Box Score SOMERVILLE – The Tufts University football team finished with 662 yards of total offense and shut out Bowdoin College for the second straight year in a 49-0 Homecoming win over the Polar Bears Saturday at Ellis Oval / Zimman Field.
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| Freshman QB Trevon Woodson came on to produce 115 yards of total offense and a touchdown. |
Junior wide receiver OJ Armstrong tied a Tufts record with three touchdown receptions and finished with six catches for 142 yards. Graduate Frank Roche added 137 yards on seven catches as Tufts (3-3) passed for 386 yards. Senior quarterback Jacob Carroll had 325 passing yards with three touchdowns.
Tufts senior linebacker Greg Holt recorded double-digit tackles for the fourth straight week and the fifth time this season with 11. Sophomore defensive back Brandyn Jones finished with four pass break-ups as the Jumbos broke up 10 passes in total. Tufts has not surrendered a point against Bowdoin in over 160 minutes of game action dating back to 2017, and has not allowed a Polar Bear touchdown since 2016.
The 662 yards of total offense gained by the Jumbos is just nine fewer than the school record of 671 set against Amherst College in 2010. Tufts accumulated 33 first downs today and averaged 8.4 yards per play.
Ironically, the Jumbos had just 35 yards of total offense in the first quarter. They held Bowdoin to 14 and the game was tied 0-0 at the end of one. Bowdoin had three sacks in the first 15 minutes, including 1.5 by senior LB Joe Gowetski.
The Jumbos got rolling in the second quarter as Carroll and Armstrong connected on a 49-yard touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead at the 13:41 mark.
The Polar Bears had their best possession of the day following the kickoff. A Junior QB Matthew Marcantano to sophomore Brendan Ward pass on the first play of the drive went 41 yards to the Tufts 34. Bowdoin would go for it on fourth and sixth from the Tufts 30, but Holt stopped senior RB Nate Richam-Odoi short to turn the ball over on downs.
On the ensuing Jumbo possession, Carroll passed 46 yards to Roche setting Tufts up first and 10 on the Polar Bear 28. A Bowdoin pass interference penalty on a fourth and 11 play by Tufts extended the drive. Jumbo senior Dom Borelli rushed in from nine yards out to put the Jumbos up 14-0 with 8:44 on the second-quarter clock.
On the next Jumbos drive, Bowdoin junior Soren Birkeland forced a fumble that was recovered by the Polar Bears at their own 37. However, they could not continue that momentum on offense.
Tufts then went 83 yards in just five plays and 1:04 of clock time with Armstrong catching a 17-yard touchdown pass from Carroll for a 21-0 Jumbo lead with 2:11 to play until halftime. Carroll was four for five passing for all 83 yards during the possession.
Bowdoin moved to the Tufts 34 on their first possession of the second half, including a pair Marcantano completions to Ward that converted third downs (13 and nine yards). However, the Polar Bears went for it on fourth down and threw an incomplete pass. Tufts took over and scored on their first play when Armstrong brought a Carroll pass 66 yards to the end zone to put Tufts up 28-0 at 11:03 of the third.
Freshman quarterback Trevor Woodson was featured in Tufts' next touchdown drive, running for 38 yards on the first play and passing for 23 more to junior Brendan Dolan on the next. Junior co-captain Mike Pedrini handled the rest, including a two-yard TD run at 8:09 of the third making it 35-0.
Bowdoin got to the Tufts 35 late in the third, including 10- and 15-yard receptions by junior Gregory Olson from Marcantano. However, they were again stopped on fourth down by the Jumbos.
In the fourth quarter, Tufts added a 16-yard touchdown run by Woodson at 9:16 and a nine-yard scoring run by senior Jay Tyler with 4:31 on the clock. An interception by sophomore Spencer Alligood – the first of his career – led to the Woodson touchdown.
Bowdoin did not get inside the Tufts 30-yard line all day while accumulating 181 total yards. The Jumbos held the Polar Bears to 4 for 19 on third down (21 percent). Richam-Odoi entered as the league's leading rusher, but the Jumbos limited him to 27 yards on 11 carries and held the visitors to 38 yards rushing on 29 attempts overall.
Tufts rushed 48 times for 276 yards, with nine different Jumbos carrying the ball. Woodson led with 54 yards on nine rushes while also completing seven of eight passes for 61 yards. Jumbo junior kicker Matt Alswanger was seven for seven on extra points.
Bowdoin's Marcantano finished 16 for 36 for 143 yards, including five connections with Ward for 65 yards. Ward also returned three kickoffs for 61 yards. Gowetski led the visitors with 11 tackles, including 4.5 for losses.
Next week the Jumbos host a Hamilton College team that upset Amherst College 31-28 today. Bowdoin hosts undefeated and first-place Middlebury next Saturday.
