Amherst, Mass.- Sophomore running back Fletcher Ladd (Amherst, N.H.) ran for 129 yards on 17 carries with two touchdowns to lead the Amherst College Lord Jeffs to a 28-10 win over the visiting Trinity College Bantams in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) football action this afternoon at Pratt Field. Trinity drops to 3-4 with its second straight loss, while Amherst, ranked No. 2 in New England remains undefeated at 7-0.

Trinity controlled the ball for 35:09 but Amherst found the end zone four times while rushing for 202 yards and a 5.3 yard per carry average. Trinity advanced the ball against the Amherst defense, which was ranked No. 1 in the nation in points allowed entering the game (2.7 per game), scoring just the second touchdown versus the Lord Jeffs this season.

After spotting Amherst a 7-0 lead on a four-yard quarterback draw by freshman Marsh Moseley (New Orleans, La.), Trinity answered midway through the second quarter on a 25-yard field goal by junior placekicker Skip Sullivan (Milton, Mass.). The Lord Jeffs increased their lead to double digits at 14-3 on a four-yard run by Ladd with 5:26 remaining in the first half.

Trinity punted on its next drive, but the Bantam defense forced the Jeffs into a third down and 19 yards on their own 24-yard line. Moseley scrambled away from several Trinity tacklers, however, gaining 22 yards and sparking an Amherst drive that resulted in its third touchdown of the half. Moseley found senior receiver Jerimy Hiltner (Limon, Colo.) on a 24-yard touchdown pass with 1:16 left before intermission.

Trinity escaped a larger deficit in the half’s final minute when senior captain Steven Cella (Peabody, Mass.) intercepted Moseley at the Trinity 17-yard line. The Jeffs had gotten the ball back on an interception by junior defensive back Paul Miceli (Glensdale, N.Y.).

At the 7:50 mark of the third quarter, Ladd gave the Jeffs a 25-point lead with his second touchdown run of the game. In its first drive of the fourth quarter, Trinity drove the ball 70 yards in 13 plays, including a 23-yard option pass of a backward screen from freshman wide out Bradley Soules (Simsbury, Conn.) to sophomore receiver Joe Wahl (Riverside, R.I.), to the Amherst nine-yard line. On fourth down and five, Cella set up to hold for Sullivan’s second field goal of the game, but instead ran the ball off the right tackle but fell two yards short of the first down.

Trinity freshman Drew Finkeldey (Ivoryton, Conn.) gave Trinity good field position with a 29-yard punt return to the Lord Jeff 27-yard line. The Bantams took advantage as junior captain tailback Brian Fabrizio (Norwell, Mass.) dove into the end zone to account for the final score of 28-10.

Fabrizio and sophomore tailback Thomas Pierandri (Ridgefield, Conn.) combined for 133 rushing yards on 41 carries for Trinity, while junior quarterback Greg Ward (Avon, Conn.) completed 12 out of 25 passes for 91 yards. Wahl paced the Bantam pass catchers with six receptions for 60 yards.

Defensively, Trinity junior captain inside linebacker David Midura (North Easton, Mass.) had 6.5 tackles, 2.5 for loss, and deflected the pass intercepted by Cella, while Bantam freshman safety Aaron Goldstein (Edina, Minn.) had a career-high seven tackles (six solo).