FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[nescac1]

I didn't know that a kick after a safety was a live ball, and apparently Middlebury did not either.  Crazy play.  The typical barnburner between Williams and Midd. The two teams are very even.

[Brady12]

Should have fair caught it

[JEFFFAN]

Not clear that there are any Lord Jeff fans on this site anymore - no reason to, frankly - but the demise of this program remains staggering to watch.   For five plus years this team has the most ineffective lines in my history with the program, which goes back to the mid 1970s.   It is hard to figure out whether the skill players are any good when they have no time to try to make plays.   Hard pressed to believe that EJ has forgotten how to recruit but the results speak for themselves.   There might also be a correlation to the demise of this program with the new admissions director and the hard, hard left turn by Biddy Martin.  Whatever - this program just stinks right now.

[203Nescac]

Not clear that there are any Lord Jeff fans on this site anymore - no reason to, frankly - but the demise of this program remains staggering to watch.   For five plus years this team has the most ineffective lines in my history with the program, which goes back to the mid 1970s.   It is hard to figure out whether the skill players are any good when they have no time to try to make plays.   Hard pressed to believe that EJ has forgotten how to recruit but the results speak for themselves.   There might also be a correlation to the demise of this program with the new admissions director and the hard, hard left turn by Biddy Martin.  Whatever - this program just stinks right now.

What Koy Price will do to a man...

[ROTMNG]

Not clear that there are any Lord Jeff fans on this site anymore - no reason to, frankly - but the demise of this program remains staggering to watch.   For five plus years this team has the most ineffective lines in my history with the program, which goes back to the mid 1970s.   It is hard to figure out whether the skill players are any good when they have no time to try to make plays.   Hard pressed to believe that EJ has forgotten how to recruit but the results speak for themselves.   There might also be a correlation to the demise of this program with the new admissions director and the hard, hard left turn by Biddy Martin.  Whatever - this program just stinks right now.

Price is one heck of a player. Played against him twice and he was one of the twitchiest dudes I ever had to block. Loved playing against Bowdoin. A well-coached group that played a hard and executed a complex scheme well. Love to root for the Whispering Pines 8 weeks a year and happy to see them blow the doors off a continually poor Amherst squad.

[MapleBBQChicken]

The two OT games today got me curious about OT in the NESCAC in recent years.

I found that over the last five seasons (from 2019 to now), there have been nine games that went to OT. Of those nine, a staggering six included Wesleyan. Interestingly, the previous five seasons (2014-2018) saw only one OT game (assuming the data on the NESCAC website is accurate). That game also included the Cardinals.

No idea why this pattern exists, but interesting nonetheless.

[MapleBBQChicken]

As for the football played today, it was a strong win for Middlebury in a close and hard-fought game.

It's starting to feel like a very similar situation to last year, as a one-loss but improving Panther team faces a Bantam squad that has yet to play a close game. And this year it's in Vermont.

We want Trinity.

[Bantam4life]

As for the football played today, it was a strong win for Middlebury in a close and hard-fought game.

It's starting to feel like a very similar situation to last year, as a one-loss but improving Panther team faces a Bantam squad that has yet to play a close game. And this year it's in Vermont.

We want Trinity.

Maple- Disagree on this notion of the Bantams have yet to play a close game. While the scoreboard has favored the Bants when the clock hit zero these first 5 weeks, nearly all of those games were tied or within 1 score at the half including a 7-7 Tie at the half. Last years Bantam team blew the doors off its opponents the first few weeks winning every game by the half. This year is a different story and I think that battle tested efforts give the Bants and extra edge. Regardless should be a great game in VT come Saturday

[Jumbo Jimmy]

Gotta say...those frisky kitties got a lot of heart. God bless coach coyne. He had that bates team playing real hard tonight. Just wasn't enough to keep up with Mike Berluti, Jack Elliott and that high-octane Jumbos offense. Great punt operation by Andrew Leigh of the jumbos tonight too. Man does that guy have a leg!

[BigKat]

Gotta say...those frisky kitties got a lot of heart. God bless coach coyne. He had that bates team playing real hard tonight. Just wasn't enough to keep up with Mike Berluti, Jack Elliott and that high-octane Jumbos offense. Great punt operation by Andrew Leigh of the jumbos tonight too. Man does that guy have a leg!

Yeah that little fella is a real field flippa. Reminds me a little of that game changing punter from Moo town last year who was so slow to the ball, he " intentionally" drew a lot of penalties .

A shame about the Amherst program . It's a far better league when they are relevant . Bants/Pants get your popcorn ready .

