In their penultimate game of the season, the 6-1 Jumbos beat the 2-5 Colby Mules 44-12 on Senior Day. Senior tri-captain running back Chance Brady broke tackles and records on Saturday as he demolished the career record for total touchdowns and single season rushing touchdowns. Brady’s three touchdowns on the day brought his career total to 30, shattering the record 28 running back Mike Krueger (LA '82) set over three decades ago. Brady's 14 rushing touchdowns this season struck down another record from the 1980s, as Paul Dresens (LA '88) set the bar at 13 in his final season as a Jumbo.
"I always joke with Chance [Brady] that his stats are our stats," senior offensive lineman T.J. Muzzonigro said. "We're having a pretty good year, and it's great to see him have this success. He's worked hard for every stat and every record that he's gotten."
The Mules won the kickoff and elected to defer, but the Jumbos took full advantage of the home field and weather conditions by forcing the Mules to kick into the wind, something that was especially crucial for Tufts in the first quarter.
On Tufts' first drive, the team lost a fumble when senior quarterback Alex Snyder and Brady missed on a handoff. Despite the error, though, the Jumbos were able to force a quick three-and-out series on the Mules' first possession to recover possession.
After that, the Jumbos took control of the game, as their second series culminated in a touchdown at 10:18. Tufts started at Colby's 26-yard line thanks to senior wide receiver Mike Rando returning a punt 32 yards. On the touchdown play, Brady took a handoff from Snyder and bounced it outside for a five-yard score. Senior kicker/punter Willie Holmquist’s extra point put the Jumbos up 7-0.
"Our game plan going in is always to dominate physically," Muzzonigro said. "We come out and execute our game plan; usually it's focused on running the ball."
On Colby’s next drive the Tufts defense struggled to stop the arm of Colby junior quarterback Christian Sparacio, who connected on a 56-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Sebastian Ferrell to set Colby up at Tufts’ four-yard line.
"We knew that they were going to try to pass the ball quite a bit," sophomore cornerback Tim Preston said. "We knew it would be a fun game for all of us defensive backs so we went in excited."
On the next play, Sparacio rolled out left looking for a lane to run and tossed a shovel pass into the end zone, which Preston intercepted at the one-yard line. With no white jerseys in his way he ran back 99 yards for a touchdown, the longest pick six for a Jumbo since 1952 and the first since 2010.
"I think it was [senior defensive lineman] Tucker Mathers who was running the quarterback down and [Sparacio] made a bad decision," Preston said. "He kind of threw it right to me and from there I was able to take it back to the house."
Holmquist missed the extra point, but made up for it with a 45-yard field goal on the next drive that put Tufts up 16-0 with 3:29 left in the first quarter.
The Mules started out disorganized, but played significantly better in the second quarter, as the Jumbos failed to make serious headway offensively. A botched special teams snap paired with a blocked punt kept the Mules in excellent field position. Tufts also committed a number of penalties to further extend drives, including a roughing the punter penalty that allowed Colby's offense to remain on the field.
The Jumbos' defense, as it has all season, bent but did not break, as the team held the Mules to just three field goals in the second quarter and no touchdowns on the day despite the momentum of the Mules' offense.
While the Jumbos were still up 16-9 at the half, coach Jay Civetti said he was not thrilled with how his team played through halftime.
"We played very, very poorly in the first half," Civetti said. "[There were] a lot of dumb penalties, two blocked punts. We put ourselves in a tough position and the defense held tough enough. To have them only come away with [a] field goal, [the] defense really held true and played a great game."
Despite this performance during the first half, Civetti said he remained confident his team would get back on track.
"With as many seniors as we have and that much leadership, I wasn't worried," Civetti said. "I knew it would be a tough game; it always is."
From that point, the Jumbos approached the second half like a completely different team. The Mules managed a fourth field goal with 10:14 remaining in the third quarter, but did not score the rest of the game.
Tufts bottled up the Colby run game that has been stagnant all season without senior running back Jabari Hurdle-Price.The Jumbos held the Mules to just 48 yards on the ground. Stopping the run game also translated to the passing game, as Colby was forced into third-and-long pass plays, which Tufts read easily. Colby converted on just three of 15 third downs in the game and was often forced to punt, despite starting with a strong field position.
"We came out of halftime and took care of what we needed to take care of," Civetti said. "We got back to playing our football: attention to detail, running the football, being smart with the ball. Sometimes guys try to do more than they're supposed to and it ends up hurting the team."
The Jumbos' offense found its rhythm again with Brady racking up 26 carries in the game. He added two more scores to his stat-line on runs from one and seven yards out in the third and fourth quarters respectively. Brady was not the only running back to put up points for the Jumbos, as sophomore Dominic Borelli and senior Max Athy took the ball in from one and two yards out respectively.
Brady finished with 174 yards on the ground to go with his three touchdowns. Sophomore quarterback Ryan McDonald added 84 yards on 10 attempts and Snyder was 7-13 passing for 73 yards.
Preston’s pick six was his fifth interception of the season — two more than any other NESCAC player this year.Senior defensive linemen Quinn Metoyer put on a show, with two sacks and a quarterback pressure on the day, as the team finished with a perfect 4-0 at home record for the second time in three years.
Muzzonigro explained that as a senior, the pressure of Senior Day was something even he did not expect.
"There were some extra nerves in it yesterday," Muzzonigro said. "I don't know, it was a little different; your parents are out there and it's a little emotional because it's your last time playing at home. But once the game starts, it's football."
The Jumbos salvaged a rough first half this week, but will have to be on top of their game if they want to take down the Panthers (6-1) at Middlebury on Saturday. Tufts currently rests alongside Middlebury and Wesleyan for second place in the NESCAC behind 7-0 Trinity going into the final game of the season.
Brady sets all-time career touchdown record in Colby rout
