COLLEGE
FOOTBALL FINAL SCORE
Middlebury 26, Tufts 7
At Somerville, MA
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Game
Statistics
SOMERVILLE -- The Tufts University football team finished its
2009 season on Saturday with a defeat at the hands of Middlebury
College. The Jumbos fell to the Panthers by a score of 26-7 on
Seniors Day at Ellis Oval/Zimman Field.
Pounding rain and muddy conditions made maneuvers difficult and
forced mistakes from both teams. On the Tufts end, one mistake came
early on as a flea-flicker attempt on the first play from scrimmage
was intercepted by Middlebury defensive back Connor Green
(Wellesley, MA). Tufts quarterback Tom McManama (Winthrop,
MA) threw two interceptions while gaining 130 yards on 16
completions with a touchdown.
Stoic defense and dropped balls by the Panthers forced them to
go three and out, and it seemed that both teams were having
difficulty moving the ball early. Late in the first quarter, a pass
interference penalty and a personal foul cost the Jumbos serious
yardage and gave Middlebury the ball deep in the offensive end. The
Panthers seized on the opportunity when junior quarterback Donald
McKillop (Poway, CA) connected with wide receiver Tim Monaghan
(Rye, NY) on a 13-yard touchdown pass.
McKillop threw for 336 yards and three touchdowns on the
afternoon and has already put his name into the NESCAC record books
with single-season records for completions (262), attempts (405),
yards (2909), touchdown passes (22), and total offense (2873
yards). He also holds all 10 Middlebury single-season and career
passing records.
At the start of the second quarter, McKillop found senior
running back Erik Rostad (York, ME) sneaking out of the backfield
on the left side. Rostad made the catch and scampered 48 years to
put Middlebury up 13-0 after the extra point failed. Rostad caught
six balls for 123 yards and the touchdown in the victory, while
Monaghan and James Millard each caught four balls for 40 yards.
With the four receptions, Millard became the single-season
receptions leader for the Panthers. Millard caught 64 balls on the
season, surpassing Tom Cleaver, who caught 62 passes in 2004.
The Jumbos were able to capitalize themselves on an opponent's
mistake in the third quarter. With just over ten minutes left,
Millard fumbled a punt at his own 33-yard line. The ball was
pounced on by Tufts freshman Austin Crittenden (Deerfield,
IL), and the Jumbos didn't take long to cash in. The next
play saw McManama complete a 33-yard pass to junior wide receiver
Steve Cusano (Waltham, MA), who leapt into the end
zone to put the Jumbos on the board. Cusano caught four balls for
49 yards, while senior fullback Noah Hatfield-Biondo
(Southampton, NY) was the only other Jumbo with multiple
receptions, grabbing two passes for 20 yards.
A 23-yard pass to tight end David Reed (New Canaan, CT) and a
15-yard rush for Rostad got Middlebury back into the red zone, and
McKillop found first year Billy Chapman (Greenwich, CT) in the
middle of the end zone on a 13-yard completion to put the Panthers
back up by 13 points (20-7). Rostad, who added 78 yards on 23
carries on the ground, would go on to punch in a two-yard run with
11:30 left in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach from
the home team.
The Middlebury defense sacked McManama six times for a loss of
51 yards on the afternoon. Two of those sacks came from senior
defensive lineman Taylor Robinson (Summit, NJ). Eric Kamback
(Mahwah, NJ) had 10 solo tackles and assisted on 10 more to lead
the way for the Panthers, while junior Andrew Poulin (Irvington,
NY) had seven solo tackles, which included 3.5 tackles for a loss,
and one sack that set the Jumbos back 10 yards. Senior Robert
Sincerbeaux (Weston, MA) also added a sack for an 11-yard loss.
Junior Pat Bailey (Beverly, MA) rushed 14 times
for 44 yards to lead the Jumbo running game. He also caught a team
high seven passes for 41 yards on the afternoon. On the defensive
end, senior Dan Stebbins (Wilton, CT) had eight
tackles for the Jumbos and a sack in his last game as a Jumbo. He
was one of 19 Jumbos honored on Seniors Day. Sophomore linebacker
Ferras Albitar (Coto de Caza, CA) added five
tackles and nabbed the only interception thrown by McKillop.
Sophomore linebacker Phil Artis (Bedminster, NJ)
added two tackles for losses and one of the Jumbo's three sacks.
Seniors Chris Seufert (Whitehall, PA) and
Alex Perry (Danvers, MA) each added multiple
tackles in their final Tufts game.
Middlebury has now won four games in a row and finishes their
season with a 5-3 mark, while the Jumbos fall to 2-6 with the
defeat.
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