Seventeen seniors can make their last game on Huskins Field one to remember ? or continue the trend of playing games to forget ? when the Jumbos host the Colby White Mules on Saturday in the final home game of the season.
The Jumbos are 2-4 and can keep hopes alive to equal last season's .500 mark with a win tomorrow. But Colby (5-1), the surprise of the NESCAC after finishing just 3-5 a year ago, poses a huge roadblock for a team that has struggled against top-notch opponents this season. Tufts has beaten Bates and Bowdoin, but has been defeated by the conference's upper echelon of teams, including last week's 8-0 loss to Amherst.
After falling to one member of the triumvirate atop the NESCAC, the Jumbos now must close out their season against the other two, Colby and Middlebury. But coach Bill Samko is focused on his own team, and what he saw as an improvement last week despite the defeat, since Tufts did not commit a single turnover in the game.
"We're just real young offensively, but I thought we improved last week," Samko said. "We won the turnover battle, we won the special teams battle, and we had a chance to win the game at the end."
The team still couldn't put any points on the board, though, something that will have to change this weekend if the seniors hope to win their final home contest.
Colby is strong on offense, but it's likely the White Mule's defense Samko will have to worry about entering Saturday's game. After letting up 45 points in their first two games of the season, the White Mules have surrendered a combined 24 points in the last four games, including a 14-0 shutout of Bates last week.
Sophomore linebacker Mike Moran tallied 14 tackles, including six solo hits, in the win. He was NESCAC Defensive Player of the Week, and was also last year's Defensive Rookie of the Year. Moran leads the team with 55 tackles on the season, while sophomore linebacker Jeff Owen and senior defensive back Mark D'Ambrosio have 47 apiece. D'Ambrosio and fellow senior linebacker Drew Johnson helm an experienced Colby defense that, with the help of some promising youngsters, has been almost impenetrable of late.
That should spell trouble for a Tufts offense that couldn't put any points on the board in last week's game, and has not scored an offensive touchdown in each of its last two games.
Senior running back Brian Holmes ? playing on offense for the first time in his three years at Tufts ? has not been enough to carry an untested unit. Holmes is averaging nearly 100 yards a game, having totaled 488 yards in five contests this season (third in the NESCAC). Holmes' 556 yards of total offense this year are more than the combined total yardage of quarterbacks Todd Scalia and Scott Treacy.
But Scalia has come on strong in his last two appearances, completing 10-23 passes last week with no interceptions and throwing for 149 yards and two touchdowns (but also three interceptions) three weeks ago in a 27-20 loss to Trinity.
Scalia gets the nod again this Saturday, with Treacy still suffering slight injuries. Samko says that Treacy will likely not see game time due to lingering hip and knee problems.
The team will have to rely on its defense, though, which has easily been Tufts' strength this season. Evan Zupancic leads the Jumbos in interceptions, with five, while junior Scott Mitenthal is the squad's leading tackler. The defense is an experienced bunch, and among the Jumbos playing their final home game this Saturday will be linemen Pete DiStaulo, the Jumbo captain, and Everett Dickerson, Tufts' leaders in sacks.
"[DiStaulo] is doing a hell of a job as captain, and Dickerson is playing really well," Samko said.
Tufts has not allowed more than 27 points in a single game all season. Colby, on the other hand, has only been held below 27 points twice. But that happened in each of the team's last two games, a trend the Jumbos hope to continue by stopping the league's leading tandem in quarterback Pat Conley and junior wideout Danny Noyes.
Noyes does it all ? he leads the NESCAC with 570 yards receiving, but is also the team's primary rushing option, garnering 306 yards on the year, including a season-high 90 in last week's win.
Conley, meanwhile, has completed 106 passes for 1490 total yards, almost 700 more yards than any other quarterback in the conference. Conley, who leads the league in touchdown passes with ten, is 356 yards away from cracking the NESCAC's all-time top five single-season passing list. If he can somehow put together 535 passing yards in his final two games ? not inconceivable considering he averages near 250 a game ? he'd top the all-time record of 2024, set last year by Williams' Sean Keenan.
And the kicker: Conley is just a sophomore.
"He's done a tremendous job," Colby coach Tom Austin said of his quarterback, "Not only in his performance, but in his demeanor and in the manner that he displays with the team. He's a very hard worker."
Austin is not dispelled by the Jumbos record, especially since Tufts topped Colby 27-26 last season. "I certainly feel they're as good as any team we've played," he said. "They play hard, and they play very good defense. I don't think there's any tougher defense in the league."
"We're certainly shooting to win the division," he added. "That was one of our goals at the beginning of the season, and that hasn't changed at all."
Samko's team, however, continues to fight injuries, as another two members of the offensive line, Andy Dickerson and Garret Roberts, were lost for the season on the same play last week. With Treacy out, fullback Jon Rodgers lost for the season in just the third game, and Holmes battling through hamstring problems all year long, among other injuries, Samko feels the seniors on the squad are not exactly ending their careers with the best luck.
"There's some great kids in this group who deserve a better fate than they've been dealt," he said.
The Jumbos who will don the brown and blue for the last time at home are linebackers Mike Marino, Matt Luther (injured), and Joe Mclean, defensive backs Garth Williams and Jeff Karacz, defensive linemen Joaquin Escamille, Distaulo, and Dickerson, offensive linemen Dan Naumann and Mike McDougall, wide receivers Brett Cicchillo, Brett Colaiacovo, and Garret Hall, tight ends Kevin Gray and Mike Barile, as well as Rodgers and Holmes.
