(Williams-Colby Football summary courtesy of Dick Quinn, SID, Williams College)

Williamstown, MA

Before today, Williams head coach Dick Farley had 25 straight wins against teams from Maine and had won 12 straight openers.

Before today.

The Colby White Mules (1-0) spoiled opening day for the Williams Ephs (0-1), coming from behind to win 27-24.

"You can't take anything away from Colby today. They played a good game," said Farley. "We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot."

It seemed like every time Williams started a rally, the Ephs managed to give up their momentum. Colby intercepted QB Marshall Creighton four times, and the Ephs committed.

Colby quarterback Pat Conley threw for 337 yards and three touchdowns in his debut as Colby's starter. On the Williams side, Marshall Creighton had a tough time with the White Mule defense. Though he completed 24 of his 39 passes for 291 yards and two touchdowns, he tossed four interceptions, compared to Conley's one.

The Ephs opened the scoring, putting up 10 points in the first quarter. After Williams recovered a Colby fumble, Rob Kaufman connected on a 42 yard field goal. On the next drive, Dave Kinsley took a handoff 51 yards to the Colby 5, and then took the ball into the end zone on the next play.

Though the Ephs led 10-0, Colby came back with 20 unanswered points (13 before the half). David McGeehan scored for Colby on a Conley pass to cap the first drive of the second quarter, and Keith Jonassen added two field goals before the end of the half. Conley launched a 65-yard TD pass to Andrew Tripp (six receptions, 145 yards) in the third quarter. Danny Noyes also had six catches, for 117 yards, for Colby.

The Ephs opened the fourth quarter with a touchdown drive. Creighton hit Colin Brooks with an 18-yard touchdown pass. The White Mules then drove deep into Williams territory before Johnny Kelly picked off a Conley pass on the five yard line. Creighton followed that play by tossing an interception of his own, and Conley hit Noyes for a touchdown. Dave Ewart '02 dives at Colby's Andy Tripp The Ephs scored once more, as Creighton tossed a 28-yarder to Collin Vataha (six catches, 65 yards) to make the score 27-24. The Ephs made one more attempt, as Creighton took them deep into Colby territory. Colin Brooks made a tough catch at the Colby 25, but had the ball ripped from his hands. The Ephs got the ball back in the waning seconds but failed to score.

Matt Student had nine catches for 67 yards and Colin Brooks had eight for 152. Fred Storz had 19 carries for 56 yards. On defense, Ben Sands led the way with seven tackles.

Colby will return to action on Mayflower Hill next Saturday, September 30th to face the Middlebury Panthers at 1:30pm.

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