Sports
Football outplayed by threetime defending champion Amherst
By Robert Fitzgerald ’20
September 29, 2016
Tags sports
The Amherst College football team, despite its 21-game win streak, is not, as the box score shows, 34 points better than the Hamilton Continentals. In fact, with just under a minute left in the first half, the Saturday afternoon contest had every look of a competitive, exciting game.
The Purple and White led the game 13-0, but Hamilton quarterback Cole Freeman ’18 was executing the two-minute drill to precision, hooking up with four different receivers along the way to the Amherst 19- yard line. With their sights set on going into halftime down just one score, Hamilton’s sideline was excited as ever, cheering on their offense. But, just one play after a potential pick-six was called back for defensive pass interference, Amherst cornerback Derek Ward jumped in front of Charles Ensley ’17’s route in the end zone to make a drive-ending interception. This play, unfortunately, stood, and the Purple and White were content to kneel out the clock, ending the half up 13-0. But as much as that moment was drive-killing, it was momentum-killing, as well. Hamilton, whose running game was stuffed all afternoon (just 6 team rushing yards), had trouble piecing together consecutive positive plays throughout the contest. So, when the one extended drive of the first half resulted in zero points, it was certainly deflating.
Amherst came out of the first half intent on continuing its game plan. From the start, the Purple and White fed running back Jack Hickey ’19 a healthy dose of carries, 18, and he racked up a total of 67 yards. Amherst called on quarterback Alex Berluti (233 total yards) whose dynamic play helped move the chains. Berluti did just that at the start of the second half, converting with a 12 yard scramble on a third and 10, as well as a 46 yard bomb to David Boehm on a following second and 22. Once Amherst got to the red zone, their plan of attack was fairly simple. Jack Hickey had touchdown runs of two, three, and four yards, looking fairly unstoppable in goal-to-go situations. The one time Amherst threw for a red zone score, the ball was tipped high into the air before dropping into the hands of David Boehm for a lucky five yard touchdown. Boehm had a field day on Saturday, recording seven catches for 113 yards, including the touchdown.
Ultimately, it was evident that it was not Hamilton’s day. From that circus score by Boehm to Freeman’s interception, it seemed all of the breaks were going the way of the home team. Making matters worse, three defensive starters, linebacker Matt Glebus ’17, free safety Colby Jones ’19 and cornerback Conor Powers ’17 all went down with game-ending injuries over the course of the contest.
Yet there were still some positive moments from the defeat. Cole Freeman delivered a fantastic 42 yard strike to Charles Ensley in the first quarter. It was Ensley’s best moment in a seven catch, 69 yard performance. On the defensive side of the ball, Tyler Hudson ’19 led all players with 12 tackles, as well as two huge sacks on Berluti. Billy Wagner ’20, who unfortunately had to punt 10 times on the afternoon, delivered two consecutive beauties in the first quarter that were marked down at the Amherst seven and eight yard lines, respectively.
Whether by luck, by skill or maybe a combination of both, the Purple and White of Amherst College were simply able to make the game-changing plays that Hamilton could not. Winning by a final score of 34-0, the two-time defending NESCAC Champions took care of business, and are now one-eighth of the way to a third consecutive perfect season. Hamilton, on the other hand, will look to rebound next Saturday when they will travel to Middletown, Connecticut for a 1:00 p.m. showdown with the 0-1 Wesleyan Cardinals.