BRUNSWICK, Maine - The Amherst College football team scored
touchdowns on their first three possessions and never looked back
in a 38-7 win at Bowdoin on Saturday. The Jeffs (2-0) have won 10
straight games dating back to the beginning of last season while
the Polar Bears (0-2) suffer their worst loss at home in nearly
four years.
In the loss, Bowdoin wide receiver Pat Noone caught five passes
to become the program's all-time leader with 98 receptions, passing
the mark of 95 formerly held by Peter Nye '94.
The Jeffs received the opening kick off and promptly marched 70
yards in ten plays and cashed in on a nine-yard pass from Alex
Vetras over the middle to Andre Gary for the game's opening score.
Bowdoin responded with a 56-yard drive that encompassed nine plays,
but stalled out at the Amherst 18 after a failed fourth-down
conversion. The Jeffs answered with an 82-yard drive, aided by a
15-yard personal foul call against Bowdoin and a 55-yard strike
from Vetras to Andrew Reed. Four plays later, the Jeffs got a
two-yard sweep off tackle by Eric Bunker to make it a two-touchdown
game.
Following a three-and-out by the Polar Bears, Amherst closed out
the first quarter with a 10-play, 55-yard drive with big yardage
coming courtesy of a 23-yard pass from Vetras to Ben Kettering.
Vetras found Brian Murphy on a slant pattern moments later to make
it 21-0 after one period.
The Jeffs added a second-quarter touchdown on a 16-yard scamper by
Eric Bunker and Vetras collected his third touchdown pass of the
game in the third quarter on a 55-yard bomb to Will Reed. After a
Matt Rawson 24-yard field goal made it 38-0, Bowdoin got on the
scoreboard in the fourth quarter as Grant White
capped an 11-play drive with a one-yard touchdown plunge with 3:23
to play.
Vetras finished with 340 yards and three touchdown passes on 26-38
passing. He effectively spread the ball around to seven different
receivers, six of whom caught at least two passes. Andre Gary led
the way with eight catches for 48 yards while Brian Murphy caught
six for 58 yards. Eric Bunker averaged 6.1 yards per rush for
Amherst, totaling 74 rushing yards and two scores as the Jeffs
racked up 502 yards of total offense.
Bowdoin was led by Sean O'Malley's eight
catches for 64 yards and Pat Noone's five receptions for 63 yards.
R.J. Shea completed
21-40 for 221 yards before giving way to Grant White, who went 3-3
for 33 yards and 34 yards rushing in relief.
Defensively, Sam Clark led Amherst with seven tackles while
Brandon Quinn made an interception for the Jeffs. Reed Harasimowicz
made nine tackles for the Polar Bears while Griffin
Cardew made seven solo tackles.
Photos courtesy of
Brian Beard and Creative Images Photography.
