well. Run defense has killed Middlebury in both of their losses, particularly containing quarterbacks. I think it hurts them again this week.

Score Prediction

Tufts 20, Middlebury 15

Wesleyan (6-2) @ Trinity (7-1), 12:00 PM, Hartford, CT

This classic offense-defense matchup features Trinity fighting to keep the solo championship which was all but guaranteed for much of the season. They’ll need help from Williams, of course, but nothing happens unless they win here. And boy do they have their work cut out for them. Wesleyan may well have played the best all-around game of any team this season last week, pasting Williams 35-0. They held the Ephs to just 127 total yards, and phenom QB Bobby Maimaron to just 51, with two interceptions. And on the other side of the ball, QB Mark Piccirillo ‘18 stuck his namely firmly at the front of the POY race. He has now not thrown an interception in three games after throwing seven in the first five, and has five passing touchdowns in the last two. He also has four rushing touchdowns on the year (with no fumbles in the last five games) and is in the top five in the country in completion percentage at over 70%. With Lebowitz possibly done, Piccirillo is the best QB in the conference, and a win over the Bantams would cement his legacy and secure his hardware.

Trinity has to be pretty steamed following a pretty severe beatdown at the hands of the Mammoths. The final score of 28-20 is misleading–Amherst dominated the whole way, and the Bantams scored a touchdown with 24 seconds left to make it more respectable. Much of Trinity’s offense is created by their defense; takeaways set them up in great field position and force opposing defense back onto the field quickly tiring them out and allowing Max Chipouras ‘19 to find the holes. Amherst didn’t turn the ball over once, and as such was able to dominate time of possession 36:22 to 23:07. As I said above, Wesleyan has not been turning the ball over at all lately. Piccirillo has cleaned it up, and they have a pen of sure-handed running backs, like Sean Penney ‘21 and Glenn Smith ‘21, who hold onto the ball and can run out the clock or set up Piccirillo scrambles. Trinity has to force turnovers in this game, and they may have to look outside of Dominique Seagears ‘18, who will have his hands full with Mike Breuler ‘18. The linebacking corps of Dago Picon-Roura ‘19, Liam Kenneally ‘18 and Carty Campbell ‘18 may make the difference. If they can pick of a slant pass or force a fumble from one of those young running backs, Trinity is back in business.

Predicted Score: Trinity 27, Wesleyan 20

Bates (2-6) @ Hamilton (2-6)

The “Best of the Rest” championship could actually be a pretty thrilling game. Both teams are high octane offenses with bad defenses. That’s the recipe for a lot of points, and in a hurry. Bates’ offense is more of a recent development. QB Brendan Costa ‘21 has found the easier half of the schedule to his liking, turning into ‘08 Madden Michael Vick before our eyes. He leads all NESCAC players in rushing yards over the last four weeks, and has made some big throws as well. Bates is inverting the NESCAC offensive trend of the season, by using passes as a change of pace for a run-heavy offense. Mickey Nichol, Brian Daly and Jaason Lopez are all receivers who can make big plays out of short, dump-off passes in between Costa’s electrifying runs. Against bad defenses, this offense is very fun to watch, and tremendously successful.

Jaason Lopez ’21 is a big play threat for the Bobcats due to his incredible speed.

Hamilton is a more traditional offense, but can also light up weak defenses. QB Kenny Gray ‘20 is underrated, and he has legit set of weapons in Joe Schmidt ‘20, Christian Donohoe ‘20, and RB Mitch Bierman ‘21. Gray missed their game against Middlebury last week, and his status for this game is up in the air. If he doesn’t play, Bates should have an easy path to victory. But even if he does, the porous hamilton defense should let Costa do whatever he wants in leading the Bobcats to victory.

Predicted Score: Bates 35, Hamilton 28

Colby (0-8) @ Bowdoin (0-8), 12:30 PM, Brunswick, ME

If you remember Season Four of Friday Night Lights, the “Toilet Bowl” was a huge moment of team bonding for East Dillon Lions. It was their first win, and for a team that had to forfeit their home opener due to injury concerns, the importance of that win could not be overstated. For one of these teams, that will also be the case. Bowdoin has enjoyed some offensive success as of late. Promising first year QB Griff Stalcup played a great game against Wesleyan, but missed last week’s loss to Bates. But Noah Nelson ‘19 was able to step in against Bates and put up a very effective performance, throwing for 302 yards and two touchdowns. Bowdoin has the weapons to be an effective offense with consistent QB play. RB Nate Richam ‘18 is injured, but Gregory Olsen ‘21 looked like his NFL counterpart last week, catching two touchdowns. WR Nick Vailas ‘18 and TE Bryan Porter ‘18 have long been underrated based on playing in Bowdoin. The Polar Bears have the offense to make this a laugher.

Colby doesn’t have nearly the offensive firepower of Bowdoin, but they have real difference-makers on defense. LB Sebastian Philemon ‘19 (69 tackles) and S Don Vivian ‘19 (3 INT)  are legit All-League candidates. Against Bowdoin’s precariously good offense, the two of them should be real difference makers. Add in versatile RB Jake Schwern ‘19, who should get a ton of touches, and this really is anybody’s game. I’ll take the Polar Bears at home.

Predicted Score: Bowdoin 24, Colby 14

Even Steven: Weekend Preview 11/3

There is another championship caliber game this week in Trinity @ Amherst, which has its own separate preview, but there are still a number of interesting games with pride on the line. The final nine positions in the standings are still up for grabs, and while that might not mean much to some, many programs will benefit in morale, momentum, and recruiting (which obviously doesn’t happen in the NESCAC for our readers from admissions offices) for future seasons. Bates and Bowdoin have the battle for Maine, Williams and Wesleyan are tied in the standings with Williams looking to jump even higher up the ladder from 2016, Midd needs to put up or shut up, Hamilton could still put up a respectable record, and Tufts is in danger of falling to .500. Sorry to Colby Mule fans, there isn’t much going on for you this week other than a potential for a monstrous defeat. Lots to watch this weekend and here is what to expect:

Bowdoin (0-7) @ Bates (1-6), 12:30 PM, Lewiston, ME

Two promising first year QBs for struggling teams in this game. Is this the future of the NESCAC? The next two teams to make a Williams/Bobby Maimaron-esque jump to the top in 2018? Only time will tell how each young signal caller turns out and how their teams develop with them, but for now, Griff Stalcup ’21 and Brendan Costa ’21 should provide an intense matchup in their first of four career head to head battles. Stalcup struggled mightily against Trinity (63-14 loss), looking like he was in danger of losing his job, but knocked it out of the park in a 21-10 loss to Wesleyan. He threw for 317 yards, a TD, and didn’t turn the ball over. Despite a loss, the two possession difference against Wesleyan is a positive for this struggling Polar Bear squad. With Nate Richam ’18 out, the Bowdoin running game is much weaker, but they adjusted from the Trinity to Wesleyan games, making a stab at a late comeback. They also resorted to a more pass oriented offense as Robert Kollmer isn’t nearly as dangerous as Richam. While Richam and Kollmer are both young and promising for the Bowdoin future, without Richam, the passing game will once again be on display. Defense has been a big issue for the Polar Bears, holding off the Cardinals’ running attack, although they were without lead back Dario Highsmith ’20. Their passing defense isn’t as good, but that shouldn’t be a cause for concern against a run-heavy Bobcat offense. Their senior receivers Nick Vailas and Bryan Porter should be open for Stalcup, but their key will be stopping the rush. They have a shot, but Costa might be too much to handle.

Mickey Nichol is an emerging weapon for the Bobcats, both as a runner and a receiver.

