Ephs can’t catch up to Trinity

WILLIAMSTOWN – After Williams’ convincing 41-7 win over Colby at Weston Field, Head Coach Aaron Kelton stressed the importance of initial contact tackling against NESCAC power Trinity last Saturday.

“We got to be able to tackle on first contact, and not allow their backs to get second yardage after contact,” said Kelton prior to the Trinity game.

Unfortunately for the Ephs and despite the scouting report on the Bantams, Trinity rolled over Williams with a fierce ground attack, scoring twice in the second half to erase a 13-3 Eph’s lead and escape Weston Field with a 17-13 victory.

“Poor tackling – that was one of the things we put in our scouting report,” Kelton said. “We talked about it in the meeting [last Friday night], poor tackling – make sure we make good tackles.”

The Bantams rushed for 261 yards with tailback Evan Bunker running for 165 yards on 5.7 yards per carry, while quarterback Ryan Burgess rushed for 46 yards, primarily out of the shotgun and spread formation.

“I give them all the credit in the world,” Kelton said. “They did a good job running the football – they hit us in the face and said, ‘stop us,’ and we couldn’t stop them.”

Williams got on the board first when quarterback Adam Marske utilized his short-passing game to orchestrate a drive down to the Bantams’ one-yard line, where Marco Hernandez plunged in for the early score.

The touchdown came after a long Trinity drive went stale after Williams blocked a short field goal attempt to preserve the scoreless tie.

However, the initial Trinity drive would be ominous as the Bantams would continue to spread the Ephs defense wide in order to pound the ball up the middle – especially in the second half.

“Too many missed assignments – too many penalties that we are characteristically better at – and still we were in the game,” Kelton said.

Williams kicker/punter Joe Mallock was the lone bright spot for the Ephs, as he added a second field goal before the half from 43 yards, to make it 13-3, Williams.

Mallock also kept the Bantams on the far end of the field for most of the afternoon, winning praise from his coach afterwards.

“The guy I was most impressed with was Mallock,” said Kelton. “He is getting better each week; everyone else, we still have work to do.”

The Bantams running game opened up the field for Burgess passing attack in the second half, as he connected with A.J. Jones in the corner of the end zone from 23 yards out for one score and a 45-yard screen pass for another score with 6:03 left to play to seal the win for Trinity.

“We still had opportunities,” Kelton said. “[I thought] we had opportunities to do things on the field in the first half; we should have had at least 20 points, probably 27 points, so we will get back to work.”

Marske, who threw for 198 yards on 16-for-30, completed almost all his yards in the first half, before the Ephs offense sputtered.

“We didn’t execute,” Kelton said. “It leaves a bad taste in our mouth but we will bounce back and we will keep going.”

This Saturday, the Ephs travel to Lewiston, Maine, to take on Bates and hope they can bounce back in the often tight NESCAC division race.

“We have six more to play; [Trinity] is acting like they won the championship and it’s not over yet,” Kelton said. “They have a tough road to haul just like we do.”

Posted by Tim Davis on October 4, 2012. Filed under College Sports,Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry