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Williams football team defeat the Mules of Colby 28-009:15AM / Monday, September 22, 2008
WILLIAMSTOWN — It was a tale of two halves for the Williams football team (1-0) on Saturday, as the hometown Ephs rebounded from a scoreless first half to defeat the Mules of Colby (0-1) by a score of 28-0. Neither offense was able to find a groove until Eph senior RB Brian Morrissey carried a second-and-goal swing pass in for the first score of the game with 4:30 to go in the third quarter – over 40 minutes into the game.
If the first half revealed anything, though, it was that the Williams defense might not be playing second-fiddle to the offense this year. Despite the scoring explosion in the second half, it was the Williams defense that proved most dominant on the day. Said Eph Coach Mike Whalen regarding the defense:
“Unbelievable. Great effort. Our defense did an unbelievable job of putting them in 3rd and long situations. When you hold them on first and second down and put a young quarterback in third and long situations, that’s an awkward position to be in as a coach because the defense knows you have to throw the ball.”
Whalen’s praise was no embellishment: there was purple everywhere whenever Colby had the ball. Williams held the Mules to just 133 yards of total offense and just 8 first downs. They made big plays too, as defensive end E.J. Toppin and DB Sean Milano registered interceptions on the day.
“The other thing we did well today is we were able to get pressure on them with a four-man rush,” said Whalen, “If we don’t have to blitz to get pressure on the quarterback that’s great because our secondary is very good in zone coverage.”
There weren’t many positives for the Mules on offense, who seemed to be struggling with Williams defensive speed. Running back Dan Prunier led the team with 49 yards rushing on 14 carries, but without being able to mount any sort of air attack the Mules’ options were limited. If anything, the hero for the Mules in the first half was probably senior punter Victor Gagne. He may have been the most important player for Colby in the early going, as he kept Colby ahead in the field position battle by registering an absurd 216 yards on 5 punts in the first half (an average of 43.2) as well as potentially saving an Eph score when, in the second quarter, he salvaged a terrible snap and avoided the Eph onslaught to boot a 55 yard punt that Williams return-man Tommy Tysse was forced to watch downed at the Williams 15 yard line.
The Colby defense, however, was another story. Said Whalen:
“Colby’s defensive front was a good test, those four kids are veteran kids; they’re big, they’re physical. The fact that they played us, in our trip-tight end set, they played us with four down lineman and we didn’t run the ball right down their throat? I mean, we ran the ball effectively, but they were playing us with four D-lineman and we had six offensive lineman…we had five lineman and two tight ends and they played us with four down kids—those kids played hard.”
Leading the defensive attack for the Mules was Chris Copeland, who recorded 8 tackles and intercepted an errant Moffitt pass in the first half.
The second half opened with a 52 yard kick return by Eph senior Elijah Weeks, however Williams was still unable to come away with a score. After holding Colby on the following series, the Ephs finally marched down the field for a score. One of the big plays of the drive was an 18 yard pass by sophomore quarterback Pat Moffitt to Caro (who had a huge game, catching 9 passes for 131 yards and a TD) to finally get Williams inside the ten-yard line. From there a usual suspect for the Ephs would take over, as Morrissey carried a swing-pass into the end zone for the first score of the game.
From there the Williams offense seemed to loosen up a bit, and they struck again for another score just a few minutes later, as Moffitt would connect with Caro again on a 54 yard touchdown pass. Despite having a tough act to follow in taking over for Pat Lucey under center, Moffitt played well in his first college start. After a shaky first half, Moffitt seemed to settle down and take control of his offense, connecting on 19 of 28 passes for 244 yards and two scores.
“I was definitely a little nervous the first time I dropped back to pass,” said Moffitt, “but after that I think I got more comfortable. The coaches really didn’t say much at halftime because we were moving the ball pretty well even in the first half we just weren’t finishing.”
Said Whalen: “Obviously he made a few mistakes, and he’s gotta work on those things, and get better. It was a good start though, and as long as he’s making fewer mistakes next week, we’ll be a better football team.”
Because of his consistency over the years, Brian Morrissey’s 116 yards and two TD’s on 35 carries was almost an afterthought.
“Obviously Mo’ is a senior,” said Whalen, “and he’s only got 7 games left and he wants the ball more – he probably won’t get out of bed tonight but he wants the ball as many times as we’re gonna give it to him so we’re gonna ride him.”
Williams would score twice more in the game, on a 4 yd run by Morrissey and a 64 yd pass completion to Tysse from freshman Matthew Coyne who got some reps late in the game once the Ephs had essentially sealed the deal.
Williams will now focus its attention on perennial NESCAC powerhouse Trinity, who comes to Weston Field next weekend for a 1:00 pm showdown. Williams will look forward to the return of All-NESCAC receiver Ryan Powell for that game, who sat out most of Saturday’s game battling the flu. |
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