September 30, 2000
BRUNSWICK, Maine Last week, it was the passing game. This week, the Amherst College football team shifted gears, directing its attention toward the ground attack. Apparently, the shift was a good idea. Behind 100-yard games from junior Okey Ugwonali (Dallas, TX) and sophomore Kevin Kennard (Canton, OH), the Jeffs rushed for 339 yards, their third-highest single-game total ever, en route to a 35-0 thrashing of Bowdoin College.
In the first quarter, Kennard ripped off touchdown runs of 41 and 42 yards to give Amherst a 14-0 lead with 2:35 left in the opening frame. Ugwonali ballooned the lead to 21-0 midway through the second quarter on a 15-yard run. With nine ticks left in the first half, senior quarterback Peter Honig (Bronxville, NY) connected with junior Jerimy Hiltner (Limon, WY) for a seven-yard scoring strike and the 28-0 bulge at intermission.
The Amherst defense, which allowed just 216 yards of total offense after allowing only 120 yards of offense to Hamilton College in the Jeffs' 30-0 season-opening win last week, posted its second-straight shutout, and was superb in the second half, squelching several Bowdoin drives deep in Lord Jeff territory. Junior linebacker Dan Lalli (Watertown, MA) led the Amherst defense with 10 total tackles, three of them for loses.
The Jeffs put the finishing touches on the win as Honig hooked up with Hiltner for a second time with 10:32 left in the fourth on a five-yard pass. Honig ended the afternoon 10-of-14 for 81 yards and two touchdowns.
Sophomore Justin Hardison (W. Hartford, CT) was 18 for 31 with 122 yards and one interception for Bowdoin while Kevin Bougie (Sanford, ME) ran the ball 17 times for 53 yards. Ugwonali finished with 18 carries for a career-best 169 yards, while Kennard added 136 yards (also a career-best) on 16 carries. The Jeffs' all-time single-game rushing record (426 yards) was set in a 50-14 win over Union College in 1954. The 420 yards of total offense for the game was the most for Amherst since the Jeffs posted 437 yards of offense in their 48-46 loss to arch-rival Williams College on November 8, 1997.
With the win, the Jeffs improve to 2-0, having outscored their first two opponents 65-0. Next up on the schedule is next Saturday's away date at conference power Middlebury College, who scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns in the two teams' sole meeting last year to stun the Jeffs with a 14-13 win.
| Saturday, September 30, 2000 |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
-- |
F |
| Amherst College (2-0, 2-0) |
14 |
14 |
0 |
7 |
-- |
35 |
| Bowdoin College (0-2, 0-2) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
-- |
0 |
<pre>
TEAM STATS
Amherst Bowdoin
1st Downs 20 12
Rushes-Yds. 52-339 34-94
Passing Yds. 81 122
Return Yds. 30 58
Pass-Com-Int. 14-10-0 32-18-1
Punts-Avg 4-32.0 6-36.3
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-1
Penalties-Yds. 6-43 4-41
Possession 28:08 31:52
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing
Player Att. Yds. Long
Okey Ugwonali (A) 18 169 30
Kevin Kennard (A) 16 136 42
Peter Honig (A) 11 33 18
Kevin Bougie (B) 17 53 17
Jim Mecone (B) 3 19 18
Mike Taylor (B) 7 16 5
Passing
Player Com. Att. Yds. TD-Int.
Peter Honig (A) 10 14 81 2-0
Justin Hardison (B) 18 31 122 0-1
Receiving
Player Rec. Yds. Long
Jeff Ryan (A) 4 33 14
Jerimy Hiltner (A) 4 33 21
Derrell Wright (A) 3 15 8
Jason Rawlins (B) 4 44 18
Rich Bolduc (B) 4 32 14
Travis Cummings (B) 3 31 27
(taken, in part, from a Bowdoin College release)
