After a Bates penalty on a deep kickoff, Colby took little time to catch Bates in an overlap and tie the score at 5-5. Six minutes later, the Bates defense again faltered, and Colby went ahead 10-5, a lead they would retain for the remainder of the game. On their heels, Colby attacked Bates and pounded in a tough score to add to their lead and make it 15-5.

Bates regrouped at halftime, and encouraged by the numerous vocal and intoxicated fans, pushed Colby deep into their territory. The battle was back and forth for almost 20 minutes. With tensions rising with the crowd’s support for the Bobcats and their verbal bashing of Colby, Colby broke the Bates line and demoralized the Bobcats to go up 20-5. Then the floodgates opened, and Colby tacked on 14 more points in the final fifteen minutes to make it a 34-5 final.

Bates’ back line seemed flat and stoic, forcing Scrum Half Ross Allard and Fly Half Bell to frequently kick, thus disallowing ball retention. Colby’s experienced Fullback and wings then either returned the kick to Rookie fullback Bob Emery, rookie Wingers Adam Spencer and Ray Alicea or gained chunks of yards on the ground. Bates ran few set back line plays the entire game, despite the fact that Bates’ centers Boyle and rookie Ben Schrier were dominant last week against Orono.

In the forwards, Props Dan Neems, Nate Earle and second-half replacement Brendon Koeniger, Hooker Tex Ramsayer, 2nd Row’s Andrew Simon and Chris Theile, Flankers John Butos and Ryuji Matsuzawa, and 8-Man Ty Lappetito dominated the line-outs and scrums, consistently providing clean ball and disrupting Colby’s tempo. They did have trouble missing tackles and winning rucks. This allowed Colby to control the pace of the game and push the gain line down the field at will.

Verbal and physical confrontations between teams were certainly a factor in the game. At times, the tension overshadowed the on-the-field play. High tackles and after-the-play antics boiled over when Bates Sophomore 8-Man Ty Lappetito and a Colby player were each sent to the ‘Sin Bin’ for exchanging blows. Bell explained, “Both sides were cheap. Both sides were physical. It was expected and inevitable.”

Coming off of an equally impressive 19-0 victory over UMaine-Orono, the loss was shocking and potentially vexing for Bates. “It brings down morale. We still have Orono to look at, and we still have a great chance of winning the rest of our games. All three are going to be tough games, but if we play our game, we can compete against any team.”
The Bates “B’s” looked impressive as usual. Led by 30-year old sensation Martin Englishman, the side defeated the Colby second side 12-0.

Early in the game, off a ruck, Bates got the ball wide and rookie Phil “The Thrill” Taylor touched it down for a 5-0 lead. Andrew “Stumpy” Jacobs added the conversion to take a 7-0 lead. This lead held until the second half, when Martin picked up an 8-man pickup off a scrum to make it 12-0.

The forwards consisted of Jacobs at Hooker, Dave Rosenzweig and Dash Hibbel at 2nd Row, Sam Midler and Matt Lajoie at Flanker, and Adam Dengler at 8-Man. Neems and Koeniger split time at prop along with Englishman. Backs were Pete Meisel at Scrum Half, Brett Covell and Sean Siff at Centers, and Craig Avgevine and Taylor on the wing. Various “A” players filled in at other positions.

The Bates Men battle University of Maine-Farmington this Saturday at JB Field at 1:00. Come and watch the organized chaos even if you don’t understand the rules. We tackle hard (with no pads).

-Andrew Simon, '04