After a successful opening week to the 2021 season, the Wesleyan football team is back at home for the first time in 693 days as the Cardinals welcome Hamilton for a 1 PM kickoff on Saturday. It's been an incredibly long wait, in fact the first and only other time Wesleyan football saw a season canceled in the program's 138-year history (since 1881) was due to World War II in a two-year stretch from 1943-44. So the wait has been excruciating for Cardinal fans and alums far and wide but they can now rest assured, football Saturday's out on Corwin Stadium at Andrus Field are back.

The Cardinals head into week 2 of the 2021 season with a Saturday, September 25 home matchup with the Hamilton Continentals. In what will be the 50^th all-time meeting between the two sides on Saturday, Wesleyan heads into this year's iteration with a 30-18-1 record all-time against Hamilton with wins coming in seven of the last eight meetings. In those seven wins, all but two saw Wesleyan best the Continentals by at least 20 points. Hamilton, however, is coming into Middletown having won the last time these two sides faced one another at Corwin Stadium, a 33-29 decision back on Sept. 29, 2018.

Back in 2019, the last time these two sides met, the Cardinals ran away with a 28-10 win late as Wesleyan put up two touchdowns including a pick six in the fourth quarter to run away with a game that Hamilton trailed by just four points heading into the fourth. QB Ashton Scott went 10-for-16 for 170 yards, 3 TD and 1 INT while also leading the team with 82 rushing yards on 21 carries. The Cardinal defense forced four turnovers (all INTs) and also put up four sacks as big plays helped pave the way to the 18-point win. Hamilton outgained Wesleyan 350-323 in that game but were penalized six times for 70 yards compared to Wesleyan's three penalties for 25 yards.

Several Cardinal defenders on the 2021 squad played a leading role in the 2019 win as DL Jackson Eighmy '21, P'22 tied for the team-lead with eight tackles (five solo) including two TFL and one sack. CB Danny Banks '22 had seven tackles (all solo) and a pass breakup. DL Nick Helbig had 1.5 sacks to go along with five tackles (two solo) while Isaiah Miller '22 had one of the four Wesleyan INTs in the win. On offense, it was largely Scott who threw for 170 and ran for 82 as he threw or ran for 252 of the Cardinals' 323 total yards. QB/WR David Estevez '22 was effective on the ground, gaining 56 yards on 10 carries, good enough for 5.6 yards/carry. Matt Simco '22 led the team with three receptions for 58 yards while Connor Gregoire '22 had two catches, both of which resulted in TDs.

Hamilton totaled 176 rushing yards, combined with 174 passing yards to total 350 on the day back in the 2019 meeting. QB Kenny Gray struggled against the Wesleyan pass defense, finishing 20-for-34 for 174 yards, 0 TD and 3 INT while he was also sacked four times. QB Matt Banbury entered in relief and threw the fourth INT of the day for the Continentals. RB David Kagan was efficient on the ground, carrying 16 times for 94 yards and 1 TD. RB Joe Schmidt added 39 yards on just six carries while he posted a game-high nine catches for 89 yards as he totaled 128 all-purpose yards. The turnovers proved too much to overcome as Wesleyan won the turnover battle 4-1, capitalizing with a 14-3 edge in points off turnovers.

 The 2021 campaign marks the 138^th season of Wesleyan football with competition as the Cardinals look to conclude the fall with a ninth-straight winning season. Wesleyan went 8-1 and finished in sole possession of second place in the NESCAC standings in 2019, marking the third time in program history that the Cardinals won eight games in a season and the first time since 1969. Wesleyan posted thrilling wins against Amherst (31-28 2OT) and Williams (27-21 OT) to earn their third Little 3 title in the past seven seasons. The Cardinals saw 13 players earn a spot on the All-NESCAC Team, the most of any team in the conference.

A return to the friendly confines of Corwin Stadium as the home field advantage is a significant one in favor of the Cardinals over the years. Since the formation of the NESCAC in 2000, Wesleyan is 48-32 (.600) against league foes at home. In the 20 seasons of NESCAC football, Wesleyan has sported a single-season losing record at home just three times, including just once since 2009. Since 2013, Wesleyan is 23-6 (.793) at home with three 4-0 single-season home records in that span.

