Williamstown, Mass. – Senior QB Patrick Moffitt
(Turnersville, N.J.) threw touchdown passes of 83, 89, and, 25
yards to sophomore Darren Hartwell (North Reading, Mass.) to lead
the Williams College Ephs to a 29-21 win over the visiting Trinity
College Bantams in New England Small College Athletic Conference
(NESCAC) football action this afternoon at Weston
Field. Trinity falls to 1-1 overall and in the NESCAC, while
Williams stays undefeated at 2-0 overall and in the league with its
first win over Trinity since 2006. Williams survived a
furious late rally by the Bantams, who scored three touchdowns in
the last 20 minutes and had a chance to tie from the Williams
20-yard line with two seconds left in the contest.
Neither team could get much going in the first quarter that
included three punts and a missed field goal by Eph freshman Luke
Faust (Wellesley, Mass.) with 2:22 on the clock. Williams
gave Trinity an opportunity in the opening seconds of the second
quarter, when Williams RB Ryan Lupo fumbled on an option play and
Trinity sophomore S Julian Brown
(Philadelphia, Pa.) jumped on the ball at the Williams 42-yard
line. The Eph defense forced yet another punt, however, as
Trinity senior TE Chris Hunt (Westford, Mass.) failed to haul in a
pass by senior QB Craig Drusbosky
(Orange, Conn.) to extend the drive on 3rd-and-8. The Bantams
blocked a Williams punt deep in the Eph end minutes later, but the
Williams defense again held Trinity without a first down, and
Bantam junior K Tim Costello
(Solana Beach, Calif.) booted the ball high but wide right on the
31-yard field goal try.
After Trinity unsuccessfully tried to down a bouncing Costello
punt at the Williams one-yard line, the Ephs capitalized with an
83-yard bomb for a down the left sideline for a touchdown from
Moffitt to Hartwell with 7:36 left before the break. A missed
PAT made the score, 6-0, in favor of the home team. Moffitt
and Hartwell completed an almost identical touchdown play 1:14
later for 87 yards, but failed on a two-point conversion try to
take a 12-0 lead. On Trinity's ensuing possession, Williams
intercepted a Drusbosky pass at the Bantam 39-yard line, and Eph
junior K Chris Cleary (Winchester, Mass.) kicked a 34-yard field
goal to give the Ephs a 15-0 advantage with 3:01 on the
clock. A similar pick on a Drusbosky pass to the his left by
junior Dan O'Mara (Allison Park, Pa.) gave Williams the ball on the
Trinity 33-yard line with just over two minutes remaining in the
first half, but Trinity senior CB Harry Melendez
(Holyoke, Mass.) returned the favor with an interception in his end
zone to keep the Bantams within two scores at intermission.
The third quarter featured Trinity interceptions
by sophomore Rae Haynes (Hartford,
Conn.) and Melendez, a lost Bantam fumble by freshman RB Ben Crick
(Middlebury, Conn.), and a blocked punt by Trinity senior Conor Garvie
(Naples, Fla.), but none resulted in any scoring. Trinity got
on the scoreboard with a 10-play, 81-yard drive, including a
28-yard catch by junior RB Nana
Appah-Sampong (Lake Mary, Fla.), that was completed by a
two-yard plunge into the end zone by senior captain safety and
short-yardage running specialist Ben Sherry
(Wayland, Mass.). Williams answered with a 25-yard scoring
pass from Moffitt to Hartwell, set up by a two-yard Moffit pass to
senior WR Bryce Bennett (Jonesboro, Ark.) that put the ball in
Trinity territory, to give the Ephs a 22-7 lead with under two
minutes remaining in the third quarter. A fumble in the
backfield by Drusbosky less than a minute later was recovered by
Williams senior LB Dylan Schultz (Lanesboro, Mass.) at the Bantam
35-yard line, and the Ephs scored their fourth touchdown at 14:26
of the fourth frame on a five-yard pass by Moffit to senior
Bennett.
Drusbosky found Hunt on a 20-yard touchdown pass at the 11:15
mark of the fourth quarter, and marched the Bantams 90 yards down
the field for another score with 3:27 remaining. Sherry kept
that drive going with a three-yard run as the
quarterback on 4th-and-2 from the Eph 27-yard line, and
Drusbosky completed a 19-yard pass to senior WR Michael
Galligan (Shoreham, N.Y.) to advance the ball inside the
Williams five-yard line. Hunt caught his second touchdown
pass of the game on the next play to bring the Bantams within eight
points at 29-21. Trinity's defense stopped the Ephs on
4th-and-6 deep in its end end, and got the ball back with 56
seconds on the clock. Drusbocky quickly brought the Bantams
into Williams territory with three straight passes to Hunt, and
back-to-back pass interference and defensive holding calls gave
Trinity the ball at the Eph 18-yard line with two seconds
left. Drusbosky rolled left and threw into the left back
corner of the end zone, but the ball fell to the ground and gave
Williams the win.
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