MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – A long-awaited return to Corwin Stadium at Andrus Field went very much according to plan for the Wesleyan football team in a 30-14 victory over Hamilton on Saturday afternoon. In a game that saw the Cardinals (2-0) outgain the Continentals (1-1) 419-250, including 194-31 on the ground, Wesleyan led 20-0 at the half and 27-0 early in the third quarter as the big margin iced the game away early.

Wesleyan set the tone right from the jump the Cardinals marched 86 yards down the field in 11 plays to jump out to an early 7-0 lead. RB Owen Brickley '23 managed to bang his way for a 12-yard gain before WR Logan Tomlinson '23 took an end-around and jetted up the field for 10 yards into Hamilton territory. On a 2^nd-and-22 play, QB Ashton Scott '22 found TE Liam Downey '22 for a big 23-yard hookup, putting Wesleyan inside the Hamilton red zone. The ensuing play, QB/WR David Estevez '22 faked a run, pulled up and spotted TE Matt Luttenberger '24 open in the end zone for the first score of the game.
 
After forcing a Hamilton 3-and-out on their first offensive possession, Wesleyan went right back to work with another extended drive, this time a 13-play, 61-yard march down the field for another TD. It was an Estevez-heavy drive as the do-it-all offensive weapon gained positive yardage on the ground from his shotgun position, then found Tomlinson along the sideline for a 13-yard connection. RB Charlie McPhee '22 pounded the rock for 6-yard gains on consecutive carries and a few plays later, it was Scott who came in at QB on 1^st-and-goal from the 10 and he found Tomlinson for a leaping TD grab to make it 14-0 Wesleyan.

Late in the first half, Wesleyan's Daniel Yoon '24 punted to Christian Snell who muffed the return and the ball was recovered by Mike Thompson '23 at the Hamilton 20-yard line. Just three plays later, Scott came up with a big play on 3^rd down, finding Simco open in the far right corner of the end zone as the third Cardinal TD of the half make it 20-0 with just 27 seconds left before halftime.

Coming out of the halftime break, Hamilton was forced into another 3-and-out on offense, punting the ball to Wesleyan who continued to pour it on. Estevez juked out a few Hamilton defenders, scampering upfield for a 28-yard gain on the first Cardinal offensive play of the third quarter. On a 3^rd-and-11 play, Estevez connected with Luis Sanchez '24 for a big 20-yard pickup, putting the Cardinals into the Continental red zone. On the very next play, it was Estevez again, this time finding Tomlinson on the near side who took the screen pass, shook off the Hamilton defensive back and ran in for the fourth Wesleyan TD in the opening 34+ minutes of play.
 
The Wesleyan defense continued to make plays as Danny Banks '22 picked off Hamilton QB Joe Cairns as the senior CB came up with his second INT of the season (seventh of his career).

Hamilton broke the shutout midway through the third quarter as Cairns connected with Drew Granski for 36 yards before finding Will Budington for 34. With the ball at the Wesleyan 4-yard line, Justin Moran took the handoff around the left end of the Hamilton line and took it to the house for the Continental TD.

Even with the Hamilton score, Wesleyan came right back for another extended drive that led to points. Holding the ball for nearly six minutes, Estevez took every snap at QB on this possession and found Tomlinson for consecutive passing plays of 9 and 19 yards, putting the Cardinals into Hamilton territory. McPhee then took a 1^st-down carry for 13 yards, sending Wesleyan into the Hamilton red zone. The Cardinals couldn't come away with 6 on the goal-to-go situation but Yoon knocked in the 24-yard FG attempt to make it 30-7 Cardinals with 1:38 left in the third quarter.

Hamilton found the end zone for the second time midway through the fourth quarter to make it a two-possession game. The Continentals got the ball back with 4:19 remaining put a couple big plays from the Cardinal defense, first on a combined sack from Joe Rosberg '22 and Mike Rowan '25 and Jack Nally '24 followed that up with the sophomore safety's first career INT to ice the game away for Wesleyan.

Wesleyan was efficient on offense, running 74 plays compared to 45 for Hamilton as the Cardinals also dominated in time of possession (39:37 to 20:14). The Cardinals picked up 23 first downs compared to just 10 for the Continentals while Wesleyan went 8-for-14 on 3^rd down conversions for the game.

Scott (8-for-15, 134 yards, 2 TD) and Estevez (8-for-12, 91 yards, 2 TD) combined for stellar QB play, amassing 225 yards with 4 TD and 0 INT for the game. Estevez also rushed 17 times for 69 yards.
 
McPhee had a career day at RB, gaining 100 yards on 20 carries for his first career 100-yard game. The senior easily eclipsed his previous career-high of 63 yards which came against Colby in the 2019 season.

Tomlinson had another big day at WR, as the sophomore tallied seven catches for 81 yards and 2 TD. After missing the entire 2019 season due to injury, the junior WR has burst onto the scene in his first two games playing for the Cardinals, totaling 10 catches for 174 yards and 3 TD.

Sanchez's first career reception went for 44 yards as the sophomore added another 20-yard catch later in the game, to give him two catches for 64 yards in this one. Simco added 52 receiving yards on three catches with 1 TD.

Wesleyan was led on the defensive end by Joe Schaefer '24 who totaled seven tackles (three solo) while Banks racked up five tackles, one INT and one pass breakup. Harry LeGoullon '23 had five total tackles including one TFL. Nick Helbig '23 tallied one sack and Nally chipped in three tackles, one INT and one pass breakup.

Wesleyan is one of three remaining unbeaten teams in the NESCAC (Trinity and Williams) as the Cardinals take their 2-0 record on the road next Saturday for a 1 PM kickoff at Bates.