Hamilton College's Matt Banbury '23 ran for a touchdown and threw for another in the Continentals' 15-13 NESCAC win against the Williams College Ephs at Williams' Farley-Lamb Field on Saturday afternoon.
 
Season Update
Hamilton improved to 2-3 while the Ephs dropped to 1-4. The Continentals are tied for sixth place in the conference standings.
 
How It Happened

• Hamilton's first scoring drive started with great field position after a short punt and a six-yard return by Christian Snell '23 to the Williams 47-yard line.
• The Continentals' 12-play drive featured just one pass and took more than six minutes off the clock. Banbury finally found the end zone with a quarterback keeper on fourth-and-goal from the one with 2:32 left in the first quarter. The extra-point try was blocked.
• Kamau Hopewell '25 kept the drive alive with a five-yard run on fourth-and-1 to the Ephs 33.
• Williams was the beneficiary of great field position after a 31-yard Hamilton punt into the wind gave the Ephs the ball at the Continentals 35 early in the second quarter.
• Williams only moved the ball 10 yards and had to settle for a 42-yard field goal by Ivan Shuran with 11:05 remaining.
• The Ephs' next scoring drive didn't start out promising after a 33-yard Hamilton punt and 10-yard penalty for an illegal block pinned Williams back at its own 19 with 4:45 to go in the half.
• The Ephs churned out five first downs on their 17-play drive that finally stalled at the Continentals 13 and culminated in a 30-yard field goal by Shuran with just seven seconds left before the break.
• The teams combined for eight punts in the first half and they went to their locker rooms tied 6-6.
• Hamilton moved the ball quickly on its first possession of the second half thanks to a personal foul on Williams, a 24-yard catch by Josh Harmon '25 and a 15-yard run by Banbury.
• The Continentals made it down to the Ephs 14-yard line and settled for a 31-yard field goal attempt that missed wide left.
• The third quarter didn't feature any offensive points but there were two huge punts by Hamilton's Tighe Hoey '25 that travelled 65 and 52 yards with the wind.
• The second punt was downed at the Williams 1-yard line. On the next play, Alex Street '23 tackled running back Joel Nicholas in the end zone for a safety that put the Continentals in the lead for good with 1:35 remaining in the third.
• Thanks to the safety, the Ephs had to kick and Hamilton got the ball in great field position at its own 41-yard line.
• The Continentals went on a methodical 13-play drive in which the longest play was the last one – a 15-yard touchdown pass from Banbury to Lucas Perez-Segnini '25 with 10:12 to go in the fourth quarter. Banbury had kept the drive going with a two-yard run on fourth-and-short to the Williams 27.
• Evan Reed '26 added the extra point for a 15-6 advantage.
• Williams wasted no time in cutting its deficit to two points again as Dan Vaughn and Nicholas hooked up for a 45-yard touchdown, and Shuran's PAT made it 15-13 just 64 seconds after the Hamilton score.
• While the Continentals didn't score again, they chewed up eight minutes of clock on their last two drives and didn't leave the Ephs with much time to rally.
• Street and Thomas Rushing '26 came up with a huge defensive play as they stopped Vaughn for no gain on fourth-and-2 at the Williams 38 with under four minutes left.
• With Hamilton trying to run out the clock, Banbury scrambled for nine yards on fourth-and-7 to the Williams 26 with about three minutes remaining, which essentially ended the Ephs' hope for a comeback.
• By the time Williams finally got the ball back at its own 26, the Ephs only had time to run two plays, including an incomplete pass as the clock hit zeroes.

 
Notes

• Banbury was 9 of 19 passing for 101 yards but also ran for 50. He has six career passing touchdowns and three career rushing scores.
• Perez-Segnini leads the Continentals with three touchdown receptions.
• Hopewell finished with a game-high 78 yards rushing on 29 carries. He's fifth in the NESCAC with 280 yards this season.
• Cole Rivell '24 led Hamilton with a career-high 13 tackles including 12 solo stops. Street added six tackles.
• Jake Dale '25 and Chase White '25 were credited with their first sacks for the Continentals.
• Hoey boasted three punts that travelled more than 50 yards and landed three inside the Williams 20.
• Nicholas led the Ephs with 71 yards rushing and 52 more receiving.
• Vaughn threw for 67 yards and ran for 70. He also caught a seven-yard pass.
• Tim Landolfi topped Williams with 10 tackles. Ethan Scott had 1.5 sacks and Ian Devine added another. Cameron Smith blocked a PAT.
• Hamilton gained 232 yards of offense while the Ephs ended up with 251.
• The Continentals were 3 of 18 on third down conversions but were successful four times out of five fourth down situations.

 
Next Game
Hamilton hosts Colby College (3-2) on Saturday, Oct. 22 at noon.