Waterville, Maine - The Colby College Football team gave the Waterville campus plenty to cheer for in Saturday's Homecoming performance. Mounting a comeback against the visiting Ephs from Williams College, an errant pass fell into the hands of a Williams defender in the end zone with seconds remaining, propelling Williams to a 24-19 victory. Williams improves to 2-0 while Colby falls to 0-2.
While the two teams were even on the stat pages throughout the first half, Williams held a 14-0 advantage heading into halftime with a score in each of the first two quarters. After trading punts to open the game, the visitors' second possession was extended after a roughing the punter penalty delivered the ball back into the hands of the Ephs. Williams would convert twice more on third down attempts, ending the drive in the end zone for a 7-0 lead. The second quarter was nearly scoreless, but Williams scored their second touchdown of the day with 33 seconds remaining in the half to go up by two scores.
Colby collected the first two scores of the second half.
Declan McNamara connected with
Matt McHugh for a six-yard score on Colby's first possession of the third quarter. The ensuing kickoff was recovered by the Mules and kick-started their second scoring drive of the day, this time seeing a
Miles Drake pass driven into the grips of tight end
Atticus Duncan for the score. An errant snap on the first point after try forced the Mules to attempt a two-point conversion after the second score, and the failed rush left Colby at a 14-12 deficit.
Williams extended their lead at the close of the third quarter with quarterback Owen McHugh's second rushing score of the day, and extended it even further midway through the fourth quarter with a 37-yard field goal. Colby responded by mounting a 12-play, 95-yard scoring drive that ended with a second Drake-to-Duncan score, bring the Mules within five points. Colby narrowly missed the onside kick attempt, but held Williams and forced a punt to get one last shot starting at their own 19-yard line with less than a minute to play. Drake completed three out of four pass attempts to drive the Mules to the Williams 20-yard line with 14 seconds remaining before the Ephs sealed the game with an end zone interception.
Drake finished the afternoon 21 of 39 passing for 227 yards, two touchdowns and the lone interception, connecting with eight different receivers. First-year
Jack Nye was Colby's leading receiver with four catches for 71 yards.
Keon Smart led the ground game with 80 yards on 17 attempts, adding five receptions for 24 yards. Defensively,
Julian Young led all players with 11 tackles, nine of which were solo, and
Sebastien Romain followed up a stellar week one game with another superb performance. The linebacker had seven tackles, including two sacks for 15 yards.
Colby returns to the road next weekend to face the 2023 NESCAC co-champions Middlebury College before beginning the CBB battle with a night game with Bates on Saturday October 5.
