The Panthers could not steal a win on the road in Medford, Mass. against the Tufts Jumbos in the season finale on Saturday, Nov. 15. Formerly a perennial cellar-dweller, Tufts has risen from the ashes over the past two seasons and, with the win over Middlebury, clinched a 6-2 re- cord, good for third in the NESCAC and the program’s first winning season since 2007. Meanwhile, Middlebury finishes 2015 at 5-3, the program’s fourth-straight winning season, but also its worst record since 2011, which speaks to the consistent level of greatness that the Panthers have played at over the past four years.
Coming into Saturday’s game, the Jumbos had not bested Middlebury since 2001, but it was immediately evident in this game that Tufts would not go down easy. The Panthers’ opening drive lasted just six plays before J.P. Garcia picked off QB Matt Milano ’16 along the sideline, but Tufts would not capitalize. Later in the first quarter, the Jumbos did strike first when QB Alex Snyder hit senior Jack Cooleen for a 14- yard touchdown.
Middlebury struck right back, though, answering with a seven play, 74-yard touchdown drive and a 10-yard strike to WR Matt Minno ’16 in the end zone.
The pace became frenetic partway through the second quarter. With the Jumbos driving and the ball at the Middlebury 31- yard line, safety Kevin Hopsicker ’18 jumped a route and picked off Snyder. It then took all of one play for Tufts’ Tim Preston to in- tercept Milano and get the ball back for the Jumbos. On the following play from the Middlebury 25, Tufts then ran a wide receiver pass, and sophomore Joe Nault completed the first pass of his college career, a 25-yard TD to junior Ben Berey, to make it 14-7 Tufts. The rest of the half was hard-fought but fruitless. Tufts was able to stop TE Dan Ful- ham ’18 one yard short on a 4th & 5, but otherwise neither team threatened again before halftime.
The Jumbos kept up their fine level of play in the third quarter. Kicker Willie Holmquist, NESCAC Special Teams Player of the Week, drilled a 28-yard field goal to go up 17-7, and on the next possession Milano was intercepted again, one of three picks on the day thrown by the signal-caller.
“We don’t focus a lot on those [turnovers],” Head Coach Bob Ritter said. “You don’t want your quarterback afraid to throw and throw through windows. If they’re bad turnovers that’s different, but the reality of it is that those interceptions on Saturday — one, our receiver fell down, the other one it was in the receiver’s hands and got tipped and the third one the kid made a great play on it.”
Late in the third quarter, though, the Panthers were able to close the gap when Milano hit Minno for his second touchdown of the game, a 49-yard catch and run. That score was Minno’s 30th career touchdown reception, moving into sole possession of first place on the Middlebury leaderboard, passing Zach Driscoll ’13. Minno also finished his career second in Middlebury history in receiving yards with 2,093.
“Zach was an unbelievable player and role model,” Minno said. “His class really started the winning culture and tradition that we’ve benefited from the past four years. He’d also agree with me that Middlebury is the perfect place be a receiver between the coaches and quarterbacks, and most of the credit should go to them.”
The momentum seemed to be swinging into Middlebury’s favor in the fourth quarter when, with the score 17-14 in favor of Tufts, defensive tackle Gil Araujo ’16 blocked a Tufts punt, Middlebury recovered, and RB Diego Meritus ’19 eventually scored on a one-yard TD plunge, giving Middlebury its first lead of the game, 20-17 after the missed PAT.
The fireworks kept coming in the fourth quarter. Snyder found wideout Mike Rando for a 31-yard TD to regain the lead for Tufts, 24-20. A few possessions later, Tufts blocked a punt of its own, and the Jumbos took over at the Middlebury 24-yard line. Snyder shortly found tight end Nik Dean for a 16-yard TD, putting Tufts ahead 31- 20.
“The disappointment with the blocked punt ... that was too bad,” Ritter said. “When it was a one score game, I felt really confident that we were going to get in the end zone again.”
Middlebury followed that up with a masterful 15-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that included two fourth-down con- versions and another fourth down on which a Tufts defender was called for defensive holding, giving Middlebury the first down. Milano eventually found WR James Burke ’17 for a two-yard score, and then hit Burke again for the two-point conversion to make it 31-28 with 54 seconds left in the contest. Burke had his best two games of the season in week 6 against Trinity and in the season finale.
“I can’t say enough good things about Burkey,” Minno said. “He had a great preseason and came in as one of the most improved guys on the team. We all had full confidence in him once he finally got his shot, and I can’t wait to see him tear it up next year.”
After the score, with just one timeout remaining, Middlebury was forced to try the onside kick. Unfortunately for the Pan-
thers, the ball rolled easily into the hands of a Jumbo, and after a few kneel downs the game was over.
“That last drive, a big part of it is urgency and desperation,” Ritter said. “We made some big plays and converted some fourth downs and some guys stepped up, and I still thought that if we had gotten the onside kick, I felt really good about it.”
The final contest notwithstanding, the 2016 class was an accomplished one. Minno imprinted his name throughout the record books in his career. Milano threw 47 touchdowns and accumulated 4,591 yards over the past two seasons. Linebacker Tim Patricia ’16 started 32 games over the course of his career and amassed 289 tack- les — the third-most in Middlebury history since 1994 when individual defensive num- bers began being recorded. Jake Clapp’s ’16 12.5 sacks in his career are also good for third all-time in Middlebury history, and Araujo’s 8.5 sacks this season are the second-most in one year for a Middlebury player. Despite the loss, the Class of 2016 finishes its Middlebury career with a cu- mulative 25-7 record, the most wins for a class since the Class of 1973 won 26 games.
