HARTFORD, Conn. – This team of destiny has officially written it's final chapter, and don't worry, it's a happy ending. In a season full of fourth quarter heroics, last second comebacks, nail biting finishes, this Saturday was no different as the Wesleyan football team pulled out all the stops and finished on top, defeating the Bantams 27-17 to claim the program's first-ever outright NESCAC Championship.
With both teams sitting at 7-1 heading into this contest and tied for first place in the NESCAC standings, the de-facto NESCAC Championship game pitted the league powerhouse and 11-time champion Trinity against a Wesleyan team that has 12 straight winning seasons but just one NESCAC Championship which was a split title with Amherst and Middlebury back in 2013.
Looking to make history, the Cardinals set the tone on offense in the early going, leaning on the ground game to pick up a couple of first downs on their second possession, rushing seven times in a nine-play drive.
Trinity, however, struck first late in the first quarter, taking advantage of a 38-yard punt return from Nolan O'Brien that set the Bantams up with 1
st-and-10 from the Wesleyan 33-yard line. After a 21-yard pickup on the first play of the drive, Trinity later had 1
st-and-goal from the 2-yard line, but the Bantams couldn't convert as the Wesleyan defense came up with a huge stop to limit Trinity to just a field goal.
With both QB
Niko Candido '25 and RB
Matt Diaz '28 continuing to run the ball well, Wesleyan answered the field goal with their first touchdown, driving 75 yards down the field in a 12-play drive that lasted over six minutes of game clock. It was 2
nd-and-20 early in the drive and Candido hit WR
Devin Hardy '25 for a 26-yard gain, crossing midfield. Candido converted another third down, this time hitting WR
Chase Wilson '25 for eight yards, before Candido pump faked middle and lofted a pass down the right sideline for TE
Keith Capuano who's first career catch was a 22-yard touchdown against a Trinity defense that came in allowing just 14.5 points per game.
Back and forth the teams went as Trinity needed less than two minutes to answer back with a touchdown drive. Zander Zebrowski connected with Matt Laughlin early in the drive for a 43-yard gain and the drive ended on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Zebrowski to Patrick McCaffrey.
Undeterred, the Cardinals came right back and used big plays to score on their next possession. One play into the drive, Candido hit Wilson for 15 yards before completing a 25-yard pass to WR
Luke LaSaracina '25 down the seam. Diaz broke free for a 24-yard gain and on 2
nd-and-goal, Candido rushed left and plowed his way into the end zone as Wesleyan again turned a three-point deficit into a four-point lead.
A fourth straight possession ending in a touchdown saw Trinity need just six plays to score on a 75-yard drive. Zebrowski completed a 27-yard pass to Sean Clapp and after getting sacked by
Mike Rowan '25 on 1
st-and-10, he looked left for O'Brien who worked his way into the end zone for a 27-yard score.
With the clock now under two minutes to play in the first half, Wesleyan couldn't find more points and punted to Trinity's 18-yard line. Despite scoring on two straight drives, having 1:05 on the clock, and all three timeouts, the Bantams chose to kneel down and head into halftime leading 17-14.
The third quarter flew by with just two three completed possessions, all ending in punts. Wesleyan looked to have a drive going with Diaz gaining eight yards on a 1
st-and-10 from the Trinity 48-yard line, but on the next play Candido was sacked by two Bantams and after a drop, the score was still 17-14 Trinity heading into the fourth.
The Cardinals nearly lucked into a turnover as O'Brien muffed a punt on the first play of the fourth quarter but the loose ball was secured by the Bantams inside their 1-yard line. After escaping the threat of a safety, Trinity's drive stalled out at their own 17-yard line and the Bantams were forced to punt back to the Cardinals who started a key drive form their own 41-yard line.
With time starting to become a factor, the ensuing Cardinal drive saw Candido convert a 3
rd-and-7 play using his legs, getting loose outside the pocket for a 15-yard pickup. Then perhaps the play of the game saw Wesleyan and head coach
Dan DiCenzo decide to keep the offense on the field for a 4
th-and-17 play from the Trinity 48-yard line. With about eight minutes on the game clock, the gamble paid off as Candido calmly stood in the pocket before finding LaSaracina open in the middle of the field for a 17-yard gain. One play later, it was Candido again finding LaSaracina, this time in the end zone for a second touchdown in as many weeks for the defensive back turned wide receiver as Wesleyan retook the lead at 20-17.