A run oriented offense against a weak rush defense (actually, the worst rush defense, allowing 205.7 yards per game). This is a recipe for success for Brendan Costa and the slot-receivers of Bates football. Coming off of a rather ugly win against Colby (27-24, we must not forget that Bates could still easily be 0-7 and in search for their first win. I mean, looking at the matchup and how Costa played, they are the favorite here, but they shouldn’t be by much. If it weren’t for the perfect opponent for this offense, there’s no way the Bobcats could be projected to win. They allow the most pass yards per game (273) and points per game (40.6!) in the NESCAC. Granted Bowdoin, as previously mentioned, allows the most rush yards per game and also the second most points per game (34.7). This is a recipe for Costa to find some success to Mickoy Nichol, and for him, Nichol, and Frank Williams to find some room on the ground. This game should be a defensive nightmare, but will also be a mano-a-mano battle of the new guy QBs for bragging rights in Maine.

Predicted Score: Bates 31, Bowdoin 28

Williams (5-2) @ Wesleyan (5-2), 1:00 PM, Middletown, CT

Another exciting game between two top teams who are just barely out of it, still feeling the sting of Trinity’s dominance. Pride is on the line for both, while Williams looks to one up another top team who dominated them a year ago. With such a young team, each high intensity game gives them an edge for next year when they face the Bantams again. With Williams’ depth, they should be the favorites as without Dario Highsmith, injured against Bowdoin, Wesleyan is not nearly as dangerous offensively. Connor Harris has been the lead back all year, but TJ Dozier has really come on the past three games, putting a hurting on Hamilton last game with 112 yards in their 24-6 win. With Bobby Maimaron at the helm, Rashad Morrison, Harris, and Dozier on the ground, and Frank Stola, Justin Nelson, and Adam Regensburg on the hands team, the Eph offense is scary good. Their only real flawed game was against Tufts in a 21-13 loss where they were vulnerable in the secondary. S Luke Apuzzi, LB Jarrett Wesner, and LB TJ Rothman will need to be strong in the second and third tiers of the defense helping the DBs in order to limit Piccirillo.

Without Dario Highsmith, QB Mark Piccirillo will need to step up in a big way if Wesleyan is to better their 6-2 record from 2016. Piccirillo looked good against Bowdoin, but I’m going to pretend that didn’t happen because of how weak their defense is. Therefore, recently, Piccirillo has struggled mightily. Besides the Bowdoin and Amherst games, he has thrown INTs in every game (including games against Hamilton, Bates, AND Colby). In the game he didn’t throw one against the Mammoths, he got absolutely abused, sacked nine times for 51 yards. Even against Bowdoin he was sacked four times. So maybe, he is just learning to go to the ground and not make late passes when he is being bore down upon by defensive linemen. The Cardinals offensive line is clearly a factor here as their RB Highsmith is injured and Piccirillo is getting hit at an incredible rate, spelling trouble against a strong Williams defense (fourth in the NESCAC with 20 sacks). Williams has a good secondary to boot, so Piccirillo has a tough test here. Now, I am critical of Piccirillo because of how one bad decision could easily change the course of this game. He still leads the NESCAC in passing yards, passing TDs (18), and has the best receiver in the league in Mike Breuler. This is going to have to be a two man show for the Cardinals, and unless Piccirillo learns how to scramble a bit better, he might be in for some trouble. Can he take care of the ball enough to get it to Breuler two times or more? Possible, but unlikely.

Predicted Score: Williams 27, Wesleyan 17

Hamilton (2-5) @ Middlebury (5-2), 12:30 PM, Middlebury, VT

Sadly, Middlebury must now prepare for life post-Lebowitz three games earlier than expected. Jack Meservy ’19 is the heir apparent, and this game is critical for his development. He got knocked around big time by Trinity, but impressed many with his perseverance and arm strength. Middlebury is a quarterback factory, and he has all the tools to succeed. A choice matchup with Hamilton is a great opportunity for Meservy to gain some confidence going into a tough final game at Tufts, and then his senior season.

