The Bowdoin Football Team outscored Bates last weekend 55-14 in a Parents Weekend win at Whittier Field. The Polar Bears look to continue their winning ways tomorrow against Colby and bring home their third consecutive CBB (Colby-Bates-Bowdoin) Championship.
The 3-4 Polar Bears head into this weekend's clash at archrival Colby (3-4) with a lot to prove in the season's last game. A win would not only leave fans with something to look forward to next year, but would vault Bowdoin above rivals Colby and Bates in conference standings and ensure a .500 finish for the first time since the 2005 season.
"The Colby game is always a hard, tough game," senior quad-captain Jack Dingess said. "I think it is a little bit different than other games because we feel like we are playing not only for ourselves and our team, but for the Bowdoin community as a whole. There's a lot of tradition and pride attached to this rivalry."
There is a lot at stake in the Bowdoin-Colby clash. The CBB is up in the air heading in to tomorrow's game because Bates beat Colby 31-21 earlier this season and a Colby win would result in the series' first three-way tie in thirteen years. But the Polar Bears hope to avoid the tie; they can secure the title with a win.
"The implications of this game are huge, and we know we'll need to play our best the entire game," said quad-captain Gus Spaulding '09.
Tomorrow's game will be the last for the Bowdoin seniors. When they were first-years in 2005, the team finished 6-2, but has won only eight games since. In light of this record, they especially hope to end their career with a win.
"The game on Saturday is, for us seniors, the most important game we have played in during our college career," Dingess said. "It will define our career as either a success or a failure."
Last Saturday's convincing 55-14 thrashing of the Bobcats put Bowdoin in a position to win the CBB. Deadlocked at seven halfway through the first quarter after a score by sophomore running back James Lathrop early in the frame, the Polar Bears ripped off 35 straight points to put the game out of reach of the Bobcats.
Junior quarterback Oliver Kell scored on a seven-yard touchdown run and also tossed a 53-yard scoring strike to senior quad-captain Tim Kelleher. Junior running back Nick Tom scored twice on 18-yard and 31-yard runs, and first year Ian Vieira plunged in for a three-yard score. Senior Nolan McNair added two fourth-quarter field goals to cap the scoring for the home team.
Kell finished 14-23 with 254 yards through the air and led Bowdoin to 595 yards of total offense, just five yards shy of the school record. Juniors Kevin Zikaras and Tyler Tennant and senior Ben Shulman paced the defensive unit with six tackles each. The defense held Bates to only 178 total yards of offense.
McNair also won NESCAC Special Teams Player of the Week honors for his efforts as kicker and punter. He was a perfect 7-for-7 on extra points and hit field goals of 20 and 32 yards, scoring 13 points, a school record.
"Our entire team played great," Spaulding said. "In a game like that you can't highlight just one person because it was a huge team effort."
"It was going well and just kept getting batter?it snowballed," Head Coach Dave Caputi said. "We jut fed off each other's confidence and kept rolling."
The Polar Bears hope to turn some of that momentum into a win against Colby tomorrow. "Playing in the Colby-Bowdoin rivalry, I think we're fairly lucky to finish the season with our own playoffs," Caputi said. "The games against Bates and Colby always have great value in ending the season on a strong note."