Bobcats of the week of Oct. 10, 2011
Kevin Helm ’12 Williams College’s offense is normally a powerful force within NESCAC play, but Bates’ defense defused the Ephs’ attack on Saturday.The defense had its third outstanding game in as many weeks during Saturday’s 35-26 win over Williams, Bates’ first win against the Ephs since 2003. As usual, the defensive stars were many: among others, senior Brett McAllister (Exeter, N.H.) added another sack and interception to his conference-leading totals; junior Kyle Starr(Concord, N.H.) also had his third pickoff of the season, and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown in maybe the single biggest play of the game; senior Cam Evans (Norwell, Mass.) had nine tackles, forced a fumble and broke up a pass, and junior Matt Gaither (Winchester, Mass.) had a sack, two tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.But senior captain and inside linebacker Kevin Helm’s (Norwell, Mass.) performance helped Bates keep Williams under 3.0 yards per carry even as the Ephs ran the football 46 times in the game. Tied as the leading tackler in the NESCAC a season ago, Helm totaled 16 tackles in all, the second-highest total of his career, including 12 solo stops. He was credited with half a sack, 2.5 tackles for a total loss of 13 yards, and a pass brekup.
With 12.33 tackles per game, Helm is tied for 10th in all of Division III, and he also is tied for 63rd in the nation in tackles for loss per game (1.50). The Bobcat defense ranks 23rd in pass defense efficiency, and leads the nation in percentage of opponents’ passes intercepted (9.28%). |
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Lindsay Cullen ’13 While Bates men’s cross country stole the show with a first-place performance at the Hoffman Invitational/Pre-Regional races on Saturday at St. Lawrence University, the Bates women also made some waves at the competitive meet, which featured four nationally ranked teams from the Atlantic Region.Juniors Lindsay Cullen and Alicia Fannonboth finished among the top 20 runners as Bates took sixth place in a field of 16 other college team. Four of the five teams ahead of the Bobcats are nationally ranked, and the fifth, Vassar, is ranked No. 8 in the Atlantic. Bates finsihed behind sixth-place Vassar, but 25 points ahead of SUNY Oneonta, the 10th-ranked team in the Atlantic.
Cullen (Newburyport, Mass.) finished the 6K course in 23:11.3, 19th best time among 217 runners. Fannon (Haverhill, Mass.) was right behind in 20th place, at 23:12.6. First-yearElena Jay (West Hartford, Conn.) took 34th in 23:44.8, and senior captain Jenny Monsulick(Readfield, Maine) was 50th in 24:24.5. JuniorAmanda Solch (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) was Bates’ fifth scorer, in 61st place at 24:44.2. Cullen has led Bates in the two other races she has run in this season, taking seventh place out of 131 competitors at the Maine Invitational on Sept. 17, and finishing second in Bates’ Class Waves dual meet Juniors/Seniors race against Colby on Sept. 9. Bates will host the Maine State Championships next Saturday at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester. The women’s championship race begins at 11 a.m., followed by the men’s race at 12 p.m. |