Panthers Take Share of NESCAC Title

Running off the field for the final time in a Middlebury uniform with his team leading Tufts 52-10 late in the third quarter, McCallum Foote ’14 began celebrating with his teammates. Foote had just thrown his seventh touchdown pass of the game — a single-game program record — but the source of celebration was not Foote’s performance, but the news that had traveled from Hartford, Conn., where Trinity held a substantial fourth quarter lead over then-undefeated Wesleyan, guaranteeing Middlebury a share of the NESCAC title.

Entering the day, Middlebury needed a win over Tufts and a Wesleyan loss at Trinity — where the Bantams had won 50 straight regular season games — to finish the season as co-NESCAC champions. The afternoon started on the right foot, with Trinity opening a quick, 13-0 first-quarter lead over Wesleyan before Middlebury and Tufts kicked off.

The opening sequence for Middlebury was less persuasive, as the offensively challenged Jumbos marched inside Middlebury territory before being turned away. On Middlebury’s first offensive possession, Foote dropped back in the face of oncoming pressure — the result of a missed pre-snap read — and threw a fluttering pass over the middle that was snatched out of the air by cornerback Garrett Ewanouski, who ran underneath Foote’s intended receiver to make the play on the football, returning the football to the Middlebury nine-yard line.

“I should have shifted the protection towards the field side [before the snap] and on that play I didn’t really have a check down,” Foote said. “I knew I would have to get it out quick and it sort of sailed on me as I was getting hit.”

As they have all season long, the defense braced with its back against the goal line, forcing a Tufts three-and-out and short 20-yard field goal attempt that kicker Willie Holmquist converted to give the Jumbos an early 3-0 lead.

The Panthers offense that had struggled to work in rhythm and find consistency early in the season continued its torrid aerial assault from the previous week, when Foote passed for 332 yards and five touchdown passes in less than three quarters of work. Saturday, Foote somehow managed to amplify his production, throwing touchdown passes on each of the five drives following the interception, including three in the final 5:07 of the first half.

The barrage started with an 11-play, 79-yard drive during which Foote targeted first-year wide receiver Grant Luna ’17 and tight end Billy Sadik-Khan ’14 extensively. The drive culminated in a 15-yard Sadik-Khan touchdown catch, one of three on the day for the senior, who was named to the D3football.com national team of the week for the second time this season.

Great starting field position on the next Middlebury possession gave the offense a chance to open a two-score lead. Senior running back Matt Rea ’14 scampered for 12 yards to put the offense in motion inside Tufts territory. The diminutive back, returning from an ankle injury that had sidelined him for parts of the previous three games, ran for 54 yards in the first quarter alone, en route to a 21-carry, 118-yard performance.

“This year, especially, we were able to run the ball when we had to,” Rea said. “Obviously we have Mac and we’re going to throw the ball 60 times a game, but there were times when we could really pound the ball when teams were dropping eight [players into coverage] and daring us to run the ball.”

Four straight Foote completions later, Middlebury found the end zone as Sadik-Kahn once again found separation, this time releasing from his defender towards the back end.

Trailing 14-3, the Jumbos herded together, charging 71 yards on 12 plays, capped off by running back Zach Trause who tusked his way into the end zone from a yard out to cut the Middlebury lead to 14-10.

The Panthers responded with ruthless efficiency, extending the lead back to 11 points with a 12-play drive that included a pair of crucial fourth down conversions in Tufts territory. First, on fourth-and-six, Foote hit Sadik-Khan on an underneath route that the nimble tight end turned up field for a gain of eight yards and a first down. Three plays later, facing the same down and distance from the Jumbos’ 30-yard line, Foote and Luna connected for a 15-yard pick up. On the next play, sophomore Matt Minno ’16 beat his man on a post route, catching a 15-yard touchdown pass sandwiched in between the trailing corner and the late safety.

Trailing 21-10 with 5:07 remaining in the first half, Tufts had an opportunity to cut into the Middlebury lead and go into halftime trailing by a single possession.

