The Middlebury football team opened their season against Wesleyan on Saturday Sept. 13, losing 31–17 to the Cardinals on the road. Middlebury is now 6–4 in their last 10 season-opening games, and it is their second consecutive loss to Wesleyan. Nonetheless, Saturday’s matchup was a marked improvement over last year’s opener, in which the Panthers lost to Wesleyan 43–7 at home.
Middlebury started strong in their opening drive. The team advanced 74 yards over eight plays, including a 33-yard pass from quarterback Brian Moran ’26 to receiver Mike Ahonen ’26. The drive ended with a field goal from kicker Tony Wang ’26, but the Panthers were unable to add to their score until the third quarter.
Until then, Wesleyan scored 24 unanswered points, including two touchdowns within 1:46 to begin the second half. Down 24–3, the Panthers responded with energy similar to that in their first drive of the game. Moran picked out receiver Jeremy Kiefer ’28 for a 26-yard gain, with running back Connor McClellan ’28 making the final push for a touchdown to conclude the 75-yard, nine-play drive. After converting the extra point, Middlebury was down by 14 points with one quarter of play remaining.
Late into the game, Moran found Ollie Orvis ’26 for a one-yard touchdown, although with Wesleyan having scored earlier in the quarter, it proved too little too late for the Panthers. Regardless, Moran threw for 261 yards on Saturday, bumping him into ninth for career passing 2,416 yards in Middlebury Football program history. His touchdown pass was also the 18th of his career, bringing him up to a tie for eighth with Tiger Lyon ’07.
Owen Thornton ’26 and Casey Adjei ’27 led the defense with seven tackles each. Linebacker Matt Shaw ’27 also played an important role on defense, tallying three tackles and two quarterback hurries. Between one field goal and two extra points, Wang also scored a career high of five points.
Saturday’s game marked the 55th matchup between the Panther and Cardinal football teams. With a competition history dating back to 1907, Wesleyan holds an advantage of 29-24-2 in the series. Wesleyan has proven to be an especially tricky opponent in recent years, winning the previous three games against Middlebury and five of the last seven. The Panthers will look for an improvement in form as they return to home play next weekend, facing Bowdoin at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20.
Simon Schmieder '26 (he/him) is a Senior Sports Editor.
Simon is an avid runner and biker and enjoys spending time outdoors. He is a philosophy and political science joint major with a minor in German, in addition to being a Philly sports fan.
