Football Blanks Bowdoin For Second Shutout
By by BRETT HARSCH, Staff Writer
Last week, the Amherst passing game took flight and went deep as the Jeffs shut out Hamilton College. This week the Jeffs stayed on the ground and ran all over Bowdoin College.

The Polar Bears were stuffed by the Jeffs 35-0, as Amherst piled up 420 yards of offense.

Most of that offense came on the ground as both of the Amherst tailbacks, Okey Ugwonali '02 and Kevin Kennard '03, gained over a 100 yards. The Jeffs, who last week threw for 240 yards, had only 81 yards passing against Bowdoin, but gained 339 yards on 52 rushes.

After taking to the air successfully last week, the Jeffs wanted to establish the running game early on. Quarterback Peter Honig '01 repeatedly handed off to Ugwonali. On the Jeffs' second drive, Ugwonali broke off a 12-yard run, and then Kennard ran 41 yards for the score.

The Jeffs will continue to have both tailbacks split playing time. Kennard is a bruising power back, while Ugwonali brings more speed and quickness to the game. "They're basically co-starters," said Mills. "Each of them is a little different and we're just going to keep rotating them through."

The Jeffs stayed with the same strategy on the next drive, as Ugwonali rushed for 23 yards before getting relieved by Kennard. Kennard went 42 yards on his second touchdown to put the Jeffs up 14-0 in the first quarter.

Bowdoin started from their own 20 on their next drive and made it to the Amherst 27 before being stopped on fourth and long. On the next drive, Dan Lalli '02 forced a Bowdoin fumble that was recovered by linebacker Brian Landolfi '02 at the Amherst 45.

The Jeffs put the game out of reach by driving for another score. Ugwonali scored on a 15-yard touchdown run.

Head coach E.J. Mills gives much of the credit to Jeff Ryan '03. "Jeff makes the running game go well. Fullbacks don't get a lot of credit, but he makes the tailbacks look good."

On the Jeffs' next drive, Honig completed passes to three different receivers, ran for a first down, and handed off to Kennard. The 85-yard drive ended when Honig threw a strike to wide-out Jeremy Hiltner '02 with nine seconds left in the half. Honig finished 10 of 14 for 81 yards and two touchdowns. "Pete played great out there," said Mills. "We just want him to run the offense and he did that."

The final score came in the fourth quarter when Honig found Hiltner for a five-yard completion.

Defensively, the Jeffs were happy to get the shutout. Bowdoin threatened to reach the Amherst endzone several times, but each time the Jeffs held on key fourth down plays. Lalli led the team with 10 tackles and the Jeffs gave up only 216 yards of offense. "We improved from the first week," said Mills. "The offenses that we see are going to be better, so we have to improve."

Next up for the Jeffs are the Middlebury Panthers, 28-21 losers to Colby College last week. The key to beating Middlebury lies in stopping Brian Sanchez, who ran for over 200 yards last week. "We know that he's going to get his yards, and we're going to have to score some points next week because its going to be hard to keep them off the scoreboard," Mills predicted.

Issue 05, Submitted 2000-10-04 16:10:34