BRUNSWICK, Me. – Back on the road again after a pair of home wins, the Wesleyan football team heads to Maine for a Saturday afternoon showdown with Bowdoin at 1 PM. The two sides come in on opposite ends of the spectrum, as the Cardinals (4-1) are winners of three straight while the Polar Bears (1-4) have dropped four consecutive games after a season-opening win at Hamilton.

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• 2021 RECAP (Wesleyan 38, Bowdoin 35)

Last year's meeting was a thrilling affair in Middletown, with the two teams combining for 73 points and over 1,000 yards of total offense in a game that the Cardinals won 38-35. Needing a touchdown trailing by 4, the Cardinals went on a 15-play, 77-yard drive that lasted nearly six minutes, capped by a 2-yard TD from RB Charlie McPhee '22, that put Wesleyan out front 38-35 with 1:06 left. Even with the home crowd providing all sorts of support, Bowdoin calmly marched down the field as four straight passes of 10+ yards put the ball on the Wesleyan 20-yard line. With just four seconds left though, all Bowdoin could hope for was a field goal to send the game into overtime, but a Jotham Casey miss wide left was the final play of the game.
 
QB David Estevez '22 threw for 232 on 21-for-27 passing with 3 TD and 0 INT in last year's shootout. Estevez also gained 81 yards on the ground, combined with McPhee's 78, helped give Wesleyan a 188-104 edge in rushing yards over Bowdoin in the 2021 meeting. WR Logan Tomlinson '22 put up 10 catches for 118 yards and 1 TD while WR Luis Sanchez '24, Thomas Elkhoury '24 and McPhee all added receiving touchdowns.
 
Bowdoin was led by QB Andrew Boel as the then-sophomore threw for a career-high 410 yards, going 21-for-30 through the air, with 5 TD and 1 INT in what was his first career start. WR Colton Fahey was the beneificiary of many deep shots down the field from Boel in that contest, as he put up eight catches for 221 yards and 3 TD in that game.
 
Fast forward to the 2022 campaign and the Wesleyan offense has certainly been a driving force thus far in the season. The Cardinals head into Saturday with the NESCAC's highest-scoring offense, averaging 31.4 points per game. In terms of total offense, the Cardinals are right behind Tufts for the top spot in the league, as Wesleyan is averaging 439.4 total yards of offense per game. The Cardinals feature the NESCAC's second-leading rushing offense (131.6) and second-leading passing attack (307.8) through five games.
 
Wesleyan's rushing attack has been a committee all season. Estevez leads the team in rushing with 173 yards on 40 attempts while RB Owen Brickley '23 has 158 yards, RB Aidan McDonald '26 has 126 and Kellan Walker '25 has 101. Each has at least 24 attempts on the season. Both Brickley and Walker have 2 TD.
 
Estevez hasn't thrown for many yards, as his 707 thus far ranks ninth-most in the NESCAC, but the senior has been efficient with his throws, completing 64.5 percent of his passes with 7 TD and 1 INT for an efficiency rating of 151.1 (2nd in NESCAC). QB Niko Candido '25 has stepped into a big role over the past three games, splitting drives with Estevez as the main signal caller and putting up 412 yards with 4 TD, 2 INT, and a 71.4 completion percentage.
 
An All-NESCAC First Team selection in 2021, Tomlinson has continued to excel as the Cardinals' main target in the passing game. Through five games, Tomlinson has 37 catches for 496 yards (13.4 yards/catch) with 6 TD and an average of 99.2 receiving yards per game. He has at least 100 receiving yards or 1 TD in all five games while he's coming off a sensational outing against Tufts as he posted nine catches for 171 yards and 1 TD in a thrilling 26-22 win over the Jumbos last week.
 
Defensively, Wesleyan is only allowing 16.8 points per game (3^rd-lowest in the NESCAC) while the total yardage the Cardinal defense has allowed is only 306.6 per game (2^nd-best in the conference). The Cardinals only allow 63.8 rushing yards per game, which is second to only Trinity in the NESCAC, while the passing defense has looked vulnerable of-late, allowing 242.8 yards per game which is ninth-most in the league.
 
LB Jake Edwards '24 is the team's leading tackler with 37 (20 solo) on the season. Edwards has had eight or more tackles three times this season. DT Nick Helbig '23 leads the team in sacks with five, which is the second-highest total in the NESCAC, while DE Mike Rowan '25 has played very well of late, having 5.5 tackles for loss in the last three game alone while he also sports a three-game streak with one sack. CB Danny Banks '22 has seven pass breakups and two interceptions this season, leading the team in both categories.
 
Bowdoin comes in having struggled to score in their four-game losing streak. After beating Hamilton 41-13 in their season opener, the Polar Bears haven't scored more than 14 points in their four-game losing skid, averaging just 12.8 points per game in that span.

Despite struggling to put up points, Bowdoin sports a respectable 333.2 yards/game of total offense which ranks fifth-best in the NESCAC while their defense allows an almost identical amount (332.2/game; 5^th NESCAC). Bowdoin's rushing defense has been tested, allowing 122.4 yards per game which is third-most in the NESCAC, but the Polar Bears' passing defense has been a strength with just 209.8 yards allowed through the air (3^rd-best in NESCAC).
 
RB Andre Eden is the do-everything man in the backfield for the Polar Bears, as he leads the NESCAC with 116 rushing attempts through five games, posting 361 yards and 4 TD. His 72.2 yards/game is 2^nd-most in the NESCAC but his 3.1 yards/carry is ranked outside the Top 15 for all ball carries.
 
Boel is one of only three NESCAC quarterbacks with over 1,000 yards passing this season, as he comes in with 1,157 yards in five games. He's struggled with accuracy, however, as he has completed only 57.9 percent of his passes and has more INTs (five) than touchdowns (four).
 
LB Max Jacobs is a dynamic player, putting up 34 tackles (24 solo) with eight TFL and 1.5 sacks thus far in the campaign. His 8 TFL leads all NESCAC players. DL Drew Ortiz comes in with 7 TFL to go along with four sacks this season. DB Koy Price has two interceptions and six pass breakups as the Polar Bears have playmakers at every level of their defense.
 
Wesleyan leads the all-time series against Bowdoin in what will be the 94^th all-time meeting on Saturday. The Cardinals have won nine straight against Bowdoin dating back to 2012. However, the Cardinals have experienced much more success at home (39-9-1 record) against Bowdoin than when playing in Brunswick (23-20-1).