[nescac1]

Another really tough loss for Williams vs. Middlebury.  In the last five games v. Midd, there has been one blow out each direction and Williams has lost three very winnable games by a total of eight combined points.  Midd loses an absolutely loaded senior class this year which no Eph fan will be sad to see leave.  The Ephs just could not get off the field on several critical third and fourth and longs yesterday, the brutal one being a fourth and eight conversion that Midd converted very late in the game in its own territory with two guys bearing down on the Midd QB.  The teams were dead even in every way but in the OT a very conservative Eph offense got stymied at the five and Midd ran in it and that was the difference.

For Williams, Owen McHugh had a mostly good day but threw two critical interceptions on ill-advised deep passes into a lot of traffic.  The Ephs could not connect on the long ball all day (including a few drops of very tough but potentially catchable balls) but were doing great in the short and intermediate passing game, and I think the Ephs went a bit TOO conservative late in the game after the two interceptions and should have tried a bit more to mix it up with a short, safe passing to Bobo, Kennedy, and especially Johansen, who seems to catch everything thrown his way. The offense late in the second half and overtime was basically all Mario "Overrated" Fischetti, who had 131 yards on 19 carries despite being the focus of the defense, and added some nice punt returns as well. 

For Williams, Ivan Shuran had an incredible day with five field goals including a 43-yarder, but that of course reflected a lot of missed opportunities for a Williams offense that moved the ball at will between the 20s but struggled to figure out a plan in the red zone.  The Ephs had a ton of missed opportunities inside the 20. 

The Williams defense had a fairly rough day overall, didn't give up a ton of big plays but also didn't make enough of their own.  Williams started FIVE FY players (don't go by the participation report which listed on both sides of the ball several injured players as starters) as a lot of guys continue to be out with injuries on the defensive side of the ball, and the lack of experience showed especially on the first drive of the game.  The defensive line was not as stout as it typically is against the run and definitely missed all-conference DE Cam Smith.  Jack Wallace, Zakkai Moore, Will Gale (who's just a monster up front) and Ethan Scott (definitely the Ephs' defensive MVP this year) all made some standout individual plays, and Calvin Pedetella was a tackling machine, but the D forced no turnovers, got torched up the middle against the run through the entire second half in particular, and accrued as many roughing the passer penalties as sacks (one of each).  I think the secondary actually held up pretty well today after totally losing Vashel on the first drive of the game, guys were generally pretty well covered, but Moran had too much time to throw and Midd's very impressive FY back Connor McClellan absolutely torched Williams all day.  He's gonna be a keeper, big, shifty, and explosive, by far their most effective TB.

Vashel and Jamin both had good days for Midd offensively as well, although McClellan was their POTG.  Ozolin picked off McHugh twice and Kenary, Stola and Shaw also had strong days. The Ephs did a nice job on Filias.  The Midd defense was not great especially against the run but they did a good job of bending and not breaking stopping third down plays just short over and over again in the red zone. 

Hopefully the Ephs rebound with three of the next four games at home.  And hopefully some of the missing defensive players start to return from injury.  Williams needs to be focused on defense from the opening snap and obviously better vs. the run against Bates. 

[monjmafb]

Another really tough loss for Williams vs. Middlebury.  In the last five games v. Midd, there has been one blow out each direction and Williams has lost three very winnable games by a total of eight combined points.  Midd loses an absolutely loaded senior class this year which no Eph fan will be sad to see leave.  The Ephs just could not get off the field on several critical third and fourth and longs yesterday, the brutal one being a fourth and eight conversion that Midd converted very late in the game in its own territory with two guys bearing down on the Midd QB.  The teams were dead even in every way but in the OT a very conservative Eph offense got stymied at the five and Midd ran in it and that was the difference.

For Williams, Owen McHugh had a mostly good day but threw two critical interceptions on ill-advised deep passes into a lot of traffic.  The Ephs could not connect on the long ball all day (including a few drops of very tough but potentially catchable balls) but were doing great in the short and intermediate passing game, and I think the Ephs went a bit TOO conservative late in the game after the two interceptions and should have tried a bit more to mix it up with a short, safe passing to Bobo, Kennedy, and especially Johansen, who seems to catch everything thrown his way. The offense late in the second half and overtime was basically all Mario "Overrated" Fischetti, who had 131 yards on 19 carries despite being the focus of the defense, and added some nice punt returns as well. 

For Williams, Ivan Shuran had an incredible day with five field goals including a 43-yarder, but that of course reflected a lot of missed opportunities for a Williams offense that moved the ball at will between the 20s but struggled to figure out a plan in the red zone.  The Ephs had a ton of missed opportunities inside the 20. 

