LEWISTON, Me. – The Wesleyan football team played the role of spoiler on Saturday afternoon, scoring the go-ahead touchdown with 4:29remaining to defeat Bates, 27-24, on the Bobcats' Homecoming weekend. The Cardinals remain undefeated, moving to 3-0, while a gutty Bates side fought hard but remain winless at 0-3 in 2021.
Trailing by four in the fourth quarter with the home crowd rocking, taking the ball back after Bates' QB Brendan Costa rushed in for a score to take a 24-20 lead, Wesleyan was certainly up against it late. Taking over at their own 25-yard line, the Cardinals marched 75 yards down the field in a drive that took 7:33, capped by QB/WR
David Estevez '22 who finished his monster day with a 5-yard hookup with WR
Luis Sanchez '24 to silence the Homecoming crowd.
Bates still had 4:29 to work their way down the field and their ensuing drive saw Costa find WR Sean Bryant for a 26-yard gain, advancing to the Wesleyan 44-yard line with plenty of time still left. With the ball over midfield, Costa took to the ground on the next play and was stripped at the 40-yard line by DL
Cole Hoffman '22 and recovered by captain LB
Isaiah Miller '22 as the Cardinals denied initial comeback attempt.
Even with all the momentum, Wesleyan wasn't able to finish the game off as a 3-and-out forced the Cardinals to punt the ball back to the Bobcats who took over at their own 31-yard line with 2:07 left. Still needing just a FG, Costa completed three straight passes for 41 yards as suddenly the ball was at the Wesleyan 27-yard line with over a minute left. On the 1
st-and-10 play, on Costa's 32
nd pass attempt of the game, the senior QB was picked off for the first time as CB
Darreyl Williams '22 stepped in front of the Bates WR to seal a dramatic win for the visiting Cardinals.
Estevez was outstanding for the Cardinals in the thrilling win, going 12-for-12 in his pass attempts for 123 yards, 2 TD and 0 INT. He also rushed 16 times for 40 yards and added to a stellar all-around day with two receptions for 61 yards and 1 TD. For the day, Estevez accounted for all three scores and totaled 224 of the Cardinals' 291 total yards on offense. Through three games this season, Estevez has completed 22-of-26 passes (84.6 completion %) for 305 yards with 5 TD and 0 INT while he is the Cardinals' leading rusher with 166 yards on 39 carries (4.3 yards per rush).
Wesleyan's 15
th straight win over Bates was certainly not an easy one as Bates took it to the Cardinals early, returning the opening kickoff to the Bobcats' 47-yard line. Costa connected with WR Derek Marino for 35 yards and after an 11-yard rush, he found Sean Bryant open in the end zone from 7 yards out as the Bobcats took a 7-0 lead just under two minutes into the game.
The Cardinals also scored on their first possession, with QB
Ashton Scott '22 finding TE
Liam Downey '22 for 21 yards and later connecting with Estevez for 30, putting Wesleyan in the red zone where they ultimately cashed in with a 37-yard FG from
Daniel Yoon '24.
Costa was stripped on the next Bates play as Miller forced the fumble and DL
Keith Henderson '23 was there for a big takeaway as Wesleyan took over from the Bobcat 21-yard line. After an initial 16-yard passing play was called back due to a holding call, Scott found Estevez on the next play for a 31-yard score as the Cardinals took their first lead of the game at 10-7.
Later in the first, it was Wesleyan who had a costly turnover this time as Scott was stripped deep in Cardinal territory, recovered by the Bobcats and cashed in for six as Costa punched it in on a 3
rd-and-goal play from the 1-yard line as Bates retook a four-point lead.
After big plays on both sides of the ball in the first quarter, Wesleyan worked their way down the field in a methodical 9-play, 55-yard TD drive that ended in a highlight-reel hookup between Estevez and WR
Thomas Elkhoury '24. With the ball at the Bates 21-yard line, Estevez took the shotgun snap and rolled to his left. With no lanes to tuck and run, Estevez set his feet and lofted a ball deep into the end zone where Elkhoury rose above a host of Bobcat defenders and made the one-handed grab for his first career TD.
Coming out of halftime trailing, Bates forced a 3-and-out and then tied the score with a 27-yard FG from Simon Redfern only to see Wesleyan take it 67 yards down the field on their next possession to retake the lead with a 26-yard Yoon FG.
After more than 30 minutes without a TD, Costa engineered the Bobcats 79 yards down the field with five completions going for 10+ yards in the drive. Costa's 14-yard completion to Caleb Bolden took the ball to the Cardinal 1-yard line and on the next play, Costa took it in from 1 yard out to put Bates ahead 24-20 with 12:02 remaining.
Even with the added pressure and all the momentum going against them, Estevez did everything, passing or rushing for all but 1 yard in a 13-play, 75-yard TD scoring drive that took 7:33. Estevez started the drive up with a 12-yard completion to Downey, followed by a 13-yard pass to WR
Logan Tomlinson '23 to take Wesleyan into Bates' territory. Estevez then took to the ground, rushing 18 yards to the Bates' 17-yard line. On a big 3
rd-and-3 from the Bates' 10, Wesleyan called timeout and drew up an Estevez rush that went for 4 yards, giving the Cardinals a 1
st-and-goal. Just one play later, Estevez capped a sensational drive with a shovel pass to Sanchez who did the rest, crossing the goal line that proved the difference in the Wesleyan victory.
It was a near even split in total yards as Wesleyan put up 312 total yards of offense compared to 310 for Bates. Neither side did much on the ground as Wesleyan rushed for 45 while the Cardinal defense held the Bobcats to just 22 yards on 19 carries (0.9 yards per rush).
Scott went 8-for-19 at QB for 144 yards, 1 TD and 0 INT as the Cardinal QB tandem combined to go 20-for-31 for 267 yards, 3 TD and 0 INT. Through three games, Scott and Estevez have thrown for 738 yards, 9 TD and 0 INT.
Tomlinson came up with six receptions for 80 yards to lead the Cardinals in both categories. Elkhoury totaled five catches for 71 yards and his highlight-reel TD.
Williams led the Cardinal defense with eight tackles (four solo) while his first career INT put an end to the Bates comeback bid in the final minutes. DL
Nick Helbig '23 tallied two of the Cardinals' 5 total TFL on the afternoon.
Wesleyan returns home next weekend for a Saturday showdown with Bowdoin that is set for 1 PM. The Cardinals are riding an eight-game unbeaten streak against the Polar Bears and are 38-9-1 all-time at home when facing Bowdoin.
