HARTFORD, Conn. – The Trinity College Football team overwhelmed visiting Bates College, 52-7, in a New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) meeting at Jessee/Miller Field at Tansill-Muldoon Stadium Saturday afternoon. The Bantams improved to 6-1 on the season and 6-1 in NESCAC play, while Bates drops to 0-7 in conference and 0-7 overall.

Prior to the game, the Bantams recognized their 26 departing seniors: Matthew Almansi (Westport, Conn.), Nicholas Bailey (Cheshire, Conn.), Sean Michael Cangiano (Cheshire, Conn.), Anthony Casillo (Staten Island, N.Y.), Kevin Clark (Hebron, Conn.), Ian Coffey (Wenham, Mass.), Wigs Crowley (Milton, Mass.), Patrick Donovan-Jenkins (Bethesda, Md.), Spencer Fetter (Winter Park, Fla.), Lucas Folan (Weymouth, Mass.), Will Kirby (Darien, Mass.), Cade Klarides-Ditria (Seymour, Conn.), Joe Lepore (Winchester, Mass.), Cooper Mandel (Ramsey, N.J.), Michael Masse (Dedham, Mass.), Colin McCabe (Madison, Conn.), William McConnel (Alexandria, Va.), Cal Messina (Pittsfield, Mass.), Peter Ryan (West Simsbury, Conn.), Max Roche (Scituate, Mass.), Justin Torres (Stamford, Conn.), Hampton Trout (Belmont, Mass.), Hunter Tully (Taunton, Mass.), Darren Warren (West Haven, Conn.), Ryan Wiley (Hagerstown, Md.), and Nicholas Zalanskas (Andover, Mass.).

"This is a great group of student-athletes," said Trinity Head Coach Jeff Devanney. "They do such a good job of caring about everyone on the team and making everybody feel welcome. I have first year parents letting me know how much their kid loves it here and how the seniors are looking out for them. Traditionally, that's the way it's been at Trinity, but I never want to take that for granted. They're a special group."

On their first possession, the Bantams moved the ball 52 yards on nine play, but were unable to reach the endzone, settling for a 27-yard field goal from junior Matthew Jumes (Franklin, Mass.) to stake Trinity to a 3-0 lead with 11:04 remaining in the first half.

On a second-and-8 play for Bates, Trinity junior Ma-Lyke Davis (Danbury, Conn.) stepped in front of a pass from Bates junior quarterback Colton Bosselait (Westminster, Mass.) for an interception, giving the Bantams the ball at the Bobcats 31-yard line. Four plays later, Fetter hit sophomore Tyler DiNapoli (West Haven, Conn.) on a quick slant, and DiNapoli broke a couple tackles en route to the endzone, extending the Trinity lead to 10-0 with 8:49 on the clock.

Starting at their own 13-yard line, the Bantams executed an 11-play, 87-yard drive to close out the first quarter. After a 17-yard completion to first-year Patrick McCaffrey (Far Hills, N.J.) and a 25-yard pass to junior Sean Clapp (Wyckoff, N.J.) helped move Trinity to the Bobcats red zone, the Bantams capped off the drive with a three-yard touchdown run from DiNapoli to push their advantage to 17-0.

With less than three minutes remaining in the first half, Fetter connected with DiNapoli on a 10-yard slant across the middle to become the program's all-time leader in passing yards, eclipsing the mark of 6,646 yards set by Joe Shield in 1984. With 27 seconds left in the first half, Fetter split the Bobcats defense with a 33-yard touchdown pass to Clapp, giving the Bantams a 31-0 lead at the half.

On their opening possession of the second half, the Bantams orchestrated an 11-play, 72-yard touchdown drive, eclipsing nearly five minutes of play. Following a 15-yard run from DiNapoli, Fetter connected with Roche on a pair of passes to put the ball on the five-yard line. DiNapoli moved the ball to the one-yard line, and then Roche capped off the drive with a one-yard receiving score to pad the Trinity advantage at 38-0. The Bantams added to their lead in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter with a 10-play, 72-yard drive, featuring 41 yards from Kirby. Kirby capped off the drive with a 3-yard touchdown tote to make it a 45-0 game.

After a three-and-out by the Bobcats, Trinity found paydirt in just three plays as Bailey connected with Coffey down the sideline on a 41-yard score to put the Bantams on top 52-0. With 2:05 remaining, the Bobcats cracked the scoreboard as first year Nolan Hobbs (South Portland, Maine) pulled in a two-yard touchdown pass from senior Liam Foley (Foxborough, Mass.) en route to the 52-7 final score.

"I thought we were pretty sloppy in our fundamentals in the first half, but our skill players bailed us out with some really big plays," said Devanney. "The interceptions are what turned the game for us. I thought in the third quarter we came out and played much better up front on defense and stopped the run game. I'd like to have a game where we don't have any pre-snap penalties because it shows a lack of focus."

Fetter completed 27-of-35 passes for 311 yards and four touchdowns. Seven different receivers recorded two or more catches, led by Clapp with a game-high eight catches for a game-high 113 yards and a touchdown. DiNapoli registered 124 yards from scrimmage with a season-high six receptions and two touchdowns. With 68 rushing yards, DiNapoli became the 36^th player in program history to achieve 1,000 career rushing yards.

The Bantams amassed a season-high 524 yards, including a season-high 379 passing yards, with a season-high 31 first downs, while holding the Bobcats to 183 total yards.
Trinity will return to the field with a NESCAC road trip to Wesleyan University Saturday afternoon. Kickoff is scheduled for Noon.