Trinity took over with 6:04 remaining needing just a field goal to tie the score, but a loss of 4 yards on 1
st down set the Bantams up with a 2
nd-and-14 and 3
rd-and-14 before having to punt the ball back to the Cardinals with 4:25 left.
Taking over at their own 22-yard line, Wesleyan gained 7, 5, and 4 yards on the ground on the first three plays of the drive, before Diaz broke through the middle of the line for a massive 52-yard run, setting the Cardinals up in the red zone with 2:00 on the clock. After two straight runs and a sack forced Wesleyan into 4
th down from the Bantams' 15-yard line. Instead of kicking what would have been a 32-yard field goal, Coach DiCenzo again chose to keep his offense out on the field. With it being 4
th-and-goal from the Trinity 15-yard line, Candido needed to take a shot in the end zone and the senior signal caller dodged multiple Bantam defenders in the pocket before rolling left and finding WR
Blake Newcomb '27 who hauled in a touchdown that gave Wesleyan a 10-point lead with 1:27 left.
Needing 10 points just to force overtime and with no timeouts, the cards were stacked against the Bantams and the Cardinals took advantage with sacks from DL
Corin Canada-Hunt '26 and
Ben Carbeau '25 on the drive. It was 4
th-and-16 Trinity and a dump off from Zebrowski to Tyler DiNapoli went for four yards and it was pandemonium on the Wesleyan sideline.
A win of seismic proportions, Wesleyan becomes just the second team to beat Trinity (Midd beat them twice…once in 2024 and once in 2023) in the past 29 games. In addition, since September of 2001, Trinity has lost only seven games at home, with two of those coming at the hands of Wesleyan as the Cardinals won 28-20 in Hartford back in 2019. Wesleyan also avenges a 58-6 defeat in Middletown to the Bantams last season.
Wesleyan's defense, which has sat at the top of the NESCAC leaderboard all season long, dominated once again on Saturday, limiting Trinity to a season-low 277 yards including just 53 rushing on 26 attempts (2.0 yards per carry). The Cardinals held Trinity scoreless in the second half and the 53 rushing yards is the lowest output for Trinity since the 2021 season.
On the flip side, Wesleyan gained a season-high 214 yards on the ground despite Candido being sacked five times and losing 39 net rushing yards on those plays. Diaz rushed for 137 yards on 19 carries, a new career-high for the first-year who has burst onto the scene the past three weeks, gaining 265 yards on the ground. His 137 yards against Trinity are the most by a Cardinal running back since Lou Stevens '17 gained 191 yards against Williams in 20214.
Candido played one of the best games of his Cardinal career as the senior was swarmed all day by the Trinity defense but he kept his cool and did not turn the ball over despite being sacked five times. Last year against Trinity, Candido was intercepted five times, easily the highest single-game total in his career. On Saturday, Candido finished 11-for-22 for 190 yards and 3 TD to go along with 51 rushing yards on 20 attempts.
A converted defensive back who just last week caught his first career touchdown pass with six seconds left that proved the difference in a 25-24 Little 3 title clinching win over Williams, LaSaracina turned in a four-catch, 77-yard performance with another TD in the win. Wilson added three catches for 40 yards.
Nick Donatio G'25 led the Wesleyan defense with nine tackles while Carbeau racked up seven including two sacks.
Coming in as the most-penalized team in the NESCAC, Wesleyan was flagged just once on Saturday for a loss of five yards. The Cardinals came in averaging more than 60 penalty yards per game.
Saturday's NESCAC title clinching win caps a truly remarkable 2024 campaign that saw Wesleyan hand Middlebury their worst home loss since 1986, score 19 unanswered points in the 4
th quarter to beat Hamilton 19-7, defeat Colby 23-17 in OT on a walk-off 88-yard
Jake Edwards '24, G'25 fumble recovery touchdown, score 31 unanswered to defeat Amherst 31-14, score a touchdown with six seconds left to defeat Williams 25-24 and win a third straight Little Three title for the first time since 1946-48, and most-recently hand Trinity just their seventh home loss since 2001 in a win that secured Wesleyan it's first-ever outright NESCAC Championship.
