It's been a long time since Amherst has won a football game in Williamstown. There may even be some first-years on campus who weren't born on that glorious November day in 1985 when the Jeffs last tasted victory at Weston Field. However, Bates College won its first-ever game at Weston Field earlier this year, so why can't the Jeffs accomplish a similar feat this Saturday?
As has been the case in recent years, Amherst's strength lies in its defense. Statistically speaking, Amherst has the second-best defense in the NESCAC behind the peerless Trinity College unit. Linebackers Ed Sylvester, Dave Borgonzi, Jordan Konicek and Dan McNamara provide the backbone of the Jeffs' 3-4 defense, but Saturday's game will be won or lost in the trenches. If defensive linemen B.J. Gaddour, Mike Harrison and Mike Hanlon can hold their ground at the point of attack, Williams' talented running backs will have trouble gaining ground against the Jeff linebacking corps. And make no mistake about this year, unlike in previous years, Williams is a run-oriented team. Two-time NESCAC Offensive Player of the Year Joe Reardon is a great quarterback, but his numbers have dipped this year due to a relatively thin receiving group. If Amherst can slow down the Ephs' rushing trio of Mike Hackett, Tyler Shea and Tim Crawley and make Williams one-dimensional, the Jeffs' secondary should keep the Ephs' receivers in check.
Obviously, the task of beating Williams got a lot more complicated for Head Coach E.J. Mills and company when quarterback Marsh Moseley was lost for the year due to injury. Last year, Moseley had a career day against the Williams secondary, passing for 237 yards and three touchdowns during a 45-point Amherst offensive explosion. Now, first-year quarterback John Polignone is charged with the unenviable task of making his first collegiate start in front of a raucous Williams crowd. Moseley struggled as a first-year in Williamstown two years ago, and there is ample reason to believe that Polignone will make a fair share of mistakes as well. Fortunately, Polignone should be able to move Amherst down the field simply by handing off to Fletcher Ladd, Matt Monteith or Ngai Otieno, the three reasons why Amherst has the strongest rushing attack in the NESCAC.
Williams
It's fairly useless to try and predict the outcome of a Williams-Amherst game. As we learned last year, even when one team comes into the game the clear favorite, the outcome is far from certain. There's no clear favorite this year– Williams comes into the game 5-2 while Amherst is 4-3, but the Jeffs are riding last week's strong performance against the class of the NESCAC, Trinity, in a game that almost resulted in a win. But the smart money, as usual, is on the Ephs, who lead the all-time series 65-47-5.
Teams have proven all year long that the Eph defense can be run on-one need look no further than the 260 yards the Trinity Bantams picked up on the ground against the Ephs to confirm that.
For the Eph defense, it all stops with four top-notch linebackers in Graham Goldwasser, Wes Connors, Mark Rosenthal and Dicken Counts. The defensive line has a lot of talent, though it is better at stopping the pass than the run. John Schneider and the rest of the Ephs' defensive backfield are more than capable of stopping the Amherst air attack, especially if Marsh Moseley does not play.
The Ephs, however, will beat the Lord Jeffs on offense, and it is an offense led by an offensive line that has come together as the season has gone on. The Ephs provide three quality looks at the running back position from the highly-dependable Mike Hackett, the explosive Tim Crawley and the punishing short-yardage back Tyler Shea.
Playing off the run, the Ephs can always rely on two-time NESCAC Offensive Player of the Year Joe Reardon's arm to guide them downfield. In recent weeks, the Eph receiving core, questionable at the start of the year, has solidified itself behind the fantastic play of first-years Brendan Fulmer, Jonathan Drenckhanh and tight end Jim O'Leary. Joining O'Leary at tight end are Jonathan Siff and Mike Rabiner, providing Reardon with a plethora of targets in the middle of the field.
On paper, the Lord Jeffs match up well against the Ephs. Football games, of course, aren't played on paper. At the end of the day, it would be shocking if Reardon, Goldwasser, Rosenthal, Hackett and the rest of the Eph seniors did not pull out a victory in front of their home crowd.