While last Saturday’s game at Wesleyan was another loss (24-21) for the Colby College football team, the Mules did see improvement, particularly in the running game. Colby gained 249 yards on the ground, with junior Jabari Hurdle-Price running for 202 yards and a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns.
Hurdle-Price’s second touchdown went for 65 yards, and gave the Mules a 21-17 lead with 4:09 left in the game. His 202 yards was the most by a Colby running back since Aaron Stepka ran for 210 yards against Hamilton in 2003. Hurdle-Price was named the New England Small College Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week.
“We matched up pretty well with (Wesleyan). It’s a team, they don’t do a lot of movement and whatnot,” Colby head coach Jonathan Michaeles said. “I think our kids went into the game with a great deal of confidence. They blocked well and Jabari ran his butt off.”
Hurdle-Price is now second in the NESCAC in rushing, with 286 yards on the season, and averages 5 yards per carry.
“We’ve played some good teams, and they’ve had their eye on him, and they’ve done a decent job keeping him contained. Ever since preseason started, he’s taken every play, every rep, full speed. He just hasn’t slowed down since the day he got here. It was good to see that show up on the field,” Michaeles said.
Hurdle-Price’s success is a continuation of a foundation he set last season as a sophomore. After becoming a starter at midseason, Hurdle-Price ran for a team-high 533 yards and finished fourth in the conference in rushing.
This week, Colby faces a tough defense in Amherst (3-0). The Lord Jeffs are second in the conference and 19th in the nation in rushing defense, allowing just 85.3 yards per game on the ground.
“The way (Hurdle-Price’s) playing, they’re going to have their eye on him for sure. We’ve got to block. We’ve got to play complimentary football,” Michaeles said. “They have an outstanding defense. They’re experienced. We’re going to have to be at our absolute best.”
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It will be a homecoming of sorts for Yale defensive line coach Jordan Stevens on Saturday, when his team plays at the University of Maine. A 2010 graduate of Maine, Stevens, a Mt. Blue High School graduate, was a standout defensive lineman and captained the Black Bears in 2009.
This is Stevens’ first season at Yale. After graduating from Maine, he had a tryout with the Detroit Lions before joining the Black Bears coaching staff, where we worked with his alam mater for four years.
It’s homecoming weekend at Maine, which hasn’t played Yale since 1937. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m.
Winslow grad John McCabe has 18 tackles for the Black Bears, while Lawrence grad Spencer Carey has four stops for Maine.
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Maine Maritime Academy running back Josh Doolan’s season is over. The junior suffered an ankle injury on Oct. 3 in a 21-14 loss to Coast Guard. At first, Doolan, a Lawrence grad, hoped with rest in last week’s bye week, he’d be able to continue playing. But an MRI this week revealed the extent of the damage. On Wednesday, Doolan posted on his Facebook page that he’ll require surgery.
“Basically the snap I felt in my ankle when running the ball was a combination of 5 (sic) ligament damages, mainly my anterior talofibular ligament, which tore completely,” Doolan wrote.
Doolan had 34 carries for 289 yards this season. Maine Maritime (1-3) has a tough game this week, hosting New England Football Conference leader Western New England (5-0). The Golden Bears are ranked first in New England in the Division III sports information directors poll.
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Husson will try to extend its unbeaten streak in Eastern Collegiate Football Conference play to 10 games on Saturday when it hosts Becker. The Eagles last conference loss came at the end of the 2013 season, to Mt. Ida.
Husson (3-1, 2-0 ECFC) is tied for ninth place with Middlebury in the latest New England Division III poll. The Eagles are ranked fourth in the nation in rushing defense, allowing just 56.3 yards per game on the ground.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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