Lending a huge role in the impressive win-loss record over the years has been the support of the Cardinal faithful. Home attendance numbers at Corwin Stadium have consistently been stellar but the 2019 season saw a huge uptick in numbers. In terms of home games, Wesleyan ranked eighth in the nation (NCAA Div. III) and first in the NESCAC in total attendance (20,188) despite having the fewest home games (four) of any program ranked in the Top 10 nationally.

Diving deeper, Wesleyan ranked fourth in the nation (first in the NESCAC) in average home attendance per game (5,047). Wesleyan's thrilling Homecoming/Family Weekend overtime win over Williams on November 2, 2019 not only sealed the Little 3 title for the Cardinals but the listed attendance number of 8,110 was the 10^th-highest single-game home number in all Div. III collegiate football in 2019.

Week 1 Recap
The Cardinals head into their home opener having scored a 21-5 season-opening win at Colby last Saturday in a game that saw Wesleyan hold the Mules without a touchdown, marking the first time Wesleyan held an opponent without a touchdown on the road since 2014. Wesleyan dialed up some big plays on offense, as Scott found WR Logan Tomlinson '23 for a 38-yard score late in the 2^nd quarter while WR Thomas Elkhoury '24
took a shovel pass from Estevez and took it 84 yards, untouched to the house as that score put Wesleyan up comfortably 21-3.

Colby actually led 3-0 midway through the 2^nd quarter but a crucial botched snap on a punt attempt saw Wesleyan pounce as the Cardinals had the ball on the Mules' 2-yard line. RB Charlie McPhee '22 punched it in from 1 yard out on his third try from in close to give Wesleyan the lead and on the next Colby play, QB Matt Hersch was picked off by Banks. The huge momentum swing continued on as the Cardinals' very next play was the Scott TD bomb to Tomlinson as suddenly, in the span of three plays and 17 seconds of game action, Wesleyan went from trailing 3-0 to leading 14-3.

Elkhoury's 84-yard catch and run early in the 4^th quarter from Estevez made it 21 unanswered Cardinal points as the Wesleyan defense came up with big plays and stop time and time again in the season opener. Colby registered a safety with 10:18 remaining to make it 21-5 and just a two-possession game. However, the Mules' ensuing drive stalled out in Wesleyan territory and the Cardinal ground game off McPhee and RB Owen Brickley '23 ran the final 7:06 of the clock down to give Wesleyan the comfortable victory.

Scott struggled with accuracy throughout the contest, finishing 7-for-19 but he certainly made the most of his seven completions, going for 155 yards with 1 TD and 0 INT. Estevez was credited for a passing TD on the shovel pass to Elkhoury as the Cardinal QB duo of Scott and Estevez combined for 246 yards passing, 2 TD and 0 INT.

Wesleyan's defense generated big plays all day, recording two INTs, two sacks and combined for eight TFL as a unit. Joe Schaefer '24 racked up eight tackles (six solo) with two TFL in his first career game. Nick Helbig '23 tallied five tackles, two TFL and one sack. Banks and DB Alex Beauchesne '24 each recorded an INT.

A Look at Hamilton
The Continentals are beginning to make strides as Hamilton finished 4-5 in 2019, good enough for the program's highest single-season win total since 1996. The visitors are already off to a strong start in 2021 as Hamilton defeated Bowdoin at home last weekend, 16-7, in a game the Continentals led wire-to-wire. Bowdoin outgained Hamilton 290-210 but three turnovers and a 0-for-3 showing on 4^th down conversions proved costly in the end for the Polar Bears. The Continentals also took advantage of a huge disparity in penalty yards as Bowdoin was penalized nine times for 85 yards, compared to just two penalties for 20 yards for Hamilton.

Hamilton relied heavily on the ground game, attempting 46 rushes compared to just 12 pass attempts in the season opener against Bowdoin. Those 46 carries translated into 153 yards but the Continentals weren't all that efficient, generating just 3.3 yards/carry. QB Nigel Scott led the team with 60 yards on 14 carries while RB Justin Moran added 50 yards and 1 TD and Kamau Hopewell went for 30 yards and a score. Hamilton's passing attack struggled to get anything going as Scott threw all 12 pass attempts but went just 5-for-12 for 57 yards, 0 TD and 2 INT while he was sacked twice.

LB Mike Cairns did a little bit of everything, racking up a game-high 11 tackles (four solo) to go along with 0.5 TFL, one fumble recovery and one pass breakup. DB Christian Snell added nine tackles while DE Alex Street posted the one Hamilton sack on the day.