As every football fan knows, when you don't have the ball, you don't score. Bowdoin committed five turnovers on Saturday, and Trinity capitalized en route to a 40-16 thrashing of the Polar Bears.
A fumble on the opening kickoff set the tone for Bowdoin (1-4). Trinity took advantage of the Bowdoin miscue and marched 48 yards in nine plays to take a 6-0 advantage after a touchdown and a missed extra point.
"Turnovers are one of the most important statistics in football," said quad-captain Gus Spaulding '09. "It's hard to win if you don't win the turnover battle."
The Bowdoin team responded with a 10-play drive to the Trinity five yard line and settled for a field goal by Nolan McNair '09 to halve the deficit. However, Trinity scored the next 34 points to put the game out of reach.
"We had people who played well for us for short periods of time," said Head Coach Dave Caputi. "We had a couple lapses in plays. Six or seven times we won the 1st and 2nd downs, holding them to three yards or less, but they converted on 3rd downs. It happened a couple of times and got away from us pretty quickly."
The Bantams (5-0) were able to amass over 500 yards of total offense in the game, while Bowdoin mustered 318. Trinity quarterback Eric McGrath passed for two touchdowns and ran in another, while Trinity running back Oliver Starnes scored twice.
After McNair's first-quarter field goal, Bowdoin was not able to put points on the board until the fourth-quarter, when quarterback Oliver Kell '10 scored on a 15-yard scamper to make the score 40-10.
Running back James Lathrop '11 capped a late 73-yard Bowdoin drive with a five-yard scoring run to score the last points of the game.
Kell finished 17-29 passing for 238 yards while quad-captain Tim Kelleher '09 caught five passes for 89 yards to lead the offense. First year Chris Martin led the Polar Bear defense with 11 tackles.
The Polar Bears will visit Wesleyan (1-4) tomorrow and hope to right the ship against a struggling Cardinals squad.
"We know that every team in the NESCAC is competitive," Spaulding said, "so we need to continue to work hard and get better. We just need to play our game, execute, and not stop ourselves."
The team will look for big plays to jump start the offense and to create turnovers on defense.
"[The game] boils down to creating one more turnover on defense and eliminating one more when we're on offense," said Caputi. "We have to create one more explosive play on offense and eliminate one more when we're on defense. That's how we can win."
Caputi emphasized that the team has to come out of the gates focused and with energy if they are to win.
"I think every game in this league, particularly this year, is a battle," Caputi said. "You have to play with a little bit of a chip on your shoulder in every game, because if you lose just a little bit of your competitive edge and the game gets away form you early, then it's tough to re-adjust."
With three games left in the season, including games against arch-rivals Bates and Colby, the Polar Bears hope to win out and finish at a .500 mark for a successful season.
"You have to play with something to prove every time," said Caputi. "Every week we know that the previous week's game is a light year away. This game is real important for us."