Panthers Rebound in Historic 50-21 Victory

After a disappointing performance in Hartford, Conn. gave the football team its first loss on Oct. 31, the Panthers rebounded with a resounding 50-21 win over Hamilton in the “Old Rocking Chair Classic” on Saturday, Nov. 3. Quarterback Mac Foote ’14, who earned NESCAC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the third time this season, and wide receiver Zach Driscoll ’13 both set school records en route to the Panthers’ 17th consecutive victory over the Continentals. Foote finished the game with a career-high 456 yards passing while completing 40 of 58 attempts and five touchdown passes — the fourth time this season he has accomplished such a feat. The Newton, Mass. native finished the game with 27 touchdowns on the season, breaking both the Middlebury and the NESCAC single season touchdown records in the game, eclipsing Donnie McKillop’s ’11 school mark of 22 touchdowns in a season as well as Pat Moffitt’s (Williams) NESCAC single season record of 25 touchdowns. Foote also ran for a score, his second of the season.

“I couldn’t do anything without my teammates,” Foote said. “If one guy doesn’t block his guy on one play then I can’t do my job. It’s the ultimate team game and it’s special when we’re able to succeed as a unit.”

Driscoll, meanwhile, hauled in 14 receptions for 177 yards and a touchdown, breaking the Middlebury career receiving yard record previously set by Tom Cleaver ’04, becoming the first wide receiver in program history to eclipse the 2000-yard mark in a career. Driscoll is four catches, 128 yards and two touchdowns short of breaking the single season NESCAC records in each category.

“[Driscoll and Foote] are playing at a really high level,” said head coach Bob Ritter. “We’re expecting so much from them that when they have games like they did this past week, it’s almost taken for granted. And really what they’re doing is incredible.”

“I think from day one of preseason we started on the same page,” said Foote. “I know where he’s going to be when we run routes where he can adjust to coverages. Both of us have been in this offense for a while now and so we really understand what we need to do and where he needs to be and where I need to put the ball for him.”

Despite great field position on the Panthers’ opening drive, the Panthers failed to capitalize, punting after a quick three-and-out. Driscoll, however, punting from the Hamilton 41-yard line placed the ball inside the one-yard line. The defense forced the Continentals into their second straight three-and-out, giving the ball back 1:30 later to the offense at the 34-yard line in positive territory. Foote needed just one play on the second drive, finding Billy Chapman ’13 wide open at the 20-yard line with the big tight end doing the rest of the work, rumbling in for the opening score and his seventh of the season. Chapman finished the game with eight catches for 94 yards and the touchdown, earning a spot on the D3Football.com National Team of the Week for his performance.

The home team would tie the game three possessions later as Hamilton running back James Stanell broke off a 56-yard touchdown run up the middle, virtually untouched. Stanell showed that the Middlebury run defense still has work to do, carrying the ball 24 times for 129 yards after the unit was burned for 385 yards the week previously by Trinity. The Continentals as a team rushed for 202 yards on the day.

Though the game was tied at seven after the first quarter, Middlebury blew the game open in the second quarter, scoring on each of its three drives in the quarter. Foote keyed the drives with his most impressive play of the season, completing 14 of his first 15 passes — and 18 of 20 — to begin the second quarter including two touchdown passes.

With Brendan Rankowitz ’14 sidelined with an injury, first-year wide receiver Matt Minno ’16 took the place of the versatile second-year player and lost no time developing a rapport with Foote. Minno entered the game with just one career catch. Saturday, he had eight catches for 106 yards and three touchdowns, including back-to-back scores to begin the second quarter.

“He did a great job stepping in,” Ritter said of Minno. “That’s not an easy role for a first-year to step in towards the end of the season and be in a spot where the ball goes a lot. The way our game plan was set, the ball was going to go to [him] a lot and he responded really well. Most of his catches were tough catches, in traffic or thrown to a spot where only he could catch it.”

