On a perfect fall day, Amherst spoiled Wesleyan's homecoming for the third straight year by dominating the Cardinals in the kicking game. On the day, Wesleyan missed two field goals, had a punt blocked and another returned for a touchdown.
Wesleyan moved down the field easily on their first drive, but the Jeff defense tightened and forced a 30- yard field goal attempt that went wide left.
The Jeffs, however, failed to capitalize on the mistake and went three and out on their next three series. At the start of the second quarter, the Jeffs had failed to gain a first down, and were faced with Wesleyan starting from the Amherst 40-yard line.
Again, the Cardinals moved down the field behind the passing of their freshman quarterback, Brennan Carney, who finished 23 of 45 for 206 yards on the day. But once again, the Jeff defense took a stand. After nearly intercepting a third and goal pass, the defense forced another field goal attempt. This time, the Cardinal holder bobbled the snap and the kick barely got off the ground.
Head Coach E.J. Mills was generally pleased with the play of his defense. "We played well defensively, even though we allowed them some yards. But when they got into the red zone, we tightened the screws and forced them to kick," he said.
Unfortunately for the Amherst defense, the Jeffs lost defensive lineman Pat McGee '02 for the season on a play early in the second quarter. McGee, who went down with a torn ACL, leads Amherst in sacks this season and was named the NESCAC Player of the Week for his performance against Colby College last week.
The big break for Amherst came midway through the second quarter when the Jeffs forced Wesleyan to punt from the Cardinal 21-yard line. The Wesleyan punter got off a 47- yard punt that was fielded by Amherst returner/wide receiver Derrell Wright '02 on one hop. The kick was so deep, however, that it allowed Wright time to turn around and set up his blockers. Wright made the first tackler miss, and then turned on the speed, hurdling another would-be tackler before coasting untouched into the end zone.
The 68-yard return was Wright's first return for a touchdown of his career. On the day he finished with 111 yards on five returns. Besides the 68-yard touchdown, he also had a 34-yard return and a 31-yard return that was called back because of a questionable penalty.
Just before the end of the half, the Jeffs' special teams came through again. This time Amherst's defense had bottled up Wesleyan at their own 15 yard line. Forcing Wesleyan to punt from the end zone, the Jeffs brought the rush and David Frankel '01 came free up the middle. Frankel got a hand on the ball, knocking it out of the end zone for a safety.
Mills was understandably pleased with the performance of his special teams. "I always tell the guys that you have to win two, meaning you have to win two phases of the game, either special teams and defense or special teams and offense," he said. "We dominated on special teams, and we played well defensively. Special teams is usually the difference maker in a game."
While the Jeffs' offense continued to struggle in the second half, the defense held for the most part. The Jeffs did give up a 60-yard touchdown in the third quarter, but stopped the Cardinals on a crucial fourth and one to save the win.
"We got caught in a bad defense on the touchdown. I felt bad for Steve (Yung '01) because we were in a bad coverage on that play. I hate giving up big plays, we've done that two weeks in a row now, and that makes me unhappy," said Mills.
Despite the poor offensive day-the Jeffs finished with only 184 yards-the team was happy to get the win. "It certainly wasn't pretty, but you have to give Wesleyan some credit also. We thought that we would be able to run some more against them, but we weren't. They were very athletic on defense. But we went down to a hostile situation and came out with a win, and I'm very proud of them," said Mills.
The Jeffs will face Tufts University this Saturday at 1:30 on Pratt Field. The Jumbos are coming off a close loss to Williams College and will bring a team with an inexperienced offense, but a tough defense, to face Amherst. "We had a real tough game with them last year, and this one won't be any easier," Mills predicted.
Tufts has two freshman standouts on their squad this fall. Matt Cerne, a wide receiver and kick returner, and Caleb hudak, a defensive lineman, have both won NESCAC Rookie of the Week honors for their performance this season, with Cerne taking home the award twice.