HARTFORD, Conn. - The Trinity College football team, which is 4-0 after a 45-0 drubbing of Hamilton over the weekend, will travel to Vermont this weekend to face the Middlebury College Panthers in a game featuring the only two undefeated teams remaining in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC).  The game, on Saturday, October 15 at 1 p.m., is the 44th in the history of the series with Trinity holding a 31-12 lead all-time against the Panthers, including a 28-0 win at home in 2021.  Trinity, under the direction of Head Coach Jeff Devanney (17th season, 108-20), is currently ranked No. 2 and Middlebury is No. 3 in the New England Football Writers Division III Poll.

Trinity scored in every quarter, led, 24-0, at halftime, and totaled 506 yards while allowing just 140 against Hamilton.  Senior QB Spencer Fetter (Winter Park, Fla.) completed 27 of 39 passes for 304 yards and three touchdowns, including two scoring strikes to TE Thomas Walsh (Pelham, N.Y.) who finished with five grabs for 109 yards.  Junior RBs Will Kirby (Darien, Conn.) and Colin McCabe (Madison, Conn.) combined for 127 rushing yards and three scores on the ground, and sophomore K Matt Jumes (Franklin, Mass.) added a 32-yard field goal.  Bantam junior Luca de Lancellotti (Santa Ana, Calif.) paced the Bantam defense with five tackles, while fellow LB Brian Casagrande (Madison, Conn.) had four tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and a pass breakup.

Trinity tops the NESCAC in total defense (204.3), rushing defense (38.8), passing defense (165.5), pass efficiency defense (94.2), and first downs allowed (43). Casagrande leads the Bantams in tackles with 26, followed by senior S Hunter Tully (Taunton, Mass.) with 14 hits.  Trinity DE Noah Glantz (Scarsdale, N.Y.) is tied for second in the league in sacks with three and senior CB Darren Warren (West Haven, Conn.) is 10th in the conference with passes defensed.  Tully and Bantam senior CB Justin O'Neil-Riley (Dorchester, Mass.) have two interceptions each in the Bantam secondary.  The Bantams also lead the league in kickoff coverage (43.8 net per game) behind the leg of junior Hampton Trout (Belmont, Mass.), who has also averaged over 40 yards on six punts.

The Bantam offensive line, consisting of senior captain Kyle Woodring (Norwalk, Conn.) at center, senior Ryan Wiley (Hagerstown, Md.) and junior Jaheim Scott (Bronx, N.Y.) at guard, and senior Robert Mihaly (Trumbull, Conn.) and junior Patrick Donovan-Jenkins (Bethesda, Md.) at tackle, has helped Trinity average 162 rushing yards per game and lead the NESCAC in time of possession at 33:41 while also yielding just two sacks.  Fetter ranks second in the league in passing yards (1,043) and total offense (263.3) and third in efficiency (144.8), while Kirby is fourth and rookie RB Tyler DiNapoli (West Haven, Conn.) is sixth in the conference with 250 and 226 rushing yards, respectively.  Sophomore Sean Clapp (Wyckoff, N.J.) is tied as the fifth-leading receiver in the league with 19 catches for 251 yards (8th in NESCAC) and Walsh adds 14 grabs for 236 yards (9th in NESCAC).  DiNapoli also ranks fifth in all-purpose yards with 111.3 per game.  

Middlebury, coached by Bob Ritter, has won all four of its games by double digits including a 30-7 victory over 2021 NESCAC Champion Williams last weekend. The Bantams and the Panthers have allowed the least points in the conference with just 8.3 points allowed per game apiece. Senior LB John McCool is Middlebury's leading tackler with 26, while Dave Filias is a pass rushing threat with three sacks, and Finn Muldoon has a pair of interceptions.  WR Donovan Wood has been the Panthers' top offensive weapon with 449 receiving yards and six touchdowns.  Senior QB Ben Tauber had 733 passing yards in the first three games, but junior signal caller Cole Kennon was the NESCAC Offensive Player of the Week for throwing four scores and 283 yards in the Williams game.