The Williams defense had a fairly rough day overall, didn't give up a ton of big plays but also didn't make enough of their own.  Williams started FIVE FY players (don't go by the participation report which listed on both sides of the ball several injured players as starters) as a lot of guys continue to be out with injuries on the defensive side of the ball, and the lack of experience showed especially on the first drive of the game.  The defensive line was not as stout as it typically is against the run and definitely missed all-conference DE Cam Smith.  Jack Wallace, Zakkai Moore, Will Gale (who's just a monster up front) and Ethan Scott (definitely the Ephs' defensive MVP this year) all made some standout individual plays, and Calvin Pedetella was a tackling machine, but the D forced no turnovers, got torched up the middle against the run through the entire second half in particular, and accrued as many roughing the passer penalties as sacks (one of each).  I think the secondary actually held up pretty well today after totally losing Vashel on the first drive of the game, guys were generally pretty well covered, but Moran had too much time to throw and Midd's very impressive FY back Connor McClellan absolutely torched Williams all day.  He's gonna be a keeper, big, shifty, and explosive, by far their most effective TB.

Vashel and Jamin both had good days for Midd offensively as well, although McClellan was their POTG.  Ozolin picked off McHugh twice and Kenary, Stola and Shaw also had strong days. The Ephs did a nice job on Filias.  The Midd defense was not great especially against the run but they did a good job of bending and not breaking stopping third down plays just short over and over again in the red zone. 

Hopefully the Ephs rebound with three of the next four games at home.  And hopefully some of the missing defensive players start to return from injury.  Williams needs to be focused on defense from the opening snap and obviously better vs. the run against Bates. 

Could not have written it better - agree

[lumbercat]

Tough times at Amherst. On paper and under the eye test they have clearly not had quality players for the last 2-3 years in my estimation. Such a departure from the past when they were usually loaded especially at the skill positions.

No doubt they actually would have been worse in the last few years if Mills was not there. If they switched Head Coaches with their arch rival Ephs they would be worse off too.

I'm not close to the situation but Mills must be going out of his tree. He's not a guy that will tolerate a losing program following many fine years in the great Amherst tradition. I don't understand what looks to be an overflow of apathy in Amherst as the Ephs outperform. EJ will probably keep "The Game" somewhat respectable this year though they will be big underdogs again.
 
Maybe the best thing for the program would be for the sleepy administration to sustain a big time blowout in "The Game"---something like 42-10.  Maybe that might wake them up to the fact that Williams is doing a far better job with their Football program and maybe in athletics as a whole.

[Brady12]

Another really tough loss for Williams vs. Middlebury.  In the last five games v. Midd, there has been one blow out each direction and Williams has lost three very winnable games by a total of eight combined points.  Midd loses an absolutely loaded senior class this year which no Eph fan will be sad to see leave.  The Ephs just could not get off the field on several critical third and fourth and longs yesterday, the brutal one being a fourth and eight conversion that Midd converted very late in the game in its own territory with two guys bearing down on the Midd QB.  The teams were dead even in every way but in the OT a very conservative Eph offense got stymied at the five and Midd ran in it and that was the difference.

For Williams, Owen McHugh had a mostly good day but threw two critical interceptions on ill-advised deep passes into a lot of traffic.  The Ephs could not connect on the long ball all day (including a few drops of very tough but potentially catchable balls) but were doing great in the short and intermediate passing game, and I think the Ephs went a bit TOO conservative late in the game after the two interceptions and should have tried a bit more to mix it up with a short, safe passing to Bobo, Kennedy, and especially Johansen, who seems to catch everything thrown his way. The offense late in the second half and overtime was basically all Mario "Overrated" Fischetti, who had 131 yards on 19 carries despite being the focus of the defense, and added some nice punt returns as well. 

For Williams, Ivan Shuran had an incredible day with five field goals including a 43-yarder, but that of course reflected a lot of missed opportunities for a Williams offense that moved the ball at will between the 20s but struggled to figure out a plan in the red zone.  The Ephs had a ton of missed opportunities inside the 20. 

The Williams defense had a fairly rough day overall, didn't give up a ton of big plays but also didn't make enough of their own.  Williams started FIVE FY players (don't go by the participation report which listed on both sides of the ball several injured players as starters) as a lot of guys continue to be out with injuries on the defensive side of the ball, and the lack of experience showed especially on the first drive of the game.  The defensive line was not as stout as it typically is against the run and definitely missed all-conference DE Cam Smith.  Jack Wallace, Zakkai Moore, Will Gale (who's just a monster up front) and Ethan Scott (definitely the Ephs' defensive MVP this year) all made some standout individual plays, and Calvin Pedetella was a tackling machine, but the D forced no turnovers, got torched up the middle against the run through the entire second half in particular, and accrued as many roughing the passer penalties as sacks (one of each).  I think the secondary actually held up pretty well today after totally losing Vashel on the first drive of the game, guys were generally pretty well covered, but Moran had too much time to throw and Midd's very impressive FY back Connor McClellan absolutely torched Williams all day.  He's gonna be a keeper, big, shifty, and explosive, by far their most effective TB.

