The football team ended its season on a high last Saturday, winning 35-13 against NESCAC rival Colby. Although the Polar Bears finished with a disappointing record of 2-6, the team believes this dominant week eight performance was indicative of improvement over the course of the season.
“We thought we were the better team, and if we executed what we had been talking about all week, then we would come out with a pretty big victory,” said captain Dan Barone ’16. “It was good to go out on a high note like that.”
According to Head Coach JB Wells, the win can be attributed to an all-around team effort. The defensive line played particularly well, holding star Colby running back Jabari Hurdle-Price to 72 yards on the day. Linebackers Brendan Lawler ’16, who finished with 12 tackles, and Branden Morin ’16 helped lead the defensive effort in the final game of their college careers.
Offensively, quarterback Tim Drakeley ’17 completed 24 passes for 314 yards and three touchdowns—all career highs. According to Barone, receivers Seamus Power ’16 and Nick Vailas ’18 helped Drakeley with big catches throughout the game that sparked momentum in the offense. Tight end Bryan Porter ’18 also had a big day, finishing with six catches for 95 yards and a score.
“It was as complete a game as we’ve played,” said Wells. “They did a great job of putting it all together in their last game and beating a big rival. For the seniors’ last game, it was a great way to go out.”
Coming off of a 31-0 loss to another NESCAC rival, Bates, the Polar Bears showed resiliency in quickly shifting their focus to the showdown with Colby.
“We’ve been trying to get the guys to think in terms of each week as a season and to not look ahead or behind, just to focus on the moment,” said Wells. “They’ve been good at that. Every Monday was like a new week.”
The team seems to have bought into this outlook. Even when the team suffered a loss, Wells believes that they almost always demonstrated improvement in some way with each new game. In addition, there was a change in team culture and identity this season.
“Any time you bring in a new coaching staff, there’s definitely going to be some changes,” said Barone. “[There was] more of an emphasis than we’ve ever had on establishing an identity of the team and a culture of the team. I think that’s what Coach Wells’ biggest goal was of the year.”
Arguably, the low point of the season was the Bates game, which Wells believes is the one game where the team did not improve from the previous one. High points were the Homecoming Weekend win against Hamilton and now the win against Colby, bouncing back after the tough loss.
“The record wasn’t where we wanted it to be, but I think the team did a good job of progressing in their mentality and the culture of the team,” said Barone. “It was good to see that despite some difficult losses.”
Wells believes the end-of-season losing record is a sign of good things to come for the program.
“You either motivate the off-season based off of a loss or based off of a win,” said Wells. “In the last week of the year, things we had been trying to instill in the team came full circle where they were doing what we wanted them to do.”
“Hopefully, in five years we can look back on the program and see some of the things we started and see how they’ve grown,” said Barone.
Wells plans to take the work the team did during this year’s offseason to another level in order to prepare for the next season. In addition, the Polar Bears have strong candidates at the quarterback position; both Drakeley and Noah Nelson ’19 started four games this year. Wells sees this competition as a positive, and hopes Drakeley and Nelson will continue to push each other throughout the offseason and into the 2016 campaign.