Sports
It’s football time: Hamilton hits the field with high expectations
By Yuezhie Xie ’20
September 22, 2016
Tags sports
At long last, the Hamilton football team is back on the field and practicing. The team is looking to build on its success from the 2015 season, in which Hamilton won two of its last three games and came within five points of winning four others. The first of those two victories, against Williams College, snapped a 25-game losing streak. It was Hamilton’s first victory since week four of 2012, Hamilton’s first win over Williams since 1996 and the first time a Hamilton football team left Williamstown victorious since 1986. The Continentals have made great strides under head coach Dave Murray, who has installed the offensive, defensive and special teams systems that he utilized at Alfred University in 2014. The team has now had three years to learn these systems. Assistant Coach Matt Wright noted that gaining experience with these strategies has been key: “For our guys, the juniors already have three years doing what we do on every phase of football, so they will have better understanding and be able to make better decisions faster.” With these techniques fully implemented, there should be fewer mental mistakes on the field. The arrival of Murray’s first two recruiting classes, both of which were smashing successes, have bolstered the team tremendously. “Some young guys are coming in and competing right away. We get most out of those guys going into week one,” commented Coach Wright.
Highlighting the list of returners for Hamilton is wide receiver Charles Ensley ’17, who received first team all-NESCAC honors for his outstanding 2015 season. Ensley racked up 665 receiving yards, the second most in the conference and the third most ever in a season for a Hamilton football player. Ensley also had six touchdowns. Eli Saucier ’18, Alec Waugh ’18 and tight end Jordan Jenkins ’17 look to be other top receiving threats. Throwing to the receiving corps are quarterbacks Brandon Tobin ’18 and Cole Freeman ’18. Tobin started the first game of last season but was injured and lost for the season with a torn ACL. Chase Rosenberg ’17, now playing receiver for the Continentals, took over in that game and started the subsequent three. Freeman replaced Rosenberg during the fourth game of the 2015 season and started the remaining four games. Rob McClure ’17 and Matt Snider ’17 return to anchor an offensive line that, along with Jenkins and fullback Mike Nole ’19, is looking to create holes for running backs Marcus Gutierrez ’18, Kory Fogarty ’19 and Trevor Pinkham ’19.
A large number of the defensive core, which ranked 5th in the conference in 2015, returns for the Continentals, including the entire defensive line. Hamilton’s starting defensive linemen, Poppy Green ’17, Tyler Hudson ’19, Brent Lobien ’17 and Nick Sobczyk ’17, combined for 15 of Hamilton’s 19 sacks in 2015, while Lobien, Hudson and Sobczyk finished 3rd, 5th and 6th respectively on the team in total tackles. Matt Glebus ’17, the team’s 4th leading tackler in 2015, and Mickey Keating ’17, who will take over the mike linebacker role full time after splitting time with John Phelan ’16 in 2015, lead a strong, linebacking core that will also feature Cole Burchill ’19 and Sean Tolton ’19. In the defensive backfield, three of four starters return from 2015: Colby Jones ’19, Jimmy Giattino ’17 and Conor Powers ’17. In 2015, Jones snagged three interceptions, while Giattino registered two.
James Taylor ’17, who had one interception himself, and Rory Merklinger ’18, look to fill the large shoes left by strong safety Alex Mitko ’16, last year’s leading tackler.
The Continentals have worked hard since they walked off the field victorious over Bates at the end of the 2015 season. During the off-season, players lift and run three to four times a week and in the summer players run and/or lift every day of the week besides Sunday. Since the semester began, the team has been having practice and meetings for three hours six days per week. Players lift, study playbooks and watch film during the other hours of the day as well. The players and coaches have put in a lot of hard work over the past year, and they are ready to test their mettle on the playing field. The Continentals face their first challenge on Sept. 24th against Amherst College on Pratt Field in Amherst, MA. Hamilton has not faced Amherst, the three-time defending NESCAC champions, since week one of the 2013 season, where the then Lord Jeffs dealt the Continentals a 23-7 loss. While the team has prepared as best as possible for this match-up, there is always uncertainty when a team has not faced an opponent in such a long time. Coach Wright expressed both his confidence and concerns by saying, “We have all their film from last year, so it is like anybody we start with. A team can change a lot in three weeks, much less two years. So we will work with what we see and try to make the best decisions we can.”
After the first and only game in September, the Continentals play seven other times: every Saturday in October and the first two Saturdays in November. Apart from Amherst, Hamilton played each of this year’s opponents last year. Among those contests, the Continentals handed defeats to Bates and Williams, while losing to Wesleyan, Colby and Middlebury by 5, Bowdoin by 10 and Trinity by 25. Every game this season appears winnable for the Continentals, but they are not looking that far down the road just yet. When asked about the expectations for this season, Wright said, “We are working on Amherst right now. We haven’t really thought of anything other than that. We lost a lot of close games last year. This year, we hope to take more advantages of those opportunities when they are in front of us and win those games.” Optimism abounds heading into the season, but the players and coaches are focusing on one game at a time. Coach Wright highlighted this sentiment, commenting that, “I personally don’t sit around and think about what our record is gonna be.”