SOMERVILLE, MA (November 14, 2026) -- Tufts University finished its 2026 season with a win on Senior Day, beating Middlebury College 10-3 on a sunny, 45-degree afternoon at Ellis Oval.

The Jumbos were outgained 404 yards to 182, but they intercepted Middlebury three times, blocked a field goal and stopped the Panthers on a fourth-and-short, then held on with another stop as Middlebury drove to the Tufts 13 in the final seconds. The victory lifted Tufts to 6-3 on the year, while Middlebury finished 4-5. The win marked the third season in the last four that the Jumbos finished with six or more wins

Neither team got much going early. Tufts received the opening kickoff and went three-and-out on its second possession, but Ted Gialanella pinned Middlebury at its own 1-yard line with a 55-yard punt on the first drive of the game. The Panthers answered with a nine-play, 55-yard march behind Jordan Angstreich, who caught three passes for 54 yards on the drive, but a false start on fourth-and-1 pushed them back and they punted into the end zone. Tufts then lost 10 yards on a three-play series, and Middlebury controlled the ball for much of the rest of the quarter. The first quarter ended scoreless, with Connor McClellan breaking off a 16-yard run on the last play to put Middlebury in Tufts territory.

The Jumbos' defense answered in the second quarter. Middlebury ran to the Tufts 27 and went for it on fourth-and-2, but Aidan Moss's pass fell incomplete and Tufts took over on downs. The next time Middlebury got near the end zone, Ben Frisoli came through, blocking Yaseen Mousa's 40-yard field goal attempt after the Panthers had pushed to the Tufts 23.

Middlebury finally broke the deadlock with 2:12 left in the half. Moss hit Angstreich for 36 yards and McClellan ripped off a 22-yard run to the Tufts 10, but the Jumbos held on three straight plays inside the 10, with two incompletions and a quarterback hurry from Benjamin Rich, forcing Mousa to settle for a 26-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead.

Tufts needed just 1:38 to flip the game. On the first play of the drive, Nate Johnson dropped back and found Keller Rogers over the middle for a 64-yard gain to the Middlebury 11. Christian Shapiro ran for seven more, Johnson picked up a first down with a 3-yard keeper to the 1, and Shapiro bulled in from a yard out with 34 seconds left. Caden Lawlor's extra point made it 7-3 at the half. Rogers finished with two catches for 72 yards, the longest of them the biggest play of the afternoon for the Tufts offense.

The third quarter belonged to the defense. Drew Reed intercepted Moss at the Tufts 27 and returned it 24 yards to the Middlebury 49, giving the offense a short field. Johnson ran for 10 yards and Matt Rios caught an 11-yarder to move the Jumbos to the Middlebury 21, but a sack and a short third-down gain stalled the drive, and Lawlor's 39-yard field goal try went wide right with 7:05 to go. The teams then traded punts, and neither could score. Middlebury ran 18 plays for 76 yards in the quarter, while Tufts managed only 37, but the Panthers could not turn those yards into points.

The Jumbos were able to then add on in the fourth quarter. Grant Righellis intercepted Moss at the Tufts 28 to end a Middlebury drive that had reached the Tufts 40. Tufts then went 63 yards in 15 plays and used 8:18 of the clock. A Middlebury personal foul on a Johnson sack gave Tufts a first down at its own 42, and Johnson then twice found Caden McCallum on third down, for 11 yards and for 9. Shapiro, who carried 13 times for 44 yards and the touchdown on the day, broke free for a 21-yard run to the Middlebury 11. The drive stalled at the Tufts 9, and Lawlor converted a 26-yard field goal with 5:52 to play to make it 10-3.

Middlebury would not go quietly. Moss led the Panthers 72 yards in 11 plays, converting a third-and-10 with a 20-yard pass to Luis Kuehberger and following with completions of 9 yards to Angstreich and 18 to Jeremy Kiefer. McClellan converted a third-and-1 with a 7-yard run and carried again to the Tufts 21, but Reed stepped in front of a Moss pass at the Tufts 16 with 1:02 left for his second interception of the afternoon and the Jumbos' third.

Middlebury used all three of its timeouts to force a Tufts punt, which Gialanella sent 29 yards to the Middlebury 48. The Panthers had one last chance, and Moss moved them 35 yards in four plays, hitting Kiefer for 23 and Tommy Hetherington for 10 to reach the Tufts 13. On the final snap, his pass to Angstreich in the end zone fell incomplete, clinching the victory for the Jumbos. 

Tufts posted 182 yards of offense, with Johnson sacked four times, but the Jumbos finished 2-for-2 in the red zone and got the one big play they needed. Middlebury's offense piled up yardage, with Moss throwing for 255 yards and Angstreich catching 13 passes for 168 yards, while McClellan ran 31 times for 134 yards. But the Panthers went 1-for-2 on field goals, 1-for-3 on fourth down and 1-for-2 in the red zone, and the three interceptions made the difference.

Ryan Horigan led the Tufts defense with 14 tackles, including a tackle for loss, while Riley Yaker and Johnny Ferrelli each made 12. Grant Righellis added seven tackles and an interception, and Reed finished with two interceptions and five tackles. Gialanella punted seven times for a 39.3-yard average, and Tufts did not commit a penalty all afternoon. Shapiro's touchdown was his 10th of the season, a career-high for scores in a season. 

The Jumbos senior class finished with 23 total wins for their career, one of the winningest classes in program history. 

--JUMBOS--