The football team improved to 5-2 on Senior Day by squeaking by the Hamilton Continentals (1-6) with a final score of 21-16. Middlebury has now defeated Hamilton in 20 straight contests, dating back to 1996.
The Panthers started out hot, going 76 yards on three plays on the game’s opening drive to break the ice with a 70-yard touchdown reception by WR Matt Minno ’16. Middlebury then failed to connect on the PAT. On the Continentals’ first drive, Middlebury CB Nate Leedy ’17 picked off first-year Hamilton QB Cole Freeman at the Panther seven-yard line. From that point on it was all Continentals for the rest of the quarter, including an 8:54 drive that carried over into the second quarter and resulted in a Hamilton TD. Starting Hamilton RB LaShawn Ware tallied 74 yards on 12 first-quarter carries.
“[The Hamilton] offense has been pretty eclectic this year,” Head Coach Bob Ritter said, “and I think it took our defense a little bit to figure out what they were doing and what was going on.”
Hamilton struck again quickly in the second quarter when Freeman hit wideout Charles Ensley for a 78-yard score, giving the Continentals a 14-6 lead. The Panthers would be forced to punt on their first two second-quarter possessions, but were threatening in the waning moments of the half with the ball in the red zone. On the third-and-six from the Hamilton 10-yard line QB Matt Milano ’16 threw an incompletion and center James Wang ’16 went down with an injury. As they have done often this season, the Panthers elected to go for it on fourth down in enemy territory. However, miscommunication between Milano and the replacement at center led to a mistimed snap. With only half of the offensive line aware of the snap, Milano was under immediate pressure and forced to heave a jump ball to the end zone that was picked off by Continental CB Jimmy Giattino, who gave Hamilton a chance to extend the lead before half.
“It was just miscommunication,” Ritter said. “I’m not sure it was anyone’s fault really, just one of those things where a new guy’s coming in and we just weren’t on the same page.”
The Continentals failed to capitalize, however, and a weak 16-yard punt gave Middlebury the ball back on the Hamilton 26 with 55 seconds to play in the half. A couple of quick strikes to Trevor Miletich ’16, working out of the slot for the first time this season, and RB Diego Meritus ’19 preceded a 10-yard TD grab for Minno, his second of the game. QB Jared Lebowitz ’18 converted the two-point attempt on a zone-read keeper, and the score was knotted 14-14 going into halftime.
“[Jared’s ability to run] has been huge for us,” Ritter said, “and it’s actually helped us win two games.”
Building off their work in the first half, the Panthers opened the second half with a quick scoring drive. After a three-and-out for the Continentals, Middlebury drove 53 yards on seven plays in 2:19, with Minno eventually snagging a 20-yard TD catch, his third of the game, to make it 21-14. The 171 receiving yards for Minno matched his career-high set three weeks ago against Williams, and Saturday was his fourth career game with three touchdowns. Minno now needs just 40 yards to jump to second on the all-time list for Middlebury receivers.
“I didn’t even know that,” Ritter said. “[He’s] vital. What he brings — and I don’t even think people know this from watching him — when he gets in the open field he is very fast, and he has had a couple of those touchdowns on short catches that look like eight to 10 yard plays that he’s gone the distance. … He’s our big play guy.”
Going for the dagger, the Panthers attempted an onside kick that was scooped up short of the 45-yard line by Hamilton, giving the Continentals a short field. Hamilton was unable to capitalize, though, as Leedy won a jump ball in the end zone for his second interception of the day, giving the ball back to Middlebury.
Coach Ritter began spinning the revolving door at QB in the third quarter. Both Milano and Lebowitz had to sit out periods of the quarter with minor injuries, giving Vermont native Jake Stalcup ’17 a crack behind center. Both Lebowitz and Milano would return to action, but none of the trio was able to get the offense started again.
The Middlebury defense, however, continued to stand on its head, picking off Freeman for a third time when his receiver broke towards the sideline and Freeman’s pass soared over the middle of the field right into the gut of safety Kevin Hopsicker ’18, who returned the ball all the way to the Hamilton eight-yard line. The following Middlebury drive was unsuccessful, however, as Lebowitz was dropped for a 12-yard sack and then flung an interception on fourth-and-goal from the 20-yard line.
The two teams then traded a few punts, with Middlebury being forced to kick away from its own end zone with just over six minutes remaining. Hamilton had been bringing a bevy of rushers at punter Charlie Gordon ’19 all day long but hadn’t quite been able to get a hand on any of his kicks, until Sean Tolton rejected Gordon’s punt in the middle of the fourth quarter, sending it out of the end zone for a safety to make it a five-point game, 21-16.
The Continentals, once again, could not capitalize on the swing of momentum, and two drives later, with under two minutes to play, Freeman unleashed his fourth interception, this time into the hands of CB Matt Daniel ’19.
“They take a lot of shots,” Ritter said. “They’re a big gadget team. We did know that, we did know that they were going to take the shots downfield. We’re fortunate where our secondary is right now is one of our strengths.
With Lebowitz in at QB and the clock ticking away, the Panthers milked the clock for a 21-16 victory. Lebowitz’s seven-yard first down rush on third-and-three ended any hope that Hamilton had of a miracle ending.
The Panthers season will culminate with a road tilt against the Tufts Jumbos. The last Jumbos victory over Middlebury came in 2001. The Panthers hope to finish the season 6-2 with the victory, which would represent the program’s fourth straight season with at least four wins.
