Winning a little can ease the pain of losing a lot, as the football team at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, learned last year. The Mules took a 2-6 record into their season finale against archrival Bowdoin, beat the Polar Bears and won the CBB Championship, signifying football supremacy among Maine’s three elite small colleges: Colby, Bates and Bowdoin.
“Last year was special to our seniors. It was great to see their reaction and to see the reaction of the community,” Colby coach Jack Cosgrove told me Thursday afternoon. He took over the program in 2018, ending a brief hiatus after 23 years as head coach at the University of Maine
Colby’s seniors this year, led by Rhode Islander Chris George, are in a similar position. They are 1-7, another disappointing season about to end. But that one victory was a 23-20 thriller over Bates, putting the Mules in position to retain the CBB title. If they beat Bowdoin Saturday and win back-to-back championships, these Mules will have something truly special to reminisce about when they gather for reunions.
Winning a rivalry game is an elixir that dulls the ache of losses that would have, could have or should have been victories. It’s true with Harvard-Yale, Army-Navy, Notre Dame-Southern Cal, Alabama-Auburn, Michigan-Ohio State, Duke-North Carolina, Florida-Georgia, Cal-Stanford. You get the picture, right?
Well, it’s also true in the New England Small College Athletic Conference, or NESCAC, where rivalries go back to the 19th century. Williams and Amherst played football for the first time in 1884. Colby, Bowdoin and Bates started going at it in 1889. The CBB series became formal only in 1965, but Colby and Bowdoin have played 130 times (Bowdoin leads, 70-51-9), and Colby and Bates have clashed 120 times (Colby leads, 67-47-6).
Crowds for these games are much smaller, of course, than the 100,000 spectators for Ohio State-Michigan, but emotion runs just as deep. Chris George got his first taste of Colby-Bowdoin in 2016. Colby romped, 32-16. Colby won in 2017, 31-20. Bates edged Colby and Bowdoin both seasons, however, and took home the CBB title. The Bobcats won four consecutive CBB championships until 2018, when Colby posted a 21-6 victory over Bates and ended the season with a 30-14 win at home over Bowdoin.
So, Chris George and his fellow seniors have not lost to Bowdoin and no doubt want to keep it that way. Chris is a 5-foot-9, 195-pound running back from North Kingstown. His stats for his first three years were modest – 21 carries for 25 yards and 12 receptions for 99 yards – but his leadership traits convinced his teammates to elect him as one of three captains this season. He has played in every game, rushed 109 times for 413 yards and scored three touchdowns. He has also fumbled four times and lost three, but those bobbles occurred early, and he has put them behind him, Cosgrove told me.
“Chris is a great kid, the kind of football player I’m used to having,” he said. “He knows the game. He loves the game. He’s obviously a coach’s son.”
Chris’s dad, John George, is the head football coach at East Greenwich High School. His grandfather, Frank George, is the retired head athletic trainer at Brown University. Frank treated Brown football players for decades.
“Chris runs the ball, catches the ball, blocks for us. He’s a four-down back. He’s on our punt team. He’s a very special kid,” Cosgrove said.
Chris has endured a few injuries this season, but unlike many teammates who have remained sidelined, he has bounced back. Cosgrove hopes he has one more bounce back in him. He suffered a lower leg injury against Tufts last Saturday and was on crutches by the end of the 35-10 loss.
“I hope he is available. He practiced today, and now we have 48 hours to evaluate him,” Cosgrove said.
Chris is studying biochemistry and was named to the NESCAC All-Academic team last fall. He plans to attend medical school. His next big test, though, is Saturday afternoon at Brunswick, Maine: Colby-Bowdoin for the CBB title and a chance to ease the pain of a losing season.
(Full disclosure: I played baseball at Colby 1969-1971 and still take great delight when Colby beats Bowdoin in anything, from games on fields, courts and rinks to positions in executive suites. I’m sure the feeling is mutual.)
