After a disappointing start to the season, the men achieved a degree of redemption against the Ephs and, in accordance with rugby tradition, came away with the Williams jerseys.
"We knew it was a big game. We'd underachieved this season, and this was a way to make up for it," said Irv Rakhlin '04.
Seth Birnbaum '02 began the game for the Jeffs with a kick for points early in the first half. The Ephs answered right back with a try, putting the Jeffs down 5-3.
Amherst took the lead again on a try by Co-captain Brandon Woods '02 and would not relinquish it for the remainder of the game.
"[The try] was picture perfect rugby," Birnbaum said. "That play started our momentum."
The Jeffs' offense provided key strength for the team. Rookie Dave Straub '02 scored twice, and John Stephens '02 and Dave Stasiak '03 each scored once.
Stasiak finished the season with a team-high seven tries. Reed Knox '04 and Joe Gallant '04 notched one try each for the Amherst effort.
A dominating running game was one of the keys to the Jeffs' offensive success. "Almost all of our plays were 45-yard breakaway runs," said Birnbaum. "We hit all the holes."
"There were a lot of great individual runs. Straub had a great game. In one run, he stiff-armed three people," said Rakhlin.
Great kicking was another key to the Jeffs' offense. Birnbaum started the game with a kick for points and converted five of seven extra kicks.
"The biggest thing that helped us out was our kicking game. Seth did really well. He even made kicks from difficult angles," said Stasiak. "It kept the pressure on Williams, because they knew they had to get tries and also convert the kicks."
After a season plagued by injury, the Jeffs were finally able to field their whole starting line Saturday, with devastating results for the Ephs.
The Jeffs also managed to avoid the costly penalties that had hurt them in previous games.
"We avoided some of the mistakes and penalties that had hit us during the year," Rakhlin said. "If we hadn't made those kinds of mistakes earlier, we could have put up these kinds of numbers a couple of times."
The promising end to the season bodes well for the spring, when the Jeffs will look to build on their success.
"We have a lot to look forward to in the spring with the same group of guys coming back," Rakhlin said.
The victorious men's team hopes to spread its success to the football team, which faces Williams this weekend. "We're going to wear our Williams jerseys up to the game," Rakhlin said.