Jamie Walker '07	Terence Ryan '07
Adam Kayce '07	Brandon Colon '08
Dylan MacNamara '07	Adam Poplaski '07
Kevin Reyes '08	Eric Obeng '07
Anthony Begon '07	Corey Pattison '09
Andrew Johnson '10	Matt Gregg '10

BOX SCORE: Bates 20, Hamilton 6

LEWISTON, Maine -- Senior Jamie Walker (Needham, Mass.) accounted for 162 yards of offense and junior Brandon Colon (Manchester, N.H.) threw for 230 yards and two scores as the Bates College football team defeated Hamilton College, 20-6, for the Bobcats' first win in their season finale.

The Bobcats (1-7) dominated the Continentals (2-6) with 309 yards of total offense to 134. Hamilton was held to 17 rushing yards on 24 attempts, and Hamilton quarterbacks were picked off four times and sacked five times.

Hamilton earned its one and only lead on its first possession of the game, when sophomore Trevor Pedrick (Wallkill, N.Y.) scored from 1 yard out. A failed point-after attempt made it 6-3 Hamilton.

Bates countered with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Colon to Dylan MacNamara (8 catches, 66 yards) to make it 10-6 Bates, completing a six-play, 41-yard drive with 9:30 left in the second quarter. Freshman Andrew Johnson's (Naples, Fla.) second field goal of the day, from 21 yards out, made it 13-6 before the half.

Colon hit freshman Matt Gregg (Milton, Mass.) with a 24-yard scoring strike up the middle with 4:11 left in the third quarter to make it 20-6.

Senior Adam Kayce (North Easton, Mass.) and junior Kevin Reyes (North Andover, Mass.) each had two interceptions for the Bobcats, who defeated Hamilton for the third straight season.

Senior defensive end Terence Ryan (Milton, Mass.) led the Bobcats with six tackles, 3.5 for a loss, with a forced fumble, a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry also to his credit. Ryan also notched 1.5 sacks and broke his own school record for sacks in a season, with 11.

Walker gained 68 yards on 22 rushes, and had a career-best receiving day, with five catches going for 94 yards.

Bates' two second-quarter scores were each set up by exceptional plays from punt formations.

The Bobcats were behind 6-3 in the second quarter and lined up to punt on fourth-and-4 at the Hamilton 35. But Bates faked the punt, handing off to senior fullback Adam Poplaski (5 carries, 15 yards), who took it up the middle for eight yards to extend the drive. Hamilton committed a personal foul penalty that took Bates to the Continentals' 14, and after a 4-yard run by Walker, Colon hit an open MacNamara on a slant in the near right corner of the end zone.

Hamilton went nowhere on its ensuing possession, and on 4th-and-12 from their own 25, junior Dan Hood had his punt blocked by junior Corey Pattison (Dedham, Maine), who came flying in from the right side. Ryan fell on the ball at the Hamilton 5. Though the Bobcats couldn't punch the ball into the end zone, Johnson's 21-yard field goal made it 13-6.

Bates forced turnovers on Hamilton's last two possessions of the half. First, freshman cornerback Bill Jennings (Marshfield, Mass.) popped the ball loose from Hamilton freshman John Lawrence (Phoenix, N.Y.), and Kayce fell on the ball at the 50. Bates turned the ball over on downs inside the Hamilton 25, but got the ball back late in the half as Reyes intercepted Hood.

Hood (4-for-15, 57 yards) split time at quarterback with sophomore Ben Saccomano (Ledyard, Conn.) and was intercepted three times. The second pickoff came after Bates turned the ball over on downs inside the Hamilton 10 halfway through the third quarter. On Hamilton's first play from scrimmage, Hood's downfield bomb was collected by Kayce at the Hamilton 37, where the senior safety's momentum carried him out of bounds. The Bobcats edged inside the Hamilton 25, but were faced with fourth-and-8 at the 24 when Colon hit Gregg (two catches, 59 yards) in stride on a post pattern in the middle of the end zone for the freshman's first career touchdown. Johnson capped his perfect day with his second successful point-after attempt.

Hamilton was just inside Bates territory as the fourth quarter began, and Saccomano (6-for-17, 60 yards hit junior Tom Tidgwell (Southbury, Conn.) on a 17-yard pass play. But the Continentals' drive stalled after a penalty for having 12 men on the field, and two Hood incompletions sandwiched a 1-yard Saccomano completion to Tidgwell, which Ryan stopped for a meager 1-yard gain.

Bates went three and out on the ensuing possession, but on Hamilton's next play from scrimmage, starting at their own 22, Hood was picked off for the third time and the second time by Reyes. Another Bates three-and-out was followed by Saccomano's first interception, which Reyes tipped to Kayce at the Bates 40, and Kayce returned 37 yards to the Hamilton 23. Bates' opportunity to put the game away for good was thwarted by Colon's first interception of the day, as junior Matt Pitarresi (New Hartford, N.Y.) stepped in front of a pass intended for junior Ross Van Horn (Highland Park, N.J.) at the Hamilton 5 and ran up the sideline 33 yards.

With the clock winding down under five minutes to play, the Continentals advanced the ball inside the Bates 40, but a 10-yard sack by senior Eric Obeng (Wellesley, Mass.) pushed them back to the Bates 46 and into a third-and-13 situation. Saccomano hit Tidgwell for 12 yards, but on fourth-and-1, junior Anthony Begon (Lynn, Mass.), who collected 1.5 sacks on the day, stuffed Saccomano's quarterback keeper, enabling Bates to get the ball back and run out the clock.

Pitarresi led the Hamilton defense with eight solo tackles and the interception. Senior Jesse Koch (Long Valley, N.J.) also recorded eight tackles.

Ending their college football careers on a high note were senior co-captains Kayce, Ryan and Walker, along with fellow seniors MacNamara, Obeng, Poplaski, Chris Robinson (Alexandria, Va.) and Jason Starrett (South Euclid, Ohio).