Saturday, Sept. 29, Middlebury improved to 2-0 with a 42-13 win over Colby in Waterville, Maine. The game was a tale of two halves for the Panthers, who turned the ball over three times in the first half, and found themselves in an early deficit. The momentum — and the game — turned at the stroke of halftime.
Already trailing Colby 13-7 with six seconds left in the first half, the Panthers faced the possibility of falling behind by two scores with the Mules lining up to attempt a 28-yard field goal. Instead, Matthew Crimmins ’14 came off the edge, laying out to block the kick, which was scooped up by Joel Blockowicz ’15 and returned 86 yards for a touchdown. Middlebury tacked on the extra point as the final act of the half, completing a 10-point swing and taking a 14-13 lead at the break.
“It was incredible, because Colby was going to go in flying high and we were going to be thinking about all those turnovers and how poorly we played,” Ritter said. “[Then the blocked kick returned for a touchdown] happens and all of a sudden we’re jumping up and down on the sidelines and we’re running into the locker room, everyone’s high–fiving and excited because we’re ahead by one [despite] playing so poorly, so it was a huge momentum shift.”
Middlebury seized control of the game in the second half, as quarterback Mac Foote ’14 and wide receiver Zach Driscoll ’13 connected for three second half touchdowns, adding to one first half, as well.
“We liked the coverage we were getting,” Driscoll said. “The defense was focusing a lot of its attention on [Billy Chapman ’13]. It seemed like they were putting a lot of attention inside, which gave me an opportunity [on the outside] in my one-on-one matchups, with a little bit more space, and [Foote] recognized that. He was throwing some great balls and making great reads.”
The Panthers took the opening drive of the second half and marched 74 yards on nine plays — all through the air — to take a 21-13 lead. Foote completed six of nine attempts on the drive, including a 36-yard pass to Brendan Rankowitz ’15 before finding Driscoll on fourth and seven from the Colby eight-yard line for the score.
After forcing a three-and-out on the Mules’ subsequent drive, Middlebury was primed to extend its lead. Following a 37-yard completion to Rankowitz, however, Foote was intercepted for the second time by Colby defensive back Jason Buco at the Colby three-yard line.
Despite Middlebury’s fourth turnover of the game, the Panthers defense, led by Tim Patricia ’16 and defensive captain John Wiet ’13, nearly added to the score with a safety. On first down from the Colby three-yard line, Patricia, the Panthers first-year linebacker, brought down Colby running back Justin Ciero for a three-yard loss at the shadow of the goal line — one of his team-leading 11 tackles in the game.
“[Patricia] has an inordinate amount of poise for a first-year player,” Ritter said. “He really understands the game, understands what we’re trying to do and he has the ability. What holds first-years back most of the time is the speed of the game and the mental part of the game and he’s very in tune to what we’re doing.”
Wiet echoed his coach’s sentiments.
“[Patricia] has been a huge addition to our team,” the defensive captain said. “He’s stepped up in ways that people didn’t expect.”
Bolstered by the play of the defense and excellent field position, Foote — who started the third quarter with 23 consecutive pass attempts — found a rhythm, leading the Panthers on three straight touchdown drives, extending the lead to 42-13 in just over 12 minutes. The junior from Newton, Mass. passed for 240 of his 388 yards and four of his five touchdowns in the second half despite sitting out the majority of the fourth quarter.
Driscoll, meanwhile, had a career afternoon, hauling in 11 receptions for 128 yards and four touchdown catches, earning NESCAC Player of the Week honors for his performance. Number 11 ignited the offense as all but two of his receptions resulted either in first downs or touchdowns, including a number of long catches on third, and even fourth and long.
On the far side of the field, meanwhile, his teammate Rankowitz gave the Colby secondary fits as he continued running by defenders en route to seven catches for 110 yards and a score, highlighted by catches of 36 and 37 yards.
“Any time you have a wide receiver who’s making the plays [Rankowitz] is making it’s enormous because [the defense] can’t do things where they try to take [Chapman] or me out of the game,” Driscoll said. “So him having a big game is paramount to our success as a team this season.”
While running back Remi Ashkar ’13 struggled to gain yards on the ground — he rushed 10 times for just 27 yards — the offensive line was nearly perfect in its protection of its quarterback, Foote, not allowing a sack on more than 50 passing attempts for the second straight week and giving up just three quarterback hits.
“[The offensive line] is doing a great job. They take a tremendous amount of pride in what they do, Coach Early does a great job of coaching them and those guys take it personally in terms of protecting the quarterback and opening holes for [Ashkar].”
Defensively, meanwhile, the Panthers were dominant, blanking the Mules in the second half and limiting Colby to just 13 points total despite four Middlebury turnovers.
“We have a lot more experience with another year under the same [defensive system],” said Wiet. “People are a lot more familiar with it and [they] are stepping into their roles.”
The team will face their biggest test of the early season this Saturday, Oct. 6, with defending NESCAC Champions Amherst (2-0) traveling to play at Youngman Field at Alumni Stadium.
Blocked Kick Ignites Panthers 42-13 Romp
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