The Bates College football team now reaches the second part of its season.
The first part was cruel to the Bobcats. They went 0-6 and were outscored 43.3 point per game to 14.1.
Bates knew its schedule was front-loaded, and entered the season hoping for better results than it achieved.
That didn’t happen. Now the Bobcats finish the season with a three-game stretch against teams for whom the first six games went about as well as it did for Bates.
“Obviously, the front part of it didn’t go the way we wanted it to,” Bobcats coach Mark Harriman said. “But with the CBB (Colby-Bates-Bowdoin), and then having the opportunity to put, hopefully, a string of wins together is something that I think everybody is looking forward to.”
The Bobcats travel to Waterville on Saturday to face Colby, then host Bowdoin on Nov. 4 and finish the season at Hamilton on Nov. 11.
The Mules and Black Bears, the Bobcats’ Maine rivals, also slogged through the first six games without a win. The Continentals, meanwhile, have gone 2-4 with wins over Bowdoin and Colby.
Bates has owned the CBB lately, winning the last three titles outright.
“The start of the CBB series is always a really exciting thing for us,” Harriman said. “I think our guys understand what we need to do to continue to have success in this series. So we’re looking forward to it.”
The CBB has such tradition, that winning it was the first thing mentioned by Bates players and coaches during the preseason when asked about the team’s goals.
“It’s something that even at the beginning of the year, it’s one of our goals during preseason to, in this case, keep the CBB trophy where it is,” Harriman said. “But, regardless of whether we have it or not, it would be one of our goals to go out and capture the CBB title.”
‘Cats down
Starting with Week 1 when captain Frank Williams went down, the Bobcats have been hampered by injuries all season long. That is especially true along the offensive line, where they might be down to their third starting center this week against Colby.
“That position (group) has kind of been musical chairs a little bit,” Harriman said. “It seems like we’ve had a different lineup up front virtually every week. Hopefully we can get those guys back and have some consistency there.”
One lineman that appears close to returning is Dylan Rasch, who has been out since the second week of the season.
Bates will be without starting diveback Peter Boyer, who is out with an injury for the second time this season. Fortunately, Kyle Flaherty, an Oak Hill graduate, is back. Flaherty and Matt Golden will share the diveback duties.
Golden started the season fighting for the starting quarterback gig. He didn’t earn it, but took over the position when Sandy Plashkes went down. Then he relinquished it to freshman Brendan Costa, who seems to have locked it down. When Plashkes is out with injury, as he often has been this season, Golden is Costa’s backup. He’s had some carries at diveback during the past few weeks and also plays on special teams.
Row-cord setters
Bates women’s rowing picked up where it left of in June, when it claimed the NCAA Division III championship.
In their first of two events this fall, the Bobcats’ varsity eight not only won the 53rd annual Head of the Charles Regatta, they set a new course record.
Senior coxswain Hanna De Bruyn guided her crew through the 4,800-kilometer course in 16 minutes, 1.182 seconds.
Last year’s Head of the Charles winner, Wesleyan, finished second, 16.863 seconds behind Bates.
The Bobcats second boat finished fifth, making Sunday the most successful Head of the Charles showing in program history.
The Bates men’s varsity eight finished a program-best third at the Head of the Charles.
The Bates rowing teams finish their fall schedules Saturday in the CBB Chase in Sydney.
Happy ending
The Bates women’s soccer team finished its season with a 2-0 win over Colby on Tuesday.
Junior Olivia Amdur scored both of the Bobcats’ goals, and goalkeeper Sarah McCarthy added three saves to her league-leading total. She finishes the season with 79.
Bates (7-7-1, 3-6-1 NESCAC) placed ninth in the NESCAC.
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