Hartford, Conn. – Sophomore WR DeVante Reid (London, England) caught six passes for a College-record 246 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 61-7 victory over the visiting Bowdoin College Polar Bears in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) football action this afternoon at Jessee/Miller Field. Trinity improves to 1-1 and extends several winning streaks including 20 victories in a row over Bowdoin, 18-straight wins in home openers, and 18-straight overall victories at home. The Polar Bears drop to 0-2. Trinity visits Middlebury next Saturday and Bowdoin plays at Williams.
Trinity broke open a 6-0 game with 27 points in the second quarter, as Reid scored his second and third touchdowns of the day on 77- and 57-yard bombs, respectively, from sophomore QB Seamus Lambert (Andover, Mass.) and sophomore RB Spencer Lockwood (Danielson, Conn.) added scoring runs of three and two yards. The Bantams led, 33-0, as the break, and 14 points in each of the last two quarters, while Bowdoin scored in the third frame on a one-yard pass from Austin McCrum (Saco, Maine) to Patrick Zepf (Londonderry, N.H.). Reid, who caught a 23-yard scoring strike to open the scoring 8:23 into the first quarter, added a 70-yard touchdown grab midway thru the third. Lambert connected with junior WR Jonathan Girard (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) from 38 yards away for his fifth scoring toss of the day in the third quarter, while senior QB Jordan Vazzano (Trumbull, Conn.) and junior RB Colin Beaulieu (Bethany, Conn.) added touchdown runs in the fourth quarter
Bowdoin had started strong, marching to the Trinity 23-yard line on its first drive, but Bantam senior tri-captain Daniel Negron (Hartsdale, N.Y.) sacked McCrum on 4th-and-8 to end the threat. Reid scored his first touchdown on the first Trinity possession, but Tyriq Jones-Garland blocked the PAT for the Polar Bears. The Trinity defense forced punts on the remaining Bowdoin possessions of the first half except one where senior DB Matt Patry (Medfield, Mass.) picked off McCrum, and returned the ball 42 yards to the Polar Bear 12-yard line to set up the third Bantam touchdown.
Trinity finished with 573 yards of total offense and averaged 10.4 yards per play, while Bowdoin gained just 197 yards despite possessing the ball for 33:38 of the game. Lambert finished with 391 passing yards, completing 13 of 18 attempts but was sacked five times. McCrum was 16-for-30 for 121 yards through the air with two interceptions and was sacked four times. Reid's 246 receiving yards breaks the previous Bantam record, set by Ron Duckett in 1971, by one and his four touchdown catches ties a Bantam mark held by three others. Girard gave Trinity two 100-yard receivers with four catches for 122 yards, while Lockwood gained 72 yards on 14 carries and classmate Draquan Jones (Miami, Fla.) added 61 yards on 10 carries. Brendan Ward (Marshfield, Mass.) paced the Polar Bears, who averaged 1.9 yards on 39 rushing attempts, with 48 yards on nine carries. Bo Millett had a team-high 48 receiving yards on three catches.
Defensively, Negron and junior DB Matt McCarthy (North Reading, Mass.) had a team-high six tackles apiece for Trinity, while sophomore DB Aidan Kennedy (East Longmeadow, Mass.) added two tackles for loss and an interception. Matt Williams (Conley, Ga.) and Nicholas Leahy (Bedford, N.H.) both had six tackles for Bowdoin, while Myles Hugee (Blue Bell, Pa.) added four tackles for three pass breakups.