On the opening drive of the quarter, Foote wove together an 11-play, 85-yard touchdown drive, spreading the ball to four different receivers with surgical precision, completing nine of 10 passes, culminating in a 19-yard fade route to Minno for the score.

The Middlebury defense followed in suit, forcing a three-and-out, highlighted by Jimmy Tilson’s ’13 stuff of Stanell behind the line of scrimmage on third-and-two. Driscoll gave the Panthers good starting field position once again, returning a 40-yard punt from Hamilton punter Garret Hoy 12 yards to the Middlebury 34-yard line.

Foote then connected on four straight passes, connecting twice with Driscoll for gains of 23 and 21 yards on consecutive plays, advancing to the Continentals’ 22-yard line. After a failed screen pass to running back Matt Rhea ’14 lost two yards, Foote found Minno over the middle at the five-yard line. Minno evaded two defenders, spinning his way into the end zone for the touchdown, extending the Middlebury first half lead to 21-7.

“He’s a great talent,” said Foote. “I’m really excited about him not only for this game, but in seasons to come. He’s a really tall kid, can run well, great hands and has a good understanding of our offense which is impressive for a [first-year].”

On the other side of the ball, the defense once again held the Hamilton offense in check, conceding just one first down and nearly coming away with a turnover when linebacker Matt Crimmins ’14 stripped wide receiver Simon Jia of the football but could not come up with the recovery. The defense forced a punt with three minutes left in the half, giving the ball back to the offense with 2:56 remaining and the football at the 20-yard line.

Foote found five different receivers including Josh Amster ’13 and William Sadik-Khan ’15 on the ensuing drive, which stalled when Foote threw three consecutive incomplete passes from the Hamilton eight-yard line, ending an incredible stretch of 18 completions in 20 attempts. First-year kicker Jake Feury ’16 connected on a 25-yard field goal, his fourth of the season, giving Middlebury a 24-7 lead at the half.

The break did nothing to slow the Middlebury offense, which scored touchdowns on each of the first two drives of the third quarter. Foote capped of a nine-play 63-yard drive in just under two-and-half minutes by scampering into the end zone from four yards out on third-and-three for his second rushing touchdown of the season.

The defense, which held the Continentals to just 54 yards in the second quarter, gave the ball right back to the offense as Dan Kenerson intercepted Hamilton quarterback Jordan Eck’s first pass of the second half, giving the opportunistic defensive back four interceptions on the season.

“He did a nice job rerouting his guy and being in coverage,” Ritter said of Kenerson’s interception. “We forced [Eck] out of the pocket so he was forced to make a throw on the run and [Kenderson] did a nice job sitting in the zone, reading the quarterback’s eyes and [made] a nice break on the ball.”

On the Panthers’ subsequent possession, Foote connected with Minno on a key fourth-and-one play from the Hamilton 33-yard line for 17 yards and wasted no time going right back to his first-year target, finding Minno in the side of the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown throw and catch as Minno demonstrated great body control keeping his feet in the field of play as he secured possession of the football.

“I didn’t really know what to expect in my first college game, but I was pretty confident and definitely happy with the way things worked out,” Minno said. “I just tried to stay dialed in, make sure I was running the right routes and make plays for my team.”

Hamilton responded by making a run of their own, scoring touchdowns on consecutive drives to cut the Middlebury lead to 16 at the end of the third quarter as Eck threw for one touchdown and ran for another.

That was as close as the Continentals would come, however, as the Panthers opened the fourth quarter with consecutive touchdown drives as Foote threw his fifth touchdown of the game, this time to Driscoll who had four catches for 45 yards on the drive. The visitors tacked on one more touchdown on the subsequent possession as Rhea ran for 34 yards, adding 11 more through the air and scoring the Panthers’ seventh and final touchdown of the game on a 20-yard run. Middlebury’s 50-point performance on Saturday was the team’s highest scoring game since a 55-31 win over Hamilton in 2003.

The Panthers return home Saturday, Nov. 10 for the team’s final game of the season against Tufts. The Jumbos are winless in their last 21 games.