Amherst, Mass. - The visiting Trinity College Bantams controlled possession for 38:11 of the game and finished with a 314-to-247 edge in total yards, but suffered their first loss of the season, 16-7, against the Amherst College Lord Jeffs in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) football action this afternoon at Pratt Field. Trinity, ranked No. 4 in New England, falls to 6-1 and needs a win in its last game next weekend at home against Wesleyan and a loss by the Lord Jeffs in their season finale at Williams to share the league title. Amherst, ranked No. 3 in New England, improves to 7-0 with its 18th consecutive victory and its third in a row over the Bantams.
Trinity opened the game with 9:01 drive but was pushed out of field-goal range due to a holding penalty. The Bantam defense forced a 3-and-out, and a bad snap by the Lord Jeffs forced Amherst punter Jackson McGonagle to try and run for the first down but Trinity senior captain Ian Dugger (West Hartford, Conn.) tackled him a yard shy of the marker. Aided by an Amherst pass interference penalty, the Bantams reached the Lord Jeff one-yard line and rookie RB Max Chipouras (East Longmeadow, Mass.) dove over the pile for his 10th touchdown of the season and a 7-0 Trinity lead with 37 seconds left in the first quarter.
Amherst started its next possession at the 50-yard line thanks to a short kickoff and another Bantam penalty, and scored its first points of the contest on a 24-yard field goal by Charlie Wall. The Lord Jeffs had a 1st-and-goal from the Trinity nine-yard line, but senior captain LB Frank Leyva (Pinecrest, Fla.) forced the field goal with a diving breakup of a third-down pass into the end zone. Trinity sophomore QB Sonny Puzzo (West Caldwell, N.J.) was intercepted by Amherst safety Jim Fairfield-Sonn in Bantam territory two plays later, setting up an 11-yard touchdown pass from Amherst QB Reece Foy to McGonagle. Wall missed the PAT and Amherst led, 9-7, with 8:37 left in the second quarter.
The Bantams closed the first half with another impressive drive, advancing 60 yards on 15 plays despite three offensive penalties. Puzzo and Chipouras made first-down runs of 19 and 16 yards, respectively, and junior Darrien Myers (North Andover, Mass.) made a key first down sprint around the right end on a 4th-and-1 play to keep the chains moving. Amherst stole the momentum heading into the break, however, when Fairfield-Sonn blocked a 22-yard field-goal attempt by Bantam senior captain Kyle Pulek (Cheshire, Conn.) to preserve the home team's lead. Trinity had the ball for 22:30 of the first half and gained 174 yards to 52 for the Lord Jeffs but were victimized by 87 yards in penalties.
Amherst scored its second touchdown on a three-yard run by Ken Adrinka with 54 second s left in the third quarter, and Wall converted a 35-yard extra-point after a Lord Jeff face mask penalty on his first succeessful try. Trinity was pinned at its own three- and 11-yard lines on its only possessions of the third frame, and punted on both occasions. The teams traded picks early in the fourth quarter, as junior S Soencer Donahue (Naperville, Ill.) intercepted a Foy pass in the end zone to keep the Bantam deficit at nine and Devin Boehm returned the favor on a fake-punt, reverse pass by Trinity senior DB Paul McCarthy (North Attleboro, Mass.).
The Bantam defense got a pivotal stop on the ensuing Amherst drive, largely due to a tackle for no gain on 3rd-and-2 by senior DE Lyle Baker (Andover, Mass.) to force a punt. Puzzo completed seven passes for 53 yards and ran for 23 more to push the Trinity to the Amherst 13-yard line, but the Bantams were pushed back 10 yards on their 12th penalty of the afternoon, and Fairfield-Sonn picked off Puzzo on the game's next play to preserve the Amherst victory.
Puzzo finished 22-for-37 for 174 yards through the air and added 55 rushing yards on 11 carries, while Chipouras added a game-high 67 rushing yards, and Myers made 10 catches for 65 yards. Foy was 12-for-22 for 111 yards passing and led the Lord Jeffs with 43 yards on the ground. Boehm led the Amherst receivers with six grabs for a game-high 76 yards. Trinity sophomore LB Liam Kenneally (Reading, Mass.) made a team-high 10 tackles and rookie LB Shane Libby (Scituate, Mass.) had seven tackles, while the pair added 1.5 tackles for loss each. Tom Kleyn had 10 tackles for Amherst.