Trinity Football Hosts Williams Saturday, Looks To Extend 31-Game Win Streak At Home
Trinity's Fallas And Kunkel Earn ECAC And NESCAC Weekly Awards
Hartford, Conn., Sept. 30, 2009 -- The Trinity College football team, which won, 35-14, at Bates last Saturday, will host the 1-0 Williams College Ephs on Saturday, Oct. 3 at 1:30 p.m. in its home opener. The Bantams, coached by Jeff Devanney (4th season, 22-3), and the Ephs are currently tied with Amherst, Bowdoin, and Wesleyan for first place in the NESCAC at 1-0.
Bantams are looking to extend their 31-game winning streak at home against the team that handed the Bantams their last home loss, 31-10, in 2001. Trinity posted a 20-17 win in Williamstown last fall en route to an 8-0 season and a fifth NESCAC title in the last seven years. Trinity trails the all-time series against Williams, 35-30-2, in one of the fiercest rivalries in all of Division III football, but has won five of the last six meetings. Ranked No.1 in New England, Trinity owns an 11-game overall winning streak and has never lost a game on the turf at Jessee/Miller Field. Williams is ranked No. 5 in New England. This week's New England Division III Poll: 1. Trinity (Conn.) (1-0), 2. Springfield (2-1), 3. WPI (3-1), 4. Plymouth State (3-1), 5. Williams (1-0), 6. Amherst (1-0), 7. Bridgewater State (3-1), 8. Husson (2-1), T9. Curry (2-2), T9. Framingham State (3-1).
In the Williams game last fall, current senior tri-captain Oliver Starnes (Ledgwood, N.J.) rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns, while junior tri-captain Ben Sherry (Wayland, Mass.) had a game-high 13 tackles and a sack, and junior Michael Galligan (Shoreham, N.Y.) caught eight passes for 91 yards. In 2006, the Ephs defeated the Bantams, 41-16, in Williamstown, Mass., in a loss which snapped Trinity's 31-game winning streak that had set a New England Division III Record. Trinity's previous loss before that game was also to Williams, 30-13, in Williamstown in 2002. Trinity downed the Ephs in the last meeting between the schools in Hartford, 46-40, in three overtimes in 2007.
On Saturday at Bates, the Bantams outgained the Bobcats, 400 to 240 and overcame five fumbles with solid defense and an opportunistic offense. Sophomore Walter Fallas (Everett, Mass) anchored the Bantam defense that held Bates to 30 rushing yards on 29 carries and earned NESCAC Defensive Player of the Week and Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors, while senior P Grant Kunkel (New Canaan, Conn.) was the NESCAC Special Teams Player of the Week. Junior Craig Drusbosky (Orange, Conn.) enjoyed a fine debut at quarterback with 210 passing yards, including a 71-yard scoring pass to senior WR Winston Tuggle (Canton, Mass.) and a 10-yard touchdown toss to Galligan , and added 51 rushing yards. Tuggle finished with 117 yards on three catches and Galligan caught seven balls for 93 yards, while Starnes gained a game-high 73 yards on the ground with a touchdown. Fallas paced the stingy Bantam run defense with a game-high 18 tackles and added a sack, while junior ILB Francois Auzerais (New Canaan, Conn.) had 13 hits, and senior OLB Kyle Williams (Bethesda, Md.) collected eight tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack. Kunkel averaged 44.4 yards on five punts, dropping two boots inside the Bobcat 20-yard line, and Sherry scored with a 37-yard run on a fake punt.
The Williams College football squad, under the direction of Head Coach Mike Whalen (5th season), won their season opener at Colby, 23-19, when Matt Coyne scored on a 16-yard touchdown run with a minute left in the fourth quarter. Coyne also had a six-yard TD run and combined with Patrick Moffitt to total 189 passing yards. Nick Caro led the Eph receivers with nine catches for 69 yards, while Dylan Schultz recorded a team-high 10 tackles, and Matt Zanedis returned a fumble 32 yards for a score.
