All good things must come to an end.
On Saturday, the Williams football team did what no one had been able to do in four years. The Ephs rolled out 447 yards of total offense for 41 points and ended the Trinity Bantams' national-best 31-game winning streak with a 41-16 blow.
Trinity's run spanned five seasons, included three perfect 8-0 NESCAC campaigns, and was bookended by two road losses to Williams, the first coming on Sept. 28, 2002, with Saturday's loss capping the streak.
Williams head coach Mike Whalen was quick to qualify what looked like an impossible blowout of the league's near-untouchable goliath.
"People who weren't at the game look at the score and thinking we blew them out; that's deceiving," Whelan said. "[Trinity] had a couple blunders in the kicking game which gave us some short fields, and we were able to pull away, but it was a tough, physical game for both teams."
Up just 14-10 at the half, Williams broke open the game on two failed fourth-quarter possessions by the Bantams. A nine-yard punt and an interception on back-to-back Trinity drives set up a three-minute 14-point momentum swing for the Ephs.
"It was a good game until about 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter, but things fell apart quickly for us," Trinity head coach Jeff Devanney said. "[Williams] was very physical and took it right to us; I think that's what the guys were most disappointed in, that we allowed ourselves to get beat physically."
The game was the latest chapter in a storied history between the two schools that goes back 15 years. The Bantams ended a 24-game Williams winning streak in 1991 on a controversial last-second play, and amazingly ended another 24-game Ephs run five years later.
"Anytime you have the opportunity to play a great football team, you get excited about it," Whalen said. "This had a little special significance, since they had on two occasions ended winning streaks of ours. There's some history there.
"None of the guys on our team [this year] were there for that, but our program has a strong and proud tradition, and the team knew that this was an opportunity for us to go play a great football team that had won 31 straight," Whalen said.
The win may have come with some extra significance in Williamstown; both Trinity and Colby, the only two teams to finish better than Williams' 6-2 last year, have a loss this season, and the win over the Bantams may be the first step towards a league title and a return to football prominence. After a NESCAC title in 2001 and a co-title shared with the Bantams in 2002, the Ephs have found themselves, just like the rest of the league, coming up short against Trinity's dominance.
But just two weeks into the season, the Williams squad is looking good-good enough, perhaps, for another NESCAC title. The Ephs have scored 68 points in their two games this season, and boast both the league's best passing offense, averaging 286.5 aerial yards per game, and rushing game, putting up 162 yards per contest.
But their dangerousness lies in their depth, and might actually be understated by these stats; the Ephs have five running backs and six receivers averaging double-digit yardage and two quarterbacks capable of commanding a high-powered offense.
"The skill positions are definitely a strength of our team," Whalen said. "We have 16 seniors, and there are a lot of kids who have played a lot of football. Any time get a veteran group, you hope you can put together a good season, because this is the time it all comes together."
Devanney commented on junior quarterback Pat Lucey, who had a career game against the Bantams, completing 19 of 27 passes for three touchdowns, and picking up 36 rushing yards on six scrambles.
"Lucey, is a very good player," Devanney said. "He's just a gamer and makes things happen, even when things break down. Their players are good, and they came to play on Saturday."
The loss was a bitter pill to swallow for Trinity fans, who saw their athletics ace come, however slightly, to earth.
But it was intriguing news for NESCAC football fans, for whom the Bantam's defeat extended the hope, however symbolic, of a renewed level of parity across conference football.
"I'm curious to see how it plays out; we'll know more in six weeks," Williams assistant coach Bill Barrale said. "From the [NESCAC] teams I've seen on film at this point, the league looks strong. I think Colby's a good team; their [27-10 loss to Trinity on Sept. 23] was a good game for three-and-half-quarters."
And while Trinity is by no means down for the count, their defeat on Saturday may be the first sign of some renewed parity across NESCAC gridirons, if only in the minds of players, coaches and fans.
Whelan acknowledged the importance of the win for his team's league standing, but does not believe that the win is indicative of a weakened Trinity program.
"I don't think they're falling," Whelan said. "They've got a young quarterback who's going to be very good. They lost one game-you can't win them all-but I think they're still a very good football team."
Devanney said that equality had existed across the league despite the Bantam's dominance and cited several close games against Williams and Amherst in recent years, as well as the Bantam's 7-0 just-barely win over Tufts on Homecoming Weekend last year.
"I think there's been good parity in the league," Devanney said. "Whenever you have the kind of success we've had over the last few years, there's a lot of hard work that goes into it, but also some lucky breaks.
"If Trinity and Williams played 10 times, we might win five, and they might win five," Devanney continued. "It's a story of two very good football teams. This year, they played better than we did on that particular day."
