Bowdoin College scored the first 21 points and the Polar Bears hung on for a 27-21 NESCAC win against the Hamilton College Continentals at Bowdoin's Whittier Field on Oct. 12.
Box Score
Mac Caputi was 12 of 22 passing for 182 yards with two touchdowns and one interception for the Polar Bears. Zach Donnarumma rumbled for 124 yards and one rushing touchdown. Daniel Barone and Michael English caught TD passes, and Ethan Drigotas led Bowdoin's receivers with four catches for 48 yards. Andrew Murowchick kicked two field goals, which accounted for all of the points in the second half for the Polar Bears.
Joey Cleary was credited with a game-high 12 tackles and Griffin Cardew added 10 for Bowdoin. Jon Fraser and Dan Johnson picked off one pass apiece, English recovered a fumble and the Polar Bears finished with a plus-two turnover margin.
Chase Rosenberg '17 was 21 of 32 for a season-high 269 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions for Hamilton. Rosenberg also ran for 34 yards and another score. Rico Gonzalez '16 ran for a team-high 46 yards and Simon Jia '16 scored his first rushing touchdown. Joe Jensen '15 caught four passes for a game-high 86 yards and John Fisher '15 had his first TD reception.
John Phelan '16 recorded a team-best seven tackles and returned an interception nine yards. Nick Ufkes '15 had six tackles and Cade Larabee '16 posted 2.5 tackles for loss. The Continentals finished with six TFL and lead the NESCAC in that category.
Bowdoin (2-2 overall, 2-2 NESCAC) grabbed a 7-0 lead on their fourth play of the afternoon. Caputi rolled to his right and found Barone down the sideline for a 48-yard touchdown with 13:19 left in the first quarter.
Hamilton (0-4, 0-4) took over and drove 63 yards in 11 plays. The Continentals eventually got down to the Polar Bears' 3-yard line but Bowdoin's defense forced a field goal attempt. Hamilton missed wide right on the 22-yard try and the Polar Bears took over at their own 20.
Donnarumma helped give Bowdoin a 14-0 lead with a 51-yard touchdown scamper with 4:50 remaining in the first quarter. The Polar Bears scored their next touchdown after they were given great field position on a turnover. The Continentals fumbled during a punt return and English recovered the ball at the Hamilton 24 with 8:13 to go in the second quarter. Six plays later, Caputi threw a 2-yard scoring pass to English for a 20-0 cushion with 5:36 left. Murowchick added the extra point.
The Continentals got on the scoreboard on their next drive. James Taylor '17 returned the kickoff 29 yards to the Hamilton 39 and Rosenberg found Jensen for 46 yards four plays later to the Bowdoin 3. On the next play, Jia took a pitch on the left side and dove into the end zone for the touchdown with 3:23 remaining. Patrick Donahoe '16 kicked the PAT and it was 21-7 at the half.
In the third quarter, Murowchick capped a 13-play drive with a 20-yard field goal that made the score 24-7 in favor of the Polar Bears with 6:45 to go. The Continentals promptly marched 81 yards in 10 plays and scored on a 13-yard pass from Rosenberg to Fisher on a slant route with 2:19 left. Pass completions of 14 and 27 yards to Pat Donadio '15 were the big plays on the drive that helped pull Hamilton within 24-14.
The Continentals made it a three-point game midway through the fourth quarter. Rosenberg scrambled into the end zone from 9 yards out and wrapped up a 12-play, 76-yard drive with 8:17 remaining. The drive was helped by a 26-yard pass to Jensen, a 4-yard run by Gonzalez on 4th-and-4 and a 16-yard pass to Nick Caso '16 that put the ball at the Bowdoin 9.
Murowchick provided the Polar Bears with some breathing room on the next drive. His 26-yard field goal with 2:55 left ended a nine-play drive that started at the Hamilton 49 and chewed up more than five minutes off the clock.
The Continentals had one last chance to finish the comeback but Fraser intercepted Rosenberg at the Hamilton 29. Donnarumma rushed twice for 22 yards and helped Bowdoin run out the final 1:42 on the clock.
The Polar Bears finished with 334 yards of offense on just 55 plays. The Continentals gained 378 yards of offense and had the ball for more than 33 minutes. Hamilton's defense limited Bowdoin to 1 of 9 on third-down conversions. The home team has won the last six games in the series between the two teams.
The Continentals return home to face Colby College in more NESCAC action on Saturday, Oct. 19, at noon.
