LEWISTON, Me. – The stage was set, a Friday night lights setting for the Wesleyan football team's season opener at Bates, and the Cardinals were primed for the moment. Behind a monster performance from QB Niko Candido '25, Wesleyan held off a late comeback bid from Bates to defeat the Bobcats 28-17 from Garcelon Field. Wesleyan has won five straight season openers and improves to 37-4 all-time against Bates, having won 17 consecutive meetings.
After splitting duties under center last season, Candido took every snap at QB tonight and showed he was ready for primetime as the junior signal caller threw for 341 yards on 28-for-37 passing (75.7%) with 3 TD and 0 INT. He becomes the first Wesleyan QB to threw for 300+ yards since Ashton Scott '22 hit the mark against Trinity in 2019 while the 341 yards is the most for a Cardinal since Mark Piccirillo '19 threw for 388 against Bates in 2017.
Candido spread the ball around, completing passes to eight different receivers in the game, but the primary target was WR Thomas Elkhoury '24 who popped off with 12 catches for 147 yards, both easily setting new career-highs. The last time a Cardinal had more than 12 catches in a game was Mike Breuler '18 catching 13 passes against Tufts in 2017. WR Chase Wilson '25 had added five receptions for 66 yards with 1 TD while WR Liam Kennedy '25 tallied three catches for 36 yards.
On the defensive side, the Cardinal pass defense did an incredible job limiting Bates QB Colton Bosselait to just 128 yards on 10-for-27 passing. The Bobcats' single-season TD holder was held in-check throughout as his 37% completion rate is a new career-low. Wesleyan held Bates scoreless for the first 29:20 of the game and the Bobcats didn't score a touchdown until there was just over six minutes left in the third quarter.
LB Jake Edwards '24 led the Cardinals with eight tackles (seven solo) while DL Mike Rowan '25 stuffed the stat sheet with six tackles (three solo), 1.5 tackles for loss, and one sack. DB Wesley Abraham '25 had two pass breakups while LB Kade Doverspike '24 blocked a punt in the first quarter that led to the Cardinals' first TD drive of the game.
Wesleyan controlled tempo from the jump, marching 55 yards down the field on 11 plays on their opening series, but a costly fumble in the red zone handed the ball to the Bobcats. Unable to capitalize on the turnover, Bates punted on 4th-and-2 but Doverspike's blocked punt set the Cardinals up with a 1st-and-10 from the Bobcat 32-yard line. Just five plays later, Candido escaped pressure and on a broken play, hit Wilson in-stride for the first TD of the season.
The Cardinal defense stonewalled Bates on a 4th-and-3 inside Cardinal territory on the next possession, which led to another extended Wesleyan drive, this one lasting more than five minutes before Candido found RB Tyler Flynn '26 with a screen pass to the left as the sophomore walked in for the score to make it 14-0 Wesleyan with 10:50 left in the 2nd quarter.
Taking a 14-3 lead into halftime, Wesleyan added to their advantage with yet another 5+ minute drive to start the second half. Candido hit Elkhoury for 12 yards on a 3rd-and-4 play from Wesleyan's side of midfield before later connecting with Wilson for a 19-yard grab on another 3rd-down play just over midfield. The drive was capped on the first play from inside the red zone as Candido hit TB Ezra Jenifer '23 with a dump off and the graduate student did the rest, stiff arming past the Bobcat defender to reach the end zone and make it 21-3 Wesleyan.
Bates answered back with their first TD of the season, as a 37-yard kickoff return set the Bobcat offense up near midfield to start the drive which was finished off by a 2-yard Ryan Lynskey TD run.
Both sides came up empty on their next possessions and as the clock wound under one minute to play in the 3rd quarter, Candido hit Elkhoury for his biggest completion of the day, going 47 yards down the field on a 1st-and-10 from the Bates 49-yard line. On the ensuing 1st-and-goal play from the 1-yard line, Flynn dove over the line and extended his right arm over the goal line to extend Wesleyan's lead back to 18 points at 28-10 with just 18 seconds left in the quarter.
The Bobcats hung around in this one, as Bosselait kept the home crowd involved with a 34-yard TD pass to Lynskey that made it a two-score game again at 28-17 with 11:48 remaining.
After an unsuccessful 4th-and-2 play from the Bates 39-yard line, the Cardinals gave the ball back to the Bobcats with 7:44 left. Needing a stop, the Wesleyan defense came up big as Rowan stuffed Bosselait at the line for no gain on 3rd-and-6, forcing Bates to punt on a three-and-out series.
With still plenty of work to do, the Cardinals took over at the Bates 45-yard line with 6:47 left and executed perfectly down the stretch. Wesleyan converted an early 3rd-down play on the game-ending drive, before converting two fourth down plays as the Cardinals were able to kneel the three plays of the game to ice away the win.
Wesleyan picked up 24 first downs for the game, 17 of which came through the air, while Bates totaled just 16. Bates outgained the Cardinals 90-69 on the ground, but Wesleyan's air attack was the story of the game, outgaining the Bobcats 341-128. In terms of total yardage, Wesleyan led Bates in that department by a near 2:1 ratio (410-218). Time of possession also swayed heavily in favor of Wesleyan (37:48 WES, 22:12 BATES).
A big showdown looms next weekend in the Cardinals' home opener as Wesleyan welcomes Middlebury to Corwin Stadium for a 1 PM kickoff. Wesleyan has defeated the Panthers two straight times in Middletown and in three of the last four meetings from Corwin Stadium.
Candido Throws for 341, Cardinals Hold Off Bates in 28-17 Season-Opening Win
/seasons/2023/boxscores/20230915_u1bn.xml
2023
Wesleyan
28
Bates
17
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wesleyan (1-0) | 7 | 7 | 14 | 0 | 28 |
| Bates (0-1) | 0 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 17 |
Sep 15, 2023