Tufts falls to undefeated Amherst

Coming off of an important home win over Williams, Tufts traveled to Pratt Field to take on the undefeated Amherst Lord Jeffs. Searching for its first road win, the Jumbos' offense struggled throughout and the team fell by a score of 30-3.

It was family weekend at Amherst, and the team was able to earn a lopsided victory for its large crowd. The Lord Jeffs defense was dominant and finished with six sacks in the team’s victory, dropping the Jumbos to 3-3 on the season.

Tufts’ offense struggled early once again, with a punt and an interception on its first two drives, and Amherst's senior quarterback Max Lippe broke the scoreless tie with 8:54 remaining in the first quarter.

The Lord Jeffs had great field position following the interception thrown by senior quarterback Jