A disappointing loss to Williams College last Saturday has left the football team searching for answers. The 36-0 loss in the season opener was the first shutout Bowdoin has suffered since the 2012 season.
Williams opened the game with a touchdown off their second drive on a pass to wide receiver Darrias Sime. The Polar Bears threw a pick shortly after, which Williams ran back for a touchdown. After missing the extra point, the Ephs still led 13-0. Before the end of the first half The Ephs managed to score again, bringing their lead to 19-0. Again, they failed to get the extra point at the conversion.
“At half-time we were still in the game. Going in we just knew we needed to do better than the first half,” said offensive lineman Jonathan Macat ’16. “Anything that happened in the first half didn’t matter.”
Bowdoin did not improve in the second half. The Ephs continued to show success driving the ball and scored two touchdowns of over 30 yards.
Overall, Bowdoin’s offense finished with 80 yards rushing and quarterback Mac Caputi ’15 went 19-36 (53%) for 132 yards, with one interception. Running back Tyler Grant ’17 rushed for 58 yards. Daniel Barone ’16 had six receptions for 45 yards and an additional 70 return yards. The Polar Bears also had three turnovers.
Defensive back Jibrail Coy ’16 and defensive lineman Jake Prince ’15 lead the Polar Bear’s defense with six and five tackles respectivley.
Saturday’s defeat came as a surprise after a successful preseason so the team is not completely let down after the defeat.
“When they play like they can—like the way I know these guys can play—we have a breakout team, not just breakout players,” said Macat.
It is the Polar Bears’ fifteenth year with Head Coach Dave Caputi, and they are starting with a much healthier team this year. Last season, several players, including Matt Perlow ’15 and Coy were benched with injuries. This year, there are 13 returning starters along with first years who have proven to be both diligent and talented.
“I think it’s a mature group and a hard-working group.” said Coach Caputi.
Despite the loss, the team is recharged and ready to take on Amherst at home on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
“All we can do is play one game at a time, and all we can do is play one play at a time at every game. There were some simple plays we could have made on Saturday that we just didn’t make.” said Coach Caputi. “It’s just a matter of going back and instilling a little bit of confidence and coaching up some small things to make our game better.”
“I think we know what we pretty much need to do; it just comes down to doing it and executing it,” said Mac Caputi.
The team hopes to play more like it did in the pre-season and put last week’s disappointing performance behind it.
“It’s nothing that we can’t and haven’t done in the past few weeks. In no way is it a foreshadow of the rest of our year,” said Grant.
The refrain from the team and coaches is that the players have shown they are more than capable of having a succesful season.
The weekend’s loss against the Ephs is not in the past for the Polar Bears who are looking ahead to their home opener against Amherst tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. on Whittier Field.