LEWISTON — There were a few brief moments when Bates College could have gotten on the scoreboard and at least taken the edge off Trinity College’s fierce offense.
But that never happened for the Bobcats (0-5) at Garcelon Field, where the Bantams (3-2) ran amok and headed back to Hartford, Conn., with a lopsided 51-0 victory in a NESCAC football game on a damp Saturday afternoon.
“I liked for the first time all year we actually executed our defense,” Trinity coach Jeff Devanney said. “You know offensively, we have been a big-play offense all along. We still turned the ball over today, which is something we have to fix, and this is the best we’ve played on special teams all year.
“Bates, their kids play hard. They play really hard. I think it is a tough situation when you are on a losing streak like that to have a positive attitude. They played whole game hard, which is you have to give them a lot of credit with all the losses.
“I really think our front seven did a great job and we are really talented on defense with the front seven. As a group, they did what we asked them to do, which was not let (Bates’) No. 3 (Brendan Costa) run with the ball and not let him scramble. If we keep him in the pocket, we are good.”
The Bantams were stingy on defense, preventing the Bobcats from earning a first down until the third quarter. The game statistics also revealed that Trinity collected 416 yards on offense compared to Bates’ 105.
But again, Bates recovered a fumble and intercepted the ball, which where two key turnovers for the ‘Cats to do something with the ball on offense.
“I look at life very, very simplistic in terms of football,” Bates coach Malik Hall said. “I think at the end of the day you are playing a quality team. That is not the first quality team we had in here.
“However, I believe that if you deviate from the game plan, you can’t patch up some leaks or put a band-aid on a wound. Trinity is the kind of team that they are not foot on the gas. They are just operating, and when they fumble, we didn’t make anything happen on that. Then the interception that we got, we didn’t make anything out of that, so maybe we cut the lead to three possessions. We didn’t do anything as well.
“And the game is about first downs. We didn’t get our first first down until the third quarter. When you look at it from a standpoint of numbers, they don’t always tell the whole story, but this one does.
“If we do not move the ball — we are a ball-control offense right now because — it is a hard pill to swallow when you can’t get on the board and can’t get first downs. The second piece to that game that I think that I was more disappointed with is I think our defense knew the expectations.”
The first quarter was slow going for both teams, with Trinity forced to settle for a 36-yard field goal when J.P. Dallazem split the uprights at 10:24 in the first quarter.
Tijani Harris, who rushed for 139 yards, supplied Trinity’s first touchdown on a two-play drive with 16 seconds left in the first quarter, with Dallazem kicking the extra point and giving the Bantams a 10-0 lead.
Trinity’s offense ruled the second quarter with a three-TD performance.
Devante Reid scored on a 4-yard rush to cap off Trinity’s 61-yard drive. Dallazem booted the extra point. Reid was followed by Koby Schofer’s first of two touchdowns when Schofer snatched a 24-yard pass from quarterback Seamus Lambert to complete a 57-yard drive to Bates’ end zone. Harris came across the goal line for his second touchdown when he grabbed a 13-yard pass from Lambert and helped build Trinity’s 30-point lead at halftime.
The Bantams punched up three more touchdowns in the third quarter before running out the clock in the fourth.
Matt Patry ripped off a 68-yard interception and raced up the field for a touchdown followed by Dallazem’s kick. Joe Samuelman scooped a 13-yard pass from Lambert and scored, and Schofer delivered his second TD on another 13-yarder from Lambert to make it 51-0. Lambert completed 14 passes on 21 attempts for 222 yards.
Costa was 12 of 24 passing for 68 yards, with one interception, and ran the ball four times for just four yards. Zach Doyon had the interception of Lambert, while Anthony Costa forced a Harris fumble and Matthew Connelly recovered it.
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