Against Trinity, Middlebury tried to take some pressure off Meservy by establishing the run, never an easy thing to do against the Bantams. It didn’t work. Middlebury only averaged 3.1 yards per carry against Trinity, down from their season average. Middlebury isn’t built to run the ball, as their entire offense has been set up around Lebowitz’ elite arm. Against Hamilton, they should be free to use much more of the original playbook, as the Continentals give up the third most passing yards per game. Look for Middlebury to get back to their high-flying ways, and potentially use this game as an audition of sorts for Meservy as the starter of the future.

As much as this game is an opportunity for Middlebury, it is far more of one for Hamilton. They will NEVER get as good a chance to knock off a top tier team as this one, and a win against Middlebury would give their various young stars a huge confidence boost. To do this they need to vary their offense. Middlebury’s defense played a fabulous game against Trinity despite getting virtually no rest; they held Sonny Puzzo to his lowest completion percentage and fewest yards of the season. The odds are that they can do the same to Kenny Gray ’20. Middlebury has a plethora of excellent athletes in the secondary to throw at Joe Schmidt ’21, so the run game is the key this week for the Continentals. Mitch Bierman ’21 has been largely ineffective since a breakout against Bowdoin two weeks (and as always, offensive performances against Bowdoin don’t count,) but Marcus Gutierrez ’18 has been running well lately. Look for both of them to get more carries than usual to try and set up Gray’s big play ability. Hamilton will try to seize this opportunity to take down the Panthers, but I think they still fall short.

Predicted Score: Middlebury 20, Hamilton 17

Tufts (4-3) @ Colby (0-7), 1:00 PM, Waterville, ME

The only one-sided game on paper this weekend features a Tufts team that is struggling to remain on the upper crust of the league. They have one quality win; a 21-13 victory over Williams two weeks ago, but other than that they have lost all three of their games against teams with winning records. It is turnovers that have been their downfall. Each of their losses has been decided by one possession and they have 13 turnovers in 7 games. You’re not going to beat Trinity or even Wesleyan if you give them free possessions. QB Ryan McDonald has 11 of those turnovers, keeping him out of the POY conversation even though he is electrifying to watch. McDonald should use this game as an exercise in taking care of the ball, as their Week Nine game with Middlebury will be another golden chance to beat a top tier team.

Ryan McDonald ’19 is maybe the best dual threat QB in the league, when he holds on to the ball.

Luckily for the Jumbos, Colby’s offense is likely not good enough to make them pay if they do turn the ball over. But it’s an improvement to even say likely. After not scoring more than seven points in any of the first five games of the season, they have scored 24 points in each of the last two. This is largely the result of lesser competition; Colby finally reached the other lower tier teams part of the schedule. But they have also finally worked out some QB issues. Jack O’Brian ’20 has found success in the read option, using his legs to create Colby’s best scoring chances of the season. It won’t matter against Tufts, but Colby has enough pride to make this a game if Tufts takes it too lightly.

Predicted Score: Tufts 35, Colby 7

Two Teams Left: Week Eight Power Rankings

The Middlebury-Trinity game fell flat due to Jared Lebowitz’ injury against Bates. This has thrown the league for something of a loop, but it doesn’t really change the top that much. Trinity and Amherst play this weekend in the game that decides the league championship. If Trinity wins, no one can catch them, as they’d have the tie-breaker with Amherst even if they happened to lose in the final week of the season (unlikely.) There are several other terrific games this weekend with huge implications for the final standings. Let’s take a look at where those standings are at before those games.

1) Trinity (7-0)

The Bantams face their final challenger this weekend when they travel to Amherst to take on the Mammoths. Last weekend they easily dispatched the Lebowitz-less Panthers, forcing backup QB Jack Meservy ’19 into three turnovers (two picks and a fumble.) It was another dominant defensive performance, and LB Dago Picon-Roura ‘2 picked up the Defensive Player of the Week award on the strength of an amazing one handed interception. The run game was also dominant, as Sonny Puzzo ’18 and Max Chipouras ’19 combined for 258 yards on their own, with Puzzo scrambling in for two touchdowns. This defensive, pounding gameplan made up for a very poor effort from Puzzo through the air. He was only 9-20 throwing the ball for 120 yards, and had several throws that should have been intercepted by the Middlebury secondary. Amherst’s offense should be able to give their defense more of a rest than Middlebury’s did, so Puzzo will have to play better this weekend.

2) Amherst (6-1)

We may owe Ollie Eberth ’20 a small apology. For much of this season we’ve been talking about Amherst’s “QB uncertainty.” Eberth had been playing all year with the spectre of Reece Foy ’18 behind him. And indeed, even last week Foy threw a touchdown pass in his four attempt. But Eberth is clearly the guy, and he showed it against Tufts. He managed the game masterfully and took care of the ball, throwing for 250 yards and no interceptions. And he was dynamic with his legs, rushing for two scores. on his way to his first Offensive Player of the Week honor. Eberth will get an even bigger test against Trinity, a defense that turns people over better than anyone. He should get a lot of help from his defense. Andrew Yamin ’19 has 11.5 sacks this season and eats offensive linemen like Joey Chestnut eats hot dogs. Amherst is the team most suited to beat Trinity, and they have their chance at home.

Andrew Yamin ’19 is listed on the Amherst website as playing a position called “Buck.” I have no idea what that means but it’s very scary and so is he so maybe it does make sense.

3)  Williams (5-2)

We have yet another first year star in Williamstown. After Connor Harris ’18 went down with an injury, it was TJ Dozier ‘s (’21) time to step up. And that he has, getting more and more confident every week leading up to their game with Hamilton last Saturday. And against the Continentals (admittedly porous) defense, he broke out, rushing for 112 yards and a touchdown. The speedy back is proving he can be a workhorse, which is important for the Williams offense. They like to run a lot of play action and read plays to take advantage of Bobby Maimaron ’21 and his quick feet, but to do that you need a running back that scares the other enough to make them buy the fake. Williams has another suspect defensive matchup this weekend in Wesleyan, but the Cardinals offense should offer much more of a fight than Hamilton’s did. Dozier and the other young Ephs will get another chance to prove themselves as the future of the league.

4) Middlebury (5-2)

This ranking is based on where Middlebury is now, not where they’ll end up. The Lebowitz injury is devastating, not just to the Panthers but to the league as well. It ruined our best chance of not having to crown Amherst or Trinity as league champ, but more than that, it takes away one of the most electrifying players in recent NESCAC memory, and maybe the best of Middlebury QB dynasty. We’ll have a deeper career retrospective on Lebowitz coming out in the offseason, but we just wanted to acknowledge the impact he’s had on the league and on our hearts (okay too far, but I’m a homer.)

It’s hard to know where Middlebury will end up this season. Backup QB Jack Meservy ’19 made some impressive plays against Trinity, but he also had three turnovers and completed under 50% of his passes. And the defense made some big plays as well, despite having virtually no rest for the entire game. Middlebury still has the skeleton of an elite team. Conrado Banky ’19, Maxwell Rye ’20 and Jimmy Martinez ’19 are an enviable set of weapons for Meservy to take over, and the senior linebacking trio of Slodowitz, John Jackson and Wesley Becton is as good as any in the league. But Lebowitz was the heart, and without him, it’s hard to know how they’ll do. A matchup at home with Hamilton is winnable, but also not a guaranteed win, and they close the year at Tufts in what is now a very tough game.

5) Wesleyan (5-2) 

The Cardinals put up a fairly lackluster performance against Bowdoin, winning 21-10 and allowing 317 passing yards to Griff Stalcup ’21, who has improved every week but still has no business out throwing Mark Piccirillo ’18 by nearly 60 yards. Piccirillo-Mike Breuler ’18 is the best QB-WR connection in the league, and it accounted for all three of Wesleyan’s touchdowns (by the way, Breuler should be getting A LOT of POY hype. He’s unbelievable. More on that later.) But Wesleyan’s defense is becoming a problem. They have forced the fewest turnovers of any team in the league, and that includes the Maine teams. No one is scared of the Wesleyan defense, as Bowdoin proved, and Amherst should be licking their chops as they plan to triple team Breuler and throw the ball all over the field.

Mike Breuler ’18 is having one of the best seasons by a WR in recent NESCAC memory

6) Tufts (4-3)

What song would Tufts be playing to the top tier teams to get them to let them in? Tell us in the comments!

Tufts continues to stand outside the window looking in at the top tier teams like Lloyd in Say Anything. The biggest thing separating them from the elite is turnovers. Ryan McDonald ’19 is an unbelievable athlete, but he also has 11 giveaways all by himself this season. That is simply unacceptable. If he wants to sit at the table with Puzzo, Lebowitz, Piccirillo (and arguably Maimaron,) he has to take care of the ball. They also don’t really scare anyone on defense, giving up a middling 20 points per game and only forcing seven turnovers. They have a dominant pass rush, led by Micah Adickes ’18 and Zach Thomas ’18 (12.5 sacks between them) but once the ball leaves the quarterback’s hand it is usually completed. Luckily, they end the season with Colby and then Middlebury (probably) sans-Lebowitz. This is a golden chance to finish 6-3.

7) Hamilton (2-5)

Like Tufts, Hamilton has an unexpectedly good chance to finish the season 2-0 thanks to the Lebowitz injury. Before he got hurt, their game in Middlebury this weekend was a guaranteed blowout. But now, it’s a chance for a quality win before they close the season with Bates. To beat Middlebury they need to establish the run early and often. Marcus Gutierrez had good success against the excellent Williams front, putting up 77 yards on just 15 carries. He should have gotten 10 more carries at least in my opinion, as Kenny Gray ’20 completed under 50% of his passes with two interceptions. Hamilton should try to move to a more balanced offense, with a threatening running game setting up Gray to hook up with dynamic WR Joe Schmidt ’20. They will need to against Middlebury, who still has one of the better secondaries in the league.

8) Bates (1-6)

Brendan Costa
Brendan Costa ’21 (Courtesy of Bates Athletics)

The Bates Second-Half Redemption Tour reached its apex last weekend with their first win of the season, a surprisingly exciting 27-24 thriller over Colby. And as has been the case for most of their recent improvement, QB Brendan Costa deserves much of the credit. Costa had his best game of the season, throwing for 150 yards and a touchdown and rushing for another 155 yards and a TD. That’s the first game this season that a NESCAC QB has had 150 yards passing, 150 yards rushing and no turnovers. And to go along with Costa, the defense finally made some big plays, with two interceptions. Bates is having a feel-good end to the season, and they end the season with Bowdoin and Hamilton. A three game winning streak would take much of the sour taste left over from the 0-6 start out of the Bobcat’s mouths.

9) Bowdoin (0-7)

Bowdoin also got an encouraging performance from their young QB, as Griff Stalcup ’21 threw for a season high 317 yards against Wesleyan. Much of this came on an 85 yard throw to WR Nick Vailas ’18, but it’s still encouraging. Even more exciting than that is the defense. A week after giving up 63 (!!) points to Trinity, they held maybe the other best offense in the league reasonably in check, and came within 17 yards of out-gaining them in total yards (389-372.) This was mostly thanks to an impressive pass rush. They had four sacks on the day, two by DL Nat Deacon ’20. Their game with Bates this weekend may be a sneaky-exciting one.

Nat Deacon ’20 had two sacks against Wesleyan

10) Colby (0-7)

Colby has nearly tripled their season point total in the last two weeks. Coming into their game two weekends ago with Hamilton, they had only scored 27 points in five games, which is not ideal. But they have now scored 24 points in each of the last two games. Unfortunately, the teams they have played, Bates and Hamilton, have each scored 27. Colby hasn’t been able to take advantage of choice match-ups with other lower tier teams, and it’s hard to imagine them coming out of this season with a win. But they deserve a great deal of praise for continuing to work hard and improve despite an unimaginably difficult first half of the season.