Volume CXXXIII, Number 7 October 26, 2001 f

Football falls to Trinity, 50-34
SEAN WALKER
STAFF WRITER

After a 15-game losing streak, the Bowdoin Football Team's winning streak ended after one game last Saturday against Trinity College. Hundreds of Trinity alums flocked to Hartford, Connecticut to see their Bantams score seven touchdowns in a 50-34 homecoming rout of the Polar Bears.

The Polar Bear offensive huddles around junior quarterback Justin Hardinson (#19) in the Parents Weekend defeat of Hamilton two weeks ago. (Henry Coppola, Bowdoin Orient)

The raucous Trinity crowd was momentarily silenced only 59 seconds into the contest when Tony Small '02 took a Justin Hardison '03 handoff and sprinted 74 yards for the score. "It was pretty exciting," Small said. "It felt great to silence their large homecoming crowd."

The silence did not last long, as Trinity quarterback Greg Ward threw the first of his two touchdown passes to Joe Wahl less than two minutes later. A 40-yard Hardison pass to Chris Sakelakos '02 resulted in another Polar Bear touchdown, placing them back in the lead at 14-7.

This would be the Bears' last stint in the lead on Saturday. Although the Bowdoin offense scored its most points since the 1998 season, head coach Dave Caputi was not thrilled with its performance.

"Our offense played well, but we should definitely have put more points on the board," he said. "Our job is to score one more point than the opposition, and we just didn't get it done."

A bright spot in the offensive attack was Hardison's strong game. He completed 22 of 38 passes for 264 yards.

Various receivers were utilized in this attack as nine Polar Bears caught passes. Jason Rawlins '03 led the team with six catches for 76 yards, while Sakelakos and first year Brian Durant each had three receptions for 49 and 47 yards, respectively.

Unfortunately for the Polar Bears, three Hardison passes found their way into the hands of Bantam defenders. The most crucial of these interceptions resulted in a 37-yard return for a touchdown by Andrew Whipple with 8:53 remaining.
Still, Caputi was pleased with his quarterback's performance. "Hardison had a solid game," Caputi said. "He made some tough reads against their defense."

Only one week after a dominating Parents Weekend performance against Hamilton, the Polar Bear defense gave up six of Trinity's seven touchdowns, the most points given up by the team this season. Jeb Boudreau '04 led Bowdoin's defense, for the second consecutive week, with seven tackles.

Caputi credited the opposition in causing many of the defense's problems. "Trinity had great team speed," he said. "They didn't do anything that we haven't seen before, but their quarterback had a great game and we just didn't make the big plays."

Trinity's Ward completed 29 of 47 passes 366 yards.
Since the loss, the Bears have attempted to return to the dominating form demonstrated two weeks ago against Hamilton. The men have been "building on what we did offensively," Small said. "We're giving the defense some different looks, so we're more prepared on both sides of the ball this weekend."

This balance will be key to the Polar Bear game as the men prepare for another spread-out passing attack tomorrow from Wesleyan. They have endured long practices and film session this week, focusing on getting healthy as they eagerly anticipate a large crowd on Bowdoin's homecoming weekend.

The Cardinals (3-2) visit Whittier Field for a 1:30 game tomorrow, and the hundreds of Bowdoin students, relatives, and alums who will make the trip are ready for what should be an exciting game.