Courtesy of Brian Beard

On the sunny Saturday of Homecoming Weekend, September 28, the football team (1–3; 1–3 NESCAC) secured its first win of the season against Hamilton College (0–4; 0–4 NESCAC). The stands of Whittier Field were filled with students, parents and alumni cheering on the Polar Bears and celebrating a close 28–21 victory.

Fish Family Head Coach of Football B.J. Hammer noted that he loved having alumni back on campus for the team’s first win of the season.

“One thing that has always stood out to me about Bowdoin is our home games are awesome because the other athletes, student body, the alums and parents come, ” Hammer said. “We love seeing our students in the tailgate endzone…. That makes it special.”

The Continentals started the game’s scoring with a 10-yard pass from their quarterback to wide receiver four minutes into the contest. The Polar Bears quickly responded on their next drive, with quarterback Robbie Long ’25 throwing an over-the-shoulder ball for wide receiver Austin Hiscoe ’25 at the right pylon of the endzone. Kicker Jotham Casey ’25 tied the game at 7–7 with a successful extra point.

Throughout the season, Long has shown complete trust in all his receivers.

“When I see any of those guys one-on-one with anyone in the league, I’ll put my money on them to come down with the ball,” Long said.

A mere fifteen seconds after Bowdoin tied the game, linebacker Koy Price ’25 intercepted the ball right at the goal line, leading to an easy pick-six.

“I think I was just as surprised as everyone else was,” Price remarked. “It’s not very often people throw the ball at me, so it was nice to finally get a freebie. I’m sure the quarterback would regret throwing it, but I am very glad that he did.”

At the end of the first quarter, the Polar Bears led 14–7, with Hamilton pinned deep on its side of the field.

After a Continentals touchdown on their first drive of the second quarter, the Polar Bears answered with another touchdown pass from Long, this time finding Slade Postemski ’26 running down the field. With the extra point by Casey, the Polar Bears went into the locker room at halftime with a 21–14 lead.

Hamilton answered in its first possession of the second half, scoring its last touchdown at the end of a 76-yard drive. The final touchdown of the day was completed by Jed Hoggard ’25, a 14-yard pass from Long that led the wide receiver spinning and falling into the endzone for a score.

With the 28–21 lead, the Polar Bears needed one final defensive stop to secure their first win of the season. Hamilton was driving the ball, a second and six from its 46-yard line when Price came up with his second sack of the day, resulting in a twelve-yard loss on the play. The Continentals proceeded to fail to make it to the first down marker on the next two plays, forcing a turnover on downs, which allowed the Polar Bears to run out the clock and claim their win.

“Any win is good,” Hammer said. “When you only play nine games a season, winning is hard. We work very hard to get those wins throughout the year, so every win feels great.”

After his performance versus Hamilton, Price was named the NESCAC Defensive Player of the Week. He recorded an interception return for a touchdown, two and a half tackles for loss and two pivotal sacks in the win.

“It is the first time I’ve received this award, so I was very happy,” Price said. “I felt like there were a lot of schemes that our defense played in that anyone could have won that award on our defense. I was just lucky to be in the right positions in the game to get the opportunities to make plays.”

Long had a career-best day, finishing with three touchdowns and no interceptions, all while running for 40 yards and being a vocal leader for the Polar Bear offense.

Looking toward the rest of the season, Price hopes for continued team improvement.

“At this point in my career, I just want to win. Now I want to try to get a winning record, really push the envelope and see if we can get into that top echelon of teams in the league,” Price said.

The football team returned to play this past Saturday in Williamstown, Mass. against Williams College (3–1; 3–1 NESCAC), losing 14–34. The Polar Bears will face Amherst College (2–2; 2–2 NESCAC) in Amherst, Mass. at 1 p.m. tomorrow.