AMHERST, Mass. – The first leg what is the 108^th rendition of the Little Three begins on Saturday as the Wesleyan football team heads to Amherst for a 1 PM start from Pratt Field at Lehrman Stadium.

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• 2021 RECAP (Amherst 16, Wesleyan 14 - 4OT)

 The two sides are on the opposite ends of the spectrum coming in as the Cardinals suffered a 28-26 defeat at Bowdoin, in a game wherein the Cardinals outgained the Polar Bears nearly 2:1, while the Mammoths scored a huge 20-17 road win at Tufts last week to get into the win column for the first time in 2022.
 
Trailing 28-14 heading into the fourth quarter last week, Wesleyan nearly rattled off a comeback, scoring two touchdowns in the final four minutes but a would-be game-tying two-point conversion attempt came up short as Bowdoin pulled off an upset win on Family Weekend in Brunswick. In that game, Wesleyan piled up 502 yards of total offense while the Polar Bears amassed just 261. Three miscues led to the Cardinal defeat as a dropped punt return deep in Wesleyan territory, a pick-six in the third quarter and two Cardinal trips to the red zone that resulted in no points proved too much to overcome.
 
Amherst landed a big win last Saturday, as Conor Kennelly's 39-yard field goal as time expired lifted the Mammoths to its first win of the season, 20-17, over the Jumbos in Medford. The Mammoths had been knocking on the door for their first win the past two weeks, losing by a combined nine points to Bates and Colby, before the ultimate triumph at Tufts. QB Mike Piazza threw for 193 with 1 TD and ran for another 102 with 1 TD on the ground. As a team, Amherst ran for 183 yards against Tufts while also holding the league's top QB Michael Berluti to a season-low 219 yards on 48 pass attempts with three sacks.
 
Through six weeks, Wesleyan still sports the NESCAC's highest-scoring offense at 30.5 points per game while the Cardinal defense allows 18.7 points per game. Amherst is the lowest-scoring offense in the NESCAC on the season at 12.0 points per game while the Mammoth defense has performed well despite the 0-5 start, allowing 20.3 points per game.
 
Both defenses in this matchup come in ranking top 3 in the NESCAC in fewest yards allowed. Wesleyan is second at 299 yards allowed per game while Amherst sits in third at 323. Wesleyan's rushing attack is third in the NESCAC, averaging 136.7 yards per game while having gone 100+ in five of the six games played thus far in the season.
 
In the past two weeks, Wesleyan's passing attack has thrived, throwing for 387 against Tufts and 340 against Bowdoin with 3 passing TD in each contest. For the season, Wesleyan sits second in the NESCAC with 313.2 yards per game through the air but the Amherst defense will pose a significant challenge as the Mammoths have allowed just 219.3 yards on average this season, including their stellar effort in last week's win at Tufts.
 
QBs David Estevez '22 and Niko Candido '25 have split drives the past three games, with Estevez throwing for 817 yards with 8 TD and 1 INT on the season. Candido comes in with 642 passing yards with 6 TD and 3 INT while he is completing 69.4 percent of his passes (1^st in the NESCAC).
 
WR Logan Tomlinson '23 continues to produce as the primary weapon in the Cardinal passing attack as he has 44 catches on the year for 592 yards and 7 TD, averaging just under 100 receiving yards per game. His 44 catches rank 2^nd in the NESCAC, as does his 7 receiving touchdowns. Tomlinson has either gone over 100 yards or scored a touchdown in every game this season.
 
Wesleyan has five players with over 100 rushing yards this season, more than any team in the NESCAC. Estevez is the team's leading rusher with 207 yards in six games. RB Owen Brickley '23 leads all tailbacks on the team with 188 yards while RB Aidan McDonald '26 has 130. RB Charlie McPhee '22 featured heavily last week at Bowdoin, rushing for 104 yards on 12 carries, which was his third career 100-yard game.
 
On defense, LB Jake Edwards '24 lead the team in tackles with 43, a total that ranks him 10^th in the NESCAC leaderboard. DT Nick Helbig '23 leads the team with 6.0 tackles for loss and 5.0 sacks, both of which rank Top 5 in the NESCAC. DE Mike Rowan '25 has been coming on strong, with 5.5 TFL and 3.0 sacks in a recent three-game span during the Cardinals' three-game win streak from weeks 3-5. CB Danny Banks '22 is tied for the NESCAC-lead with eight pass breakups while he is second in the NESCAC with 2 INTs.
 
The Amherst offense features QB Mike Piazza who has completed 56.9 percent of his passes for 1,027 yards on the season. His TD:INT ratio, however, is 1:3 as he has thrown for just 2 TD while being intercepted six times in six games. Piazza is a dual-threat at the QB position, as he comes in leading the Mammoths with 265 rushing yards and 3 rushing TD this season. Four Mammoths have 100+ receiving yards in 2021 with Carson Oshsenhirt leading the team in yards (261) and Owen Gaydos leading in catches (27).
 
The Mammoth defense is headlined by LB Andy Skirzenski who is an all-around playmaker with the team-lead in tackles (44), tackles for loss (6.0), sacks (2.0) and interceptions (two) this season.
 
This will be the 127^th all-time meeting between Wesleyan and Amherst, with the Mammoths holding the edge with a 73-44-9 record in the series history. Wesleyan is 15-38-6 when playing in Amherst while the series has swung back-and-forth in recent seasons. Last season was a four-overtime instant classic in a torrential downpour that finished in a 16-14 win for Amherst. The previous meeting saw Wesleyan win 31-28 in double overtime in Amherst.