LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates football team wrapped up an injury plagued 2025 season with a hard-fought 24-21 loss to Hamilton Saturday afternoon at Garcelon Field.

With four quarterbacks not available due to injury, first-year Connor Hennessey (Newton, Mass.) made his first collegiate start and passed for 224 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran the ball 10 times for a team-high 72 yards.

But Hamilton quarterback Luke Kurzum passed for 295 yards and hit Liam Leonard for a 67-yard touchdown pass with 10:11 remaining in regulation to put the Continentals (2-7) up by 10 at 24-14 and the visitors hung on from there.

The Bobcats (2-7) led 14-10 at halftime thanks to some big plays on offense. On their second drive of the game, Hennessey took the snap on third and six and found a huge hole in the Hamilton defense, running for 57 yards all the way down to the Continental two. Senior Jack Morrall (Hopkinton, N.H.) punched it in from there for his first career touchdown, putting the Bobcats up 7-0 with 9:07 left in the first quarter after junior Marcos Ruiz (Haskell, N.J.) made the extra point.

Hamilton answered with a 12-play, 70-yard drive where Kurzum hit receiver Mitchell Ivatts three times for 51 yards. Bates was able to limit the Continentals to a Carmelo Velardo 22-yard field goal and the Bobcats led 7-3 with 3:39 left in the first quarter.

The Bobcats went three-and-out on offense and Hamilton went on another 12-play drive, this one going 62 yards and culminating in a Connor Laverty one-yard touchdown run, putting the visitors up 10-7 with 11:55 left until the intermission.

Bates answered right away with another big play, this one through the air. Hennessey found sophomore Quinn Carver (Boston) over the top for a 60-yard touchdown, putting the Bobcats up 14-10 after the Ruiz extra point.

The score stayed that way until 5:07 remaining in the third quarter, when Hamilton took the lead for good. The teams traded punts to start the third quarter and the Continentals went on an 11-play, 68-yard drive that ended in a Nate Wildman six-yard touchdown run. 

Trailing by three, the Bobcats moved the ball into Hamilton territory early in the fourth quarter but John Young intercepted a Hennessey pass at the Continental 33 and Kurzum connected with Leonard on the very next play for the big 67-yard touchdown pass.

The Bobcats didn't back down, responding with a long touchdown of their own. On second and 11 from their own 46, Hennessey went deep again, this time to senior Maverick Selementi (Montclair, N.J.) for a 54-yard touchdown, trimming the Hamilton lead to 24-21 with 5:56 remaining.

Unfortunately, Bates did not get the ball back, as Hamilton held on to the ball for the remainder of the game. 

The Continentals won the time of possession battle, keeping the ball for  34:56 to 25:04 for Bates. They converted 9-18 of their third downs and held Bates to 3-11 on third down. The Continentals piled up 425 yards of total offense and held Bates to 357 yards. 

Junior captain Ryan Rozich (Cromwell, Conn.) led all players with 13 total tackles, including six solo stops. He finishes the year with a NESCAC-leading 109 total tackles.