October 14, 2000

AMHERST, MA ­ 3-1 and 2-2 are worlds apart, and Amherst College approached Saturday afternoons matchup with previously unbeaten Colby College with an appropriate sense of desperation. Trailing the visiting White Mules 14-7 at the half, the Jeffs rebounded with 21 unanswered points to overtake Colby 28-14 and move into a four-way tie for first place in the NESCAC with a 3-1 record.

"We just hung in there," said Amherst head coach E.J. Mills. "Down 14-7 at halftime, our kids really gut-checked themselves. Colbys a good football team, but we came out motivated in the second half." 

Amherst and Colby traded excellent field position in the first quarter, with both teams missing field goal attempts on their opening possessions. Colby¹s Keith Jonassen pulled a 32-yarder wide-left with 9:59 left in the first quarter, before Liam Fleming missed a 30-yard attempt on the Jeffs next possession. 

Colby responded with a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive, capped by a five-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Pat Conley to running back Don Williams on the first play of the second quarter. Jonassens extra point was good to give the Mules a 7-0 lead. Conley, the NESCAC Player of the Week for the period ending Oct. 7, opened the game on fire, completing eight of his first 10 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. 

Not to be outdone, Amherst senior defensive back Brian Daoust returned the ensuing kickoff 60 yards to the Colby 35, setting up a 35-yard touchdown scamper by junior running back Okey Ugwonali on the next play to knot the score at 7-7. Ugwonali would finish the afternoon with a game-high 116 yards rushing and two touchdowns to go along with two catches and 24 receiving yards. 

Later in the second quarter, Conley drove the Mules 80 yards for the second time in the first half and hit junior wideout Danny Noyes for a 55-yard scoring strike to put the Mules up 14-7 at the break. 

Amherst, who took a seven-point deficit into halftime a week ago and lost 17-0 at Middlebury, was down but not out in the home locker room.

"Last week, we had our heads down and got outplayed in the second half," said Daoust, gasping for air after pacing the Jeff defense with a pair of key interceptions. "Today was completely different. Guys had their heads up and were yelling at each other. We were confident we were going to win this game."

The Jeffs newfound spark wasnt immediately evident, however, as Honig opened the third quarter with an ill-advised interception, returned to the Amherst 26 by Colby defensive back Jeff Owen. 

Luckily, the defense responded with a clutch sack by junior defensive lineman Pat McGee, followed by a holding call on Colby and a pass breakup by Daoust on third-and-28. 

On the first play after the ensuing Colby punt, Honig found junior receiver Derrell Wright in perfect stride down the left sideline for a school-record 91-yard touchdown catch, effectively snatching the momentum from an awestruck White Mule defense and tying the game at 14-14.

"We wanted to take a shot at the end zone, and we had perfect timing," said Wright, who finished with six catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns. "We just ran a little out-and-up and they bit on the pump fake, and Peter threw it out there right in front of me."

It was all Amherst the rest of the way. Senior defensive back Steve Yung intercepted a Conley pass with 3:59 remaining in the third and zig-zagged 32 yards to the Colby 22-yard line. Two plays later, on third-and-five from the Colby 17, Ugwonali found a seam in the White Mule secondary and caught a nifty touchdown pass from Honig, who lofted three touchdown passes in the second half and finished with 224 passing yards overall. 

Daoust got into the action again at the start of the fourth quarter with his second interception of the game, returning the ball 16-yards to the Colby 25. Honig then drove the Jeffs to the 10-yard line and found Wright through a pair of cutting defenders in the end zone to ice the game at 28-14. 

Amherst held Colby, owners of the top offensive attack in the NESCAC, to just 276 yards of total offense, including a mere 32 yards rushing ­ both season lows. McGee pounded Conley for four sacks and led the Jeffs with a game-high 10 tackles. Junior safety Jay Hutchins also had 10 tackles, including five unassisted.

Meanwhile, Conley went 24-for-43 passing with 244 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions, while Noyes caught nine passes for 131 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore linebacker Mike Moran led the Mules with eight tackles, all unassisted. 

Amherst's win over Colby concluded a wild day in the NESAC that saw four teams move into a tie for first place with matching 3-1 records. The Jeffs, off to their best start since finishing 7-1 in 1997, travel to 3-1 Wesleyan next Saturday at Noon. 

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