Game of the Year: Amherst Football vs. Trinity

In the season’s most anticipated matchup, the undefeated Amherst Mammoths (7-0) hosted Trinity College (also 7-0) for their Senior Day game. As one of the main Family Weekend events, the game started with a small ceremony for the team’s senior players and their families. At stake for the Mammoths: a NESCAC Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Div. III Tournament. Playing in front of an excited and energized crowd, the team was ready to meet the moment. 

Amherst, who received the ball first, had an explosive first drive. After a short run and a backward pass set up an early third-and-11, quarterback Marek Hill ’28 found wide receiver Jadon Davis ’29 for a 60-yard pass, tackled 17 yards from Trinity’s end zone. On the next two downs, the team ran the ball with halfback Demitrius Smith ’27, ending up one yard away from a first down. Bullish early, Hill tried to run the ball on third and fourth down, but gained no yardage and turned the ball over. Starting on their own seven-yard line, the visitors moved the ball down to Amherst’s 19-yard line before stalling out and kicking a field goal, taking a 3-0 lead.

Amherst, in response, orchestrated a nearly 13-minute drive that went into the second quarter. After getting five first downs, which included a pass interference and personal foul call against Trinity, the Mammoths found themselves 20 yards away from the end zone. On second-and-eight, though, Hill threw an interception into the end zone, resulting in a touchback for Trinity. The Bantams then took the ball all the way back to the Mammoths’ 23-yard line, where the Amherst defense held out. Trinity’s 40-yard field goal attempt was good; the Bantams extended their lead to 6-0.

Amherst continued fighting in its next drive, creating big plays to get down the field, including a 22-yard catch by wide receiver Christian Moore ’27 and a 13-yard catch by Smith. Again facing a fourth-and-eight situation in the red zone, this time Amherst decided to attempt a field goal (despite facing the exact same scenario in the previous drive and earning the first down). Yet, the more cautious decision backfired: Trinity blocked Amherst’s field goal attempt and returned the ball 70 yards all the way back to the Mammoths’ end zone. The Bantams made the extra point, making the score 13-0 in their favor with a massive special teams play. 

Amherst petered out quickly on its next drive after an intentional grounding penalty against Hill killed any momentum the team had. Trinity received the ball at its 40-yard line after the Amherst punt, and immediately threw a 34-yard pass that brought the team to Amherst’s 26-yard line. Three incomplete passes later, Trinity settled for a 43-yard field goal, extending its lead to 16-0. Capping off the comically brutal stretch of play for the Mammoths, the Bantams then pinned Amherst to their own 4-yard line with a perfect kickoff, which moved to the two-yard line after a penalty against Amherst. The Mammoths had to fight just to maintain a 16-point deficit headed into halftime, though they managed to reach the break without making matters worse. 

Amherst came out in the second half with more discipline, especially on defense, forcing Trinity to punt on its first drive. Then Hill, starting at Amherst’s 11-yard line, began driving the team down the field. A two-yard gain on first down by Smith was followed by two passes to wide receiver Max Alexander ’29: the first for eight yards and the second for 46, each for a first down. Trinity also got flagged for roughing the passer on Hill’s 46-yard dime to Alexander, which added 15 yards to the play for Amherst. Now at Trinity’s 23-yard line, Hill threw a backward pass to Davis, ending up five yards behind the line of scrimmage. One incomplete pass later, Amherst faced a third-and-15 scenario. Hill threw a 16-yard pass to Moore, but the play was called back for holding. Twenty-five yards away from a first down, Hill threw incompletions on third-and-fourth down. The fourth-down play, however, gave Amherst another lifeline when the referees called defensive offsides on the Bantams. Nonetheless, the second chance ended in another incomplete pass, turning the ball over on Trinity’s 28-yard line.

Despite this, the Mammoths’ defense forced a three-and-out for Trinity’s offense. The defense even partially blocked Trinity’s punt, which squirreled out of bounds at the 48-yard line. The Amherst offense spent the third quarter’s remainder and part of the fourth quarter taking the ball downfield. At one point, in a groove, a spectacular 43-yard catch by Davis was nullified by an Amherst holding penalty on the drive’s second play. Amherst subsequently struggled offensively on the next two plays before facing fourth-and-15. With the drive on the line, Hill found Alexander for 17 yards and a first down; the third quarter ended after five plays, 24 yards, and two first downs.

Now at Trinity’s 16-yard line, running back Zachary Curtin ’28 rushed for one yard, followed by a pass to Curtis that ended up as a one-yard loss. Ten yards away and facing a third-down, Hill took the ball himself and ran into the end zone for the Mammoths’ first score of the game — coming early in the fourth. Hill couldn’t convert the ball for two points afterward, making the score 16-6 in Trinity’s favor. Kicker Matt Kelley ’27 nearly converted an onside kick, but the referees called offsides with the ball one yard short of Trinity’s side of the field, so Trinity started their drive at the Amherst 49-yard line. The Amherst defense forced another three-and-out, though, making Trinity punt, which ended up at Amherst’s 12-yard line. 

To start the drive, Hill attempted a pass to Davis, but a Trinity defender broke it up. On second down, Smith ran nowhere for a two-yard loss, but a Trinity personal foul gifted Amherst 15 yards and a first down. A four-yard run by Smith and a six-yard catch by Alexander continued to push Amherst forward before Hill found Cam Fowler ’30 for 54 yards downfield. Nine yards away from the endzone, Amherst first tried running the ball with Hill, and then throwing it, but the game was closing in on Hill, and before long he repeated his second-quarter mistake, this time in the fourth, throwing yet another endzone interception.

After the turnover, Trinity started with the ball on its 20-yard line, but made little progress up the field. After seven plays and a holding call against them, the Bantams faced a fourth-and-17 situation on their 25-yard line. Trinity punted the ball 43 yards, and the ball ended up on Amherst’s 34-yard line with the help of two return yards by wide receiver Yash Gupta ’27. With just over four minutes remaining in the game, Hill proceeded to throw six consecutive passes for 66 total yards. Hill found Moore for a 28-yard touchdown, followed by a made extra point, making the game 16-13 — a slim three-point lead for Trinity. Kelley once again attempted an onside kick, but this time a Trinity defender muffed it, and Amherst recovered the ball at its 39-yard line. 

With a minute and 58 seconds left and three timeouts for Amherst, the Mammoths began with a quick four-yard pass by Hill. The star quarterback then passed to Alexander for eight yards and a first-down in-bounds — though no coach called a timeout to stop the clock. Hill then threw an incompletion, followed by a nine-yard pass to Fowler, and ran the ball for two yards and another first-down in-bounds. The clock didn’t stop, quickly diminishing toward zero — with under a minute left in the game, Amherst confusingly held onto its timeouts. On the next play, Hill threw the ball out of bounds near Fowler after being pressured by Trinity defenders, but the referees called the play as intentional grounding and pushed the ball 10 yards back. Now second-and-20, Hill ran the ball for eight yards, a gain which was — yet again — called back for an offensive holding call. In order to avoid the time runoff from the holding call, Amherst finally decided to use one of its three timeouts. One incomplete pass later, Amherst faced third down and needed 30 yards. Trinity, not Amherst, surprisingly used a timeout with eleven seconds left, right before this third-down play. In the game’s penultimate snap, Hill received the ball and threw to Davis for nine yards. At Trinity’s 49-yard line, however, a defender made an incredible play and forced Davis to fumble the ball, which the Bantams recovered. With three seconds left and two Amherst timeouts left uncalled, Trinity knelt, and the game clock ran out. After a hard-fought match, Trinity came out on top 16-13.  

Individually, the game was impressive for many players. Ignoring the two endzone interceptions and three sacks, Hill threw for 350 passing yards — a personal record — as well as a passing touchdown (and a rushing touchdown). Alexander, Moore, Davis, and Fowler all had 70-or-more receiving yards and five-or-more receptions. Smith ran 14 times for 45 rushing yards, averaging 3.2 yards per attempt. Defensively, it was an off-day individually, with no player recording a tackle-for-loss or interception. For reference, in every other game this season, an Amherst player has at least recorded either a tackle-for-loss or an interception. In fact, it broke the Mammoths’ 31-game streak of recording a tackle-for-loss or interception — the last game without either was in 2023 against Trinity. However, the defense still held a Bantam offense that had been averaging nearly 30 points and four touchdowns a game entering the contest to a measly 16 points, with the only touchdown coming on a blocked field goal. The team’s record now stands at 7-1, the exact same record it was at this point in the 2018 season, winning against all teams except Trinity. 

Despite the loss, the season may be far from over for the Mammoths. The team will travel to Williamstown, MA, this Saturday to play Williams College in the Biggest Little Game in America. Meanwhile, Trinity will play Wesleyan University in an attempt to clinch the NESCAC title. If Wesleyan were to beat Trinity, however, the NESCAC title would become a three-way tie between the two teams and Amherst, assuming the Mammoths win against Williams. According to tie-breaking measures, it would come down to pulling a name out of a hat to see which of the three gets an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The loss may have left a poor taste in the team’s mouth, but Amherst has a chance to continue its season past Nov. 14, whether as NESCAC Champions or as an at-large team in the NCAA Tournament.