AMHERST — After watching its 21-game win streak come to an end last week at Middlebury, the Amherst College football team will look to bounce back when it hosts Colby at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Amherst (2-1 NESCAC) made a lot of mistakes in its 27-26 loss to Middlebury.
“The secondary will take the blame for certain things but it was a team loss,” said Amherst coach E.J. Mills. “Between the offense, defense and special teams, we lost as a whole.”
It was Amherst’s first loss since a 20-14 setback to Wesleyan on Sept. 19, 2013.
“Losing is no fun and we lost, but our guys responded well,” said Mills. “But you come in on Sunday, deal with the good, the bad and the ugly, the guys were off on Monday, and by Tuesday morning we were ready to go.”
Amherst allowed 269 yards passing and three touchdowns to Middlebury, but the run defense remained strong as it held the Panthers to negative-13 yards on the ground. Amherst allows 0.7 yards rushing per game.
“We are good up front and it is hard to run on us so teams have to throw the football,” said Mills.
Amherst sophomore Nick Morales started at quarterback in place of Alex Berluti, who is out with a knee injury. Morales finished with 275 yards passing, one touchdown, and an interception in his first career start.
“We didn’t execute on some levels, and part of that is my fault,” said Morales. “This week it’s a new game and you have to move on.”
Colby (1-2) beat Williams, 9-7, and lost to Middlebury, 35-14, and Wesleyan, 37-6.
This will be Morales’ first career home start.
“Nothing like a home crowd, especially with two weeks away of travel,” said Morales. “We’re all excited to get out there and play.”