Middlebury football falls to Colby in Waterville

Author: Nicolas Martell

In just the second game of the season, the Panthers' endeavor into Colby College's Alfond Stadium ended in a stunning 24-19 defeat for the previously 1-0 Middlebury program. The entire football organization returned to campus late Saturday night, distressed by the challenge of having lost to a team that they had confidently trounced last season by over 30 points.

After a scoreless first quarter and a failed attempt to take advantage of an early Middlebury turnover, the Mules' opening touchdown of the game was quickly answered by the Panthers.

After Middlebury failed to convert an early extra-point attempt, Colby was the only team to reach the end zone in the third quarter, heading into the final 15 minutes with a 17-6 lead. Looking back at their growing desperation for points, junior Phil Hastings simply concluded that "through the entire opening and first three quarters of the game, we were stuck playing so much defensive ball that our legitimate offense never got a solid opportunity to click."

Colby ultimately held off a late charge by Middlebury at the end of the second half, stopping the Panthers' onside kick after Tim Dillon's '09 touchdown had made it a 5 point game.

"If only we could have kept up that last series of offensive strength," said Eric Rostad '10, "we didn't convert the third downs, and we stopped ourselves with penalties."

Looking back, a series of mental errors returned to haunt the Panthers throughout the final half. "I'm telling you, it was those darn penalties that killed us," said Jack Kramer '10 after a day of Sunday practice spent watching game film clips. The team's 12 penalties cost its efforts 110 yards and interrupted key plays, including a clutch drive halted late in the third quarter as a 25-yard connection from Donnie McKillop '11 to Jamie Millard '10 was quickly called back on a holding penalty.

At the end of the day, McKillop, last week's NESCAC Player of the Week, finished by going 28 of 39 for 343 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions on the afternoon and led the Panthers with 21 of their 55 yards rushing.

Also, with the Panthers going into a hurry-up offense fairly early in the game, McKilliop was charged with making plenty of the offensive play-calls in the second-half from the line of scrimmage. As he has already several times during his brief Middlebury career, the sophomore responded, leading second-half scoring drives of 62 and 63 yards.

On the receiving end, Andrew Matson '09 caught 10 passes en route to a career-best 177 yards with a touchdown, with tight end Charles Holm snagging five receptions for a total of 36 yards.

Erupting on defense with 14 tackles, alongside teammate Michael Quinn's '09 eight tackles and additional two pass breakups, middle linebacker Eric Kamback '10 noted the growing importance, "as the season progresses, to prevent the mental mistakes that resulted in missed assignments and ultimately played a major role in the loss."

Despite the final result, the first strike in the loss column for the Panthers during this young 2008 campaign illuminates much of the program's great recent success. The penalty-ridden loss saw the Panthers significantly out-gain the Mules in the air with a 343-92 passing advantage, also a strength in their season opening win two weeks ago against Bowdoin.

Colby nevertheless accomplished an impressive feat in ending Middlebury's five-game winning streak that dates back to the 2007 season and includes the program's NESCAC championship.

As the bruised Panthers awoke this Sunday morning, the athletes united around a new team dynamic during their Sunday practice in a program-wide craving to take down the competition. This Saturday, Middlebury will play a tough game against Amherst, whose 2-0 record indicates that the Lord Jeffs may be hard to beat.