BRUNSWICK — The Bowdoin College and Trinity College football teams are scheduled to clash for the 42nd time at Whittier Field Saturday afternoon. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m.

At the midpoint of the 2012 NESCAC Football season, the Polar Bears sit at 1-3 following a disappointing road loss at Hamilton last weekend. The Bantams have rolled to a 4-0 record and currently sit in a three-way tie for first place in the conference.

Live coverage

As with every Bowdoin home game, there will be live webcast (http://athletics.bowdoin.edu/webcast), live stats (http://livestats.prestosports.com/bowdoin) and live radio coverage courtesy of WBOR (http://www.wbor.org/static/ wbor.m3u).

Polar Bear preview

For the second straight week, the Bowdoin defense permitted just two scores but the Polar Bear offense was able to convert on only two of its four trips into the red zone as the Polar Bears fell at Hamilton, 14-13.

Defensively, Bowdoin has improved to fifth in the conference (327.0 yards/game) and, after allowing 42 points to Middlebury in the seasonopener, has yielded just 15.3 points per game over the last three weeks.

Griffin Cardew has led the way for the Bowdoin defense with 41 tackles to rank third in the conference. Senior cocaptain Beau Breton is eighth in the league with 34 stops this fall.

On the other side of the ball, the return of tailback Zach Donnarumma has sparked the Polar Bear rushing attack. Bowdoin ranks fifth in the conference at 143.2 yards/game as the junior tailback, who has yet to qualifying statistically for the league rankings with just two games played, has averaged 110.5 yards the last two weeks.

Quarterback Thomas Romero is sixth in the league with 147.0 passing yards/game while sophomore David Black has been his top target, catching 16 passes for 160 yards. Placekicker Jimmy Garvey has connected on a league-best six field goals this year, including a pair against Hamilton last Saturday.

Scouting the Bantams

The Bantams have faced little resistance in rolling to four wins to open the campaign. Excluding the team’s tight 17-13 win at Williams in week two, Trinity has beaten their three other opponents by a cumulative score of 130- 37. Trinity leads the conference in total offense (486.2 yards/game) and total defense (214.2 yards/game) and owns the league’s top rusher in junior Evan Bunker, who leads the conference at 161.0 yards/game.

Senior quarterback Ryan Burgess is averaging 181.2 yards passing/game and has been the league’s most efficient thrower with a 166.6 rating thanks to nine TD’s and just two INT’s.

Last week against Tufts, Trinity piled up 361 yards on the ground, including 171 from Bunker, to win its 45th consecutive home game, 40-7.

Bowdoin vs. Trinity

Trinity has won 13 straight against Bowdoin, dating back to 1999. The Bantams hold a 33-6-2 edge in the all-time series which dates back to 1912. Bowdoin’s last victory over the Bantams came in a 19-0 decision in 1998.