Williams travels to Waterville, ME on Sept. 26 to play the Colby Mules at 1:00 PM. Saturday will be the home opener for the Mules. The Ephs will travel up on Friday afternoon.
Colby enters the game 0-1 after a 14-34 loss to Trinity in Hartford. The Bantams scored 21 unanswered points before halftime. The Mules yielded 345 yards passing and 128 rushing, allowing the Bantams to complete 24 of 32 passes for 14.4 yards per completion and three touchdowns with no sacks.
On offense Colby also passed the ball 32 times, completing 17 for 197 yards with an average of 11.6 yards per catch and two touchdowns. The Mules rushed the ball 26 times for a mere 22 net yards, including 25 negative yards in tackles for loss.
Colby forced two Bantam fumbles, recovering one. The Mules didn’t turn the ball over at all, other than two failed 4th downs on three attempts. Colby converted only 5 of 15 third downs. They went 1 for 1 in the red zone and were penalized just three times on the day for 22 yards. On six punts the Mules averaged only 33.5 yards though three were inside the 20 and one went over 50 yards.
The Mules offense was led by quarterback Stephen Gill (#4, Jr.) who went 8 of 17 through the air for 140 yards and 2 touchdowns including a 64-yard strike to Alex Clapp (#86, So.). Jagger Matera (#5, So.) also played quarterback, completing 9 of 15 attempts for 57 yards. Each QB was sacked twice on the day. Gill also led the team in rushing with only 14 yards on 8 attempts. Five other Mules ran the ball a combined 18 times but none amassed even ten yards on the day.
Defensively, Colby is led by linebacker Lincoln Merrill (#9, Sr.), who had 10 tackles against Trinity including two for loss. Owen Haight (#28, Jr.) contributed 8 tackles from the second linebacker position. Defensive backs are led by Ameer White (#24, Jr.) along with Nicholas Cox (#2, Sr.) and Drew Ramos (#20, Sr.).
INSIGHTS: Colby will try to establish any kind of an offense against the Ephs. They had more success passing than running against Trinity, but look for balanced playcalling between the pass and the run. While the Mules have no offensive standouts yet, they distribute the ball broadly; almost any skills player could see his number called on any snap. Defensively, Colby will need to stop Williams on the ground. Trinity’s top two backs averaged nearly 5 yards per carry, so look for Williams to run the ball early and often. Colby started last season slowly but ended with very strong play. After a first-game loss, the Mules are highly motivated to avoid an 0-2 start. The Williams defense will need to play as well as they did against Bowdoin in Week 1 to control a dangerous Colby squad.
HISTORY: Last season Colby went 6-3, winning their last 4 games of the season including a 33-6 trouncing of Tufts in Medford. Their worst loss of the 2025 season came in the second game, a 38-0 blowout by the Ephs in Williamstown.
Saturday’s game marks the 29th meeting between the Ephs and Mules. Williams leads the series 22-6.