After suffering an embarrassing 41-7 loss to Wesleyan last season, the football team avenged that defeat with a 12-6 win at Whittier Field last weekend. The victory improves the Polar Bears' record to 3-3 and drops the Cardinals to 3-3 as well.
The game's turning point came just before halftime, when Bowdoin was only up 3-0.
Kicker Jim Garvey '14 made a career-high 37-yard field goal to carry the team into the second half. In the third quarter, Zach Donnarumma '14 rushed for 37 yards to put Garvey in position for his second field goal of the game, a 29-yard kick.
On the next play, captain Pat Noone '12 returned a Wesleyan punt 85 yards for a touchdown, putting the Polar Bears ahead at 12-0. Noone earned the NESCAC Special Teams Player of the Week honor for the play, which was the longest punt return in the history of Whittier Field.
Wesleyan was not able to come back in the fourth quarter: The Cardinals' offense was only able to respond with a single touchdown.
The absence of offensive fireworks was due in part to Bowdoin's defensive line, which held Wesleyan's offense to 194 yards—just 59 on the ground—in comparison to 244 yards gained by the Polar Bears' offense.
Quarterback Mac Caputi '15 was responsible for 41 yards on the ground and 26 in the air.
Donnarumma had a career-high 158 rushing yards in the game, and attributed his success to the offensive line.
He noted that the offense consists mostly of experienced seniors who "were able to create holes for me through a series of blocks."
Head Coach Dave Caputi agreed that the physical dominance of the veteran seniors on the offensive line aided Donnarumma's performance.
He also credited the success to the team's play calling, which was spot-on because the team knows that Wesleyan has a propensity to blitz and planned its plays accordingly.
Though this year's team has shown great improvement on the defensive side of the ball, Dave Caputi still sees room to do better.
"Donnarumma and many members of the running line need to get bigger and stronger—they need more balance so they can complete more tackles," he said. He is optimistic about the team's future prospects because many of the athletes are sophomores.
This was Donnarumma's third game of the season with over 100 yards rushing, and he currently ranks fourth in the NESCAC with 88.8 rushing yards per game.
Dave Caputi said he is pleased with the way the team has adapted to new plays in the team's repertoire, such as attacking the open ball faster.
He said that the team's formula requires few changes to the combat the upcoming games against Bates and Colby in the next two weekends.
In tomorrow's game against Bates, the Polar Bears will need to continue scoring early on, as the Bobcats' offensive line is very strong, according to Donnarumma.
In the past six years, the Polar Bears have a record of 5-1 against the Bobcats, including a nail-biting 21-20 victory at home last year.