Box Score
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Tommy Castle had the defense's second pick-six of
the season
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BRUNSWICK, Me. - Sparked by their special teams and a balanced
offensive effort, the Bowdoin College football team rallied from an
early 12-point deficit to earn their first victory of the season,
22-15, over Tufts University on Saturday. The Polar Bears improve
to 1-2 this season while the Jumbos fall to 1-2 overall.
Bowdoin was paced by the efforts of first-year running back Zach
Donnarumma, who rushed for a career-high 114 yards, and receiver
Pat Noone, who caught 13 passes, one shy of his own Bowdoin record.
Rookie Griffin Cardew intercepted a pair of passes for the Polar
Bears in the win.
Tufts senior quarterback Anthony Fucillo (Winthrop, MA) set a new
team record with 356 yards passing. He had set the attempts and
completions records last week against Bates with 71 and 35. In 69
attempts today, he completed 34 and broke the 28-year old Jumbo
record of 354 yards by Dave Piermarini against Amherst on October
30, 1982.
The visitors easily marched down the field after receiving the
opening kick-off for the game's first score. Tufts went 66 yards in
nine plays, with quarterback Fuccillo finding Pat Bailey
(Beverly, MA) over the middle on the drive's final play to give the
visitors a 6-0 lead just 3:25 into the game after a missed.
The Jumbos doubled their lead just moments later as a pass from
Bowdoin quarterback R.J. Shea to Paul Hinman was bobbled and fell
into the waiting arms of Tufts' Tommy Castle (Yarrow Point, WA),
who returned the pick 48 yards down the sideline to paydirt.
Bowdoin blocked the extra-point, keeping the score 12-0.
Bowdoin found the endzone early in the second quarter on a drive
of 60 over six plays. After Cardew's first interception set the
Polar Bears up at midfield, Shea found Noone over the middle for 15
yards and, four plays later, found Dave Westhaver down the right
sideline for a 24-yard touchdown strike that cut the lead to
12-7.
Tufts replied with a 15-play, 67-yard drive that ended in an
Adam Auerbach (Glen Rock, NJ) 28-yard field goal, but Bowdoin
quickly answered with a score of their own. Shea hooked up with
Sean O'Malley for 18 yards and then Noone for 22 to put Bowdoin in
good field position. Donnarumma took it from there, rushing for 20
yards up the middle and then taking a one-yard plunge into the end
zone to make it 15-13 at halftime.
After a three-and-out by Bowdoin, Tufts also went three-and-out,
but a bobbled snap on their punt attempt gave the Polar Bears the
ball at the Jumbos' 18. Donnarumma capped the drive with a slashing
run off tackle to give Bowdoin their first lead of the game, 19-15
after a missed two-point conversion. Bill Donahue added a key
35-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to up the lead to 22-15
with 13:21 remaining.
Bowdoin punter Grant White made it difficult for Tufts over the
final quarter, placing two punts deep inside Tufts territory and
Cardew sealed the win with an interception as the Jumbos were
driving for the game-tying score with 1:21 left.
Fucillo's top targets for Tufts were Billy Mahler
(Milwaukee, WI) with 11 catches for 103 yards, and sophomore Dylan
Haas (Yorktown Heights, NY) at nine catches for 138 yards.
Senior Matt Murray (Winthrop, MA) led Tufts with nine total tackles
while junior Donnie
Simmons (Houston, TX) had six stops and 1.5 sacks. Despite
totaling 407 yards of offense, the Jumbos could only muster 2 for 4
attempts in the red zone as Bowdoin's defense bent but did not
break in allowing just nine points to the Tufts offense.
Shea went 15 for 28 for 173 yards passing for Bowdoin while also
rushing for 39 yards. Thirteen of his passes went to Noone, who
fell one catch shy of his school mark of 14 set last year against
Wesleyan. Noone finished with 230 all-purpose yards for the
contest. Mark Oppenheim ended with a team-leading 11 tackles for
the Polar Bears, who had eight pass break-ups, led by Cardew's
three.
Game Statistics
Game release courtesy of Bowdoin College
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