Courtesy of Bowdoin Athletics
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.