The Amherst College football team faces Wesleyan on Saturday in its first game against a Little Three rival.
The matchup between two 3-1 teams in the NESCAC kicks off at 1 p.m. in Middletown, Connecticut.
The Little Three is comprised of Amherst College, Wesleyan and Williams, and has been a conference tradition since the 1920s. Amherst hosts Williams on Nov. 12 in The Biggest Little Game in America. The Little Three games are of great importance for the coaches, players and fans.
“It’s a Little Three game for us and that has a lot of historical importance here,” said Amherst coach E.J. Mills. “The Little Three means a lot and you can’t win all of them without winning the first.”
Amherst is coming off a 41-0 win over Colby, but this game is likely to be closer.
Wesleyan averages 28.3 points per game and allows 9.0. Amherst averages 33.0 ppg and allows 9.3.
Nick Morales will start under center for Amherst.
A point of emphasis this week was scoring during short-yardage situations. Amherst had trouble on two occasions inside the red zone against Colby and was forced to kick short field goals. Look for Jack Hickey and Hasani Figueroa to try to pound the ball in on short-yardage situations.
“There’s great importance to this whole deal,” said Mills. “The guys are excited to play such a talented team and I’m confident we are going to be ready to play. But it will always come down to execution.”