Football ends year with a win

The 14 graduating seniors of the Middlebury football team ended the season, and their careers, on Saturday with a dominating win over the Tufts Jumbos. Unfazed by the downpour and the muddy conditions, the Panthers exhibited their strength and talent with a 26-7 victory.

“After starting 1-3, I feel we all really came together and found an identity as a team, said tri-captain Jamie Millard ’10. “[We] battled through lots of adversity with our game against undefeated Trinity, and our two games in the pouring rain at Bates and Tufts.”

Similarly, tri-captain Paul Bennett ’10 was satisfied with Middlebury’s ability to execute a “well-rounded and complete game against a tough Tufts team [after] a rough start to the season.” After struggling with completing the big plays and playing to potential for 60 minutes earlier in the season, the performances in the final four games demonstrated Middlebury’s potency and proved that Middlebury remains one of the strongest teams in the NESCAC.

The dire conditions tested both teams, and forced an atypical amount of errors. Middlebury fumbled a three times, while the Jumbos fumbled twice. A Middlebury fumble led to the Jumbos’ only touchdown. However, Middlebury’s handling of the adverse conditions and ability to capitalize on the Jumbos’ errors proved to be the differential.

Tufts quarterback Tom McNamara was intercepted twice by Charlie Taft ’11 and Bill Greven ’10. As Middlebury took advantage of these mistakes, Tim Monaghan ’10 put the first points on the board after pass interference and personal foul was called against the Jumbos. Millard found that “[quarterback] Donnie [McKillop ’11] was great in managing the game and passing the ball in such awful conditions.”

Once again, the defense was nearly impenetrable. Millard noted that “the defense was absolutely dominant, as [Eric] Kamback [’10] had a beast of a day with 20 tackles.” Kamback’s second 20-tackle game tied the school record.

Taylor Robinson ’10 also had a strong defensive performance. In his final game, he was responsible for two of Middlebury’s six sacks of McNamara.

Offensively, McKillop completed 336 passing yards for three touchdowns, nearly three times the amount of McNamara’s 130 yards performance. Once again, McKillop’s performance earned him NESCAC player of the week. With a year remaining, he owns all of Middlebury single-season and career passing records, as well as the NESCAC single-season records for completions (262), attempts (405), yards (2873), touchdown passes (22) and total offense (2967).

Erik Rostad ’10, Billy Chapman ’13 and Millard were the major offensive contributors. Rostad finished his impressive career with an equally impressive game, as he had 78 rushing yards and six catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns. Chapman had two catches for 24 yards and a touchdown. Millard’s four receptions lifted him over Tom Cleaver ’04 to become Middlebury’s single-season reception leader with 64 catches.