MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Back playing at home for the first time since Week 1, the Wesleyan football team turned in its best all-around performance of the year in a dominant 56-14 win over Hamilton on Saturday afternoon from Corwin Stadium at Andrus Field. The 42-point win is the largest victory for the Cardinals (3-1) since 2016 and the second-largest win over Hamilton (1-3) in 54 all-time meetings.
 
After playing to a scoreless first quarter, the Cardinals exploded for 35 points in the second quarter, continuing into the second half when Wesleyan scored again for 42 unanswered points in this one. The Cardinal offense punted on their first possession but followed with eight consecutive TD-scoring drives while gaining 561 yards on 59 plays, averaging 9.5 yards per play. Wesleyan's defense pitched a shutout for 38+ minutes and forced three turnovers, including a 47-yard interception return from Dylan Connors '26 that set up one of five second quarter touchdowns for the Cardinal offense.
 
Junior QB Matt Fitzsimons '27 tore up the Hamilton defense all afternoon long, as the Cardinal signal caller completed 20-of-23 passes for 365 yards and five touchdowns. Fitzsimons completed 13 straight passes during the game while six different Cardinals caught at least one pass. His 5 TD are the most by a Cardinal quarterback since Mark Piccirillo '19 threw for five in a 59-14 win at Williams in 2016.
 
Big days and career-firsts littered the stat sheet for the Wesleyan pass catchers. Junior WR Blake Newcomb '27 tallied six catches for 130 yards and 1 TD while freshman WR Donte Kelly '29 finished with six catches for 125 yards and 2 TD. Both receiving yard totals are career-highs for the wideout duo. Freshman TE Jake Saalfrank '29 had his best day as a Cardinal, totaling three catches for 46 yards and his first career touchdown. Sophomore WR Sam Wien '28 caught two balls including a 21-yard TD catch late in the second quarter for his first career score.
 
The ground game saw eight different Cardinals carry the ball at least once with rushing scores coming from RB James McHugh '26, RB Angelo LaRose '27, and DT Dean Sokaris '26. McHugh led the team with 52 yards on 10 carries while RB Tyler Flynn '26 carried eight times for 43 yards, RB Matt Diaz '28 had 36 yards on five carries, and LaRose totaled 21 yards on six carries. As a team, Wesleyan rushed for a season-high 196 yards on 36 carries, averaging 5.4 yards per attempt.
 
Despite the lobsided scoreline, Hamilton had their chances in the early going. QB Luke Kurzum came into the game with the best stats of any NESCAC signal caller and he went to work on the first Continental drive, marching into Wesleyan territory before the Cardinal defense forced a 4^th-and-7 play where Kurzum was intercepted by CB Jack Bronikowski '28 at the Cardinals' 24-yard line.
 
Hamilton had another chance on an extended 15-play, 66-yard drive that took up more than seven minutes off the scoreboard. Starting the drive at their own 9-yard line, Hamilton converted three third downs and a fourth down before stalling out in Cardinal territory. On a 4^th-and-17 from the Wesleyan 25-yard line, Hamilton chose to kick a field goal and Carmelo Velardo missed wide right as the game remained scoreless heading into the second quarter.
 
Wesleyan's offense came to life on the next series when Fitzsimons hit Kelly for a 33-yard gain and later on a 3^rd-and-8 on the Hamilton 10-yard line, Fitzsimons stood in the pocket and took a big hit but still delivered a strike to Newcomb who crossed the goal line for the first score of the game.
 
The Cardinal defense came up with a big stop on 3^rd-and-3 on Hamilton's next drive and instead of keeping their offense on the field for a 4^th-and-short play from their own 42-yard line, the Continentals ran a fake punt run play that saw Henry Rubey stuffed at the line of scrimmage by Sokaris in a turnover on downs.
 
That play opened the floodgates as Fitzsimons connected with Kelly on a shovel pass on the very next play that saw the speedy first-year wideout turn the corner and sprint past the Hamilton defense to the end zone to make it 14-0 Wesleyan.
 
Two plays later, Connors intercepted Kurzum over the middle and ran all the way to the Hamilton 6-yard line, setting up a Fitzsimons-to-Saalfrank touchdown from 11 yards out to suddenly make it a 21-0 game.
 
Wesleyan continued to pour it on with Flynn rushing for 15 yards on two plays before Fitzsimons found Newcomb for 35 yards, then Kelly for 11, Keith Capuano '28 for 11, and capped the drive with Kelly faking a slate before turning towards the sideline where Fitzsimons had an easy toss and catch to make it 28-0 Wesleyan.
 
Another Hamilton three-and-out on offense led to one more chance at points with 1:15 left on the clock for the Wesleyan offense. The Cardinals needed just five plays to march 66 yards down the field, with Fitzsimons spinning a perfectly thrown ball to the far right corner of the end zone for Wien on a 21-yard score as the Cardinals led 35-0 at halftime.
 
Holding a sizeable lead, the Cardinals utilized the ground game and rushed eight times on a nine-play, 75-yard TD scoring drive to start the second half as LaRose finished off the drive with an 11-yard score.
 
Hamilton put an end to the scoring run with their first score of the contest, only to see Wesleyan hold the ball for nearly 10 minutes on their next possession, driving 82 yards down the field in 15 plays before Sokaris punched in his first career TD.
 
One last score came from McHugh as the Cardinals took advantage of a short field following a Kurzum fumble to make it 56-7.
 
Both benches cleared in the closing minutes with the Continentals scoring on a Connor Laverty 39-yard run to complete the scoring at 56-14 Wesleyan.
 
Now tied atop the NESCAC standings at 3-1 with Amherst, Trinity, and Williams, the Cardinals look to keep pace next Saturday with a trip to Colby on the horizon.