Courtesy of Brian Beard

Last Saturday, the football team (2–3) secured a critical 35–7 road win against Amherst College (2–3). The win was Bowdoin’s first at Amherst in nearly 20 years, as well as the Polar Bears’ largest margin of victory against the Mammoths since 1992.

Coming off a close 28–21 win against Hamilton College (0–5) over Homecoming Weekend and a 14–34 loss at Williams College (3–2) the following weekend, the Amherst victory was a standout in a season so far marked by a Bowdoin team struggling to find its footing in tight matchups.

“It’s always good to beat Amherst,” Head Coach B. J. Hammer said.

Hammer emphasized that, though the Polar Bears have been in good shape this season, they’ve faced tough opponents—often playing evenly and fizzling out in the second half, as happened in matchups against Middlebury and Williams. Hammer views last weekend’s victory as a step in the right direction.

“It’s just tough when you lose a couple close games … against good teams. So we’re right there. I think this is more of a breakthrough, like, ‘Hey, this is what it looks like,” Hammer said. “These are the results that can happen every week, because we’re right there neck and neck with everybody. We just have to build off this.”

Hammer views the lack of large mistakes and the physicality of Bowdoin’s offensive line as critical factors that made the Amherst matchup different from others.

“We did not really have any self-inflicted wounds,” he said. “[We also] played with great physicality up front on the O-line. So if your O-line is playing with physicality that covers up any mistakes that are made, you usually will win the football game.”

He also views the mental perspective of the players as another important aspect.

“The big things we focused on were, every week, do your job. You can only control what you can control,” Hammer said. “Playing at a high level is not letting what you perceive as something bad get you in a rut, because you have to move on very quickly to the next play.”

Wide receiver Austin Hiscoe ’25 highlighted players’ accountability as a major factor in the victory at Amherst. Hiscoe scored a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to put Bowdoin up 35–0.

“We emphasized the fact that we wanted to have each other’s backs. If the defense did well, then the offense needed to step up and be better for them and vice versa,” Hiscoe said.

Hiscoe sees the win, Bowdoin’s largest so far in the season, as a turning point for the team.

“It’s like a momentum swing. We were feeling high off the Hamilton win, but unfortunately Williams didn’t go our way,” he said. “The Hamilton game was definitely a good example for us to show what we’re capable of, and that’s [also] what we showed in the Amherst game.”

With the victory against Amherst signaling a possible change of fortunes for the Polar Bears, the team will face Wesleyan University (4–1) tomorrow, which Hammer sees as a competitive matchup.

“Wesleyan is a solid football team,” Hammer said. “Our guys are going to be ready for the challenge, but it’s going to be a physical game.”

However, Hammer warned of the dangers of looking too far ahead into the season, even with last weekend’s large win.

“We’re not even concerned with anybody past Wesleyan,” Hammer said. “You have to live week to week … [and] have to keep moving forward. Learn from a win, learn from a loss, and make yourself better as you continue to develop.”

Now is the time, Hiscoe added, for the team to correct its weak spots and play at the highest level.

“Earlier in the season, it was a lot of working the kinks out, and being able to make those mistakes and learn from them,” Hiscoe said. “But now we’re at that part of the season where it’s over halfway, so now it’s learning from those mistakes, correcting them, and executing that.”

While Hiscoe believes the players can keep their momentum moving forward, he, like Hammer, warned against getting too confident.

“It’s just about staying levelheaded: not thinking we’re too good or thinking we’re better than we are. We’ll just keep taking it day by day and just keep getting better,” Hiscoe said.

For Hiscoe, the biggest story isn’t the win or the upcoming Wesleyan game. It’s about the team’s improvement over the course of the season.

“Honestly, it’s not about how good we are right now or who’s left on the schedule. It’s about every day, just getting better,” Hiscoe said. “That’s what’ll help us fuel us for the rest of the season.”