What transpired subsequently, however, essentially pushed the game out of reach as the Jumbos went three-and-out, punting the ball back to the Panthers with 3:55 left. The offense needed just 42 seconds to widen the gap as Rea gained the first 26 yards — 13 each on the ground and through the air — before Foote rolled to his right, reared back and unleashed a pass over the top of the Tufts secondary, which Minno ran under, proceeding untouched into the end zone for a 58-yard touchdown catch and run.

“We actually missed on the previous drive [on the same play] and I overthrew him,” Foote said. “And I told him we were coming back to that play because of how they were [defending it with their safeties]. So we ran the play and I saw him out of the corner of my eye, I pulled up and he made a great catch and outran the guys to the end zone.”

Middlebury squeezed one final scoring drive out of the first half — again with help from the defense, this time in the form of an Andrew McGrath ’17 interception, the first of his career. Following the takeaway, the offense took over at its own 25-yard line with 1:20 left in the half. After an unsuccessful run — the only negative run of the game for Rea — Foote completed five passes to four different receivers, advancing the ball to the Tufts two-yard line with two seconds remaining. Instead of settling for the chip shot field goal, head coach Bob Ritter — with positive input from Foote —elected to leave his offense on the field.

“There was a little discussion [about kicking a field goal] and I told coach Ritter, ‘If we put this in here, it’s a back-breaker,’” Foote said. “We had confidence in the play we called, which was a play action play we had scored on two or three times already.”

Ritter’s roll of the dice produced a six as Foote, moving to his right on a bootleg, threw back across his body to a wide open Minno — the sophomore’s third touchdown catch in as many possessions.

After a lone first-quarter touchdown, the Middlebury offense exploded for 28 second-quarter points and a 35-10 halftime lead. To add to the momentum, the public address announcer broadcasted the halftime score from Hartford, where Trinity held a 23-3 lead, raising cheers from the Middlebury faithful that made the trip.

A special team’s blunder set up the Panthers’ first second half touchdown. Following a 24-yard Mike Dola ’15 field goal on the opening possession of the second half, Tufts sealed its own fate, failing to put together a meaningful drive and sending the punt team onto the field for the fourth time.

However, Holmquist, who handled both the kicking and punting duties, failed to corral an errant snap and was tackled for a turnover on downs at the Jumbos’ 14-yard line. Two plays later, Rea found pay dirt for the first time this season as a receiver, following his blockers on a screen pass from Foote for a 14-yard score.

“Mac actually turned to me before the play and he said, ‘You’re getting in the end zone on this play,’” Rea said. “He threw it right to me and I walked in basically untouched.”

The Middlebury defense, which limited Tufts to 18 total yards in the third quarter, forced a three-and-out from Tufts on the subsequent possession, priming Foote’s final career drive. The Panthers moved the ball methodically, chewing up 5:42 of clock — their longest scoring drive of the game — as Foote made plays with both his legs and arm, scrambling for 11 yards and a third-down conversion, setting up his seventh touchdown pass of the game and the 67th and final one of his storied career. It began as a relatively unremarkable play as Sadik-Khan sat down in a soft area of the Jumbos’ zone defense on an underneath route. Foote delivered the pass and his tight end turned away from a pair of Tufts defenders, rumbling 36 yards for the final score.

On the sideline, Foote embraced his teammates, everyone now aware that Trinity would hand Wesleyan its first loss of the season and, consequently, Middlebury a share of the NESCAC crown.

Foote finished his career as the most decorated quarterback in Middlebury history, amassing 8,083 yards in just three seasons as well as the program’s touchdown and completion records. More significantly, he led Middlebury to just its third ever NESCAC title and 14 wins in his final two seasons, the most of any NESCAC team over that period.

“Mac has had an incredible career,” Ritter said. “And more importantly the way he’s carried himself in the classroom and on campus and the kind of leader he has been really shows the best of our football program.”