Vashel and Jamin both had good days for Midd offensively as well, although McClellan was their POTG.  Ozolin picked off McHugh twice and Kenary, Stola and Shaw also had strong days. The Ephs did a nice job on Filias.  The Midd defense was not great especially against the run but they did a good job of bending and not breaking stopping third down plays just short over and over again in the red zone. 

Hopefully the Ephs rebound with three of the next four games at home.  And hopefully some of the missing defensive players start to return from injury.  Williams needs to be focused on defense from the opening snap and obviously better vs. the run against Bates. 

How do they call holding in overtime when Williams stops them on 3rd down???  The refs handed Mid the game. 

[MapleBBQChicken]

Another really tough loss for Williams vs. Middlebury.  In the last five games v. Midd, there has been one blow out each direction and Williams has lost three very winnable games by a total of eight combined points.  Midd loses an absolutely loaded senior class this year which no Eph fan will be sad to see leave.  The Ephs just could not get off the field on several critical third and fourth and longs yesterday, the brutal one being a fourth and eight conversion that Midd converted very late in the game in its own territory with two guys bearing down on the Midd QB.  The teams were dead even in every way but in the OT a very conservative Eph offense got stymied at the five and Midd ran in it and that was the difference.

For Williams, Owen McHugh had a mostly good day but threw two critical interceptions on ill-advised deep passes into a lot of traffic.  The Ephs could not connect on the long ball all day (including a few drops of very tough but potentially catchable balls) but were doing great in the short and intermediate passing game, and I think the Ephs went a bit TOO conservative late in the game after the two interceptions and should have tried a bit more to mix it up with a short, safe passing to Bobo, Kennedy, and especially Johansen, who seems to catch everything thrown his way. The offense late in the second half and overtime was basically all Mario "Overrated" Fischetti, who had 131 yards on 19 carries despite being the focus of the defense, and added some nice punt returns as well. 

For Williams, Ivan Shuran had an incredible day with five field goals including a 43-yarder, but that of course reflected a lot of missed opportunities for a Williams offense that moved the ball at will between the 20s but struggled to figure out a plan in the red zone.  The Ephs had a ton of missed opportunities inside the 20. 

The Williams defense had a fairly rough day overall, didn't give up a ton of big plays but also didn't make enough of their own.  Williams started FIVE FY players (don't go by the participation report which listed on both sides of the ball several injured players as starters) as a lot of guys continue to be out with injuries on the defensive side of the ball, and the lack of experience showed especially on the first drive of the game.  The defensive line was not as stout as it typically is against the run and definitely missed all-conference DE Cam Smith.  Jack Wallace, Zakkai Moore, Will Gale (who's just a monster up front) and Ethan Scott (definitely the Ephs' defensive MVP this year) all made some standout individual plays, and Calvin Pedetella was a tackling machine, but the D forced no turnovers, got torched up the middle against the run through the entire second half in particular, and accrued as many roughing the passer penalties as sacks (one of each).  I think the secondary actually held up pretty well today after totally losing Vashel on the first drive of the game, guys were generally pretty well covered, but Moran had too much time to throw and Midd's very impressive FY back Connor McClellan absolutely torched Williams all day.  He's gonna be a keeper, big, shifty, and explosive, by far their most effective TB.

Vashel and Jamin both had good days for Midd offensively as well, although McClellan was their POTG.  Ozolin picked off McHugh twice and Kenary, Stola and Shaw also had strong days. The Ephs did a nice job on Filias.  The Midd defense was not great especially against the run but they did a good job of bending and not breaking stopping third down plays just short over and over again in the red zone. 

Hopefully the Ephs rebound with three of the next four games at home.  And hopefully some of the missing defensive players start to return from injury.  Williams needs to be focused on defense from the opening snap and obviously better vs. the run against Bates. 

How do they call holding in overtime when Williams stops them on 3rd down???  The refs handed Mid the game. 

It was definitely a hold by the letter of the law. If your point is that the refs should be more lenient and swallow the whistle in the context of a 3rd down in OT, I can get behind that, but it was a hold.

I also don't agree with your assessment that "the refs handed Mid the game." It would've been 4th and goal from the 1. Either Levy knocks it through and we get double OT or, more likely, they give it to McClellan, who Williams was really struggling to stop, and we get the same result. It's not like Williams was in good shape to win the game from that situation. Sure, it's possible Middlebury goes for it on fourth down and Williams stops them for the win, but I find it pretty lame to pin this one on the officials. As far as NESCAC referees go, we've all seen way worse. It was a great game and they came up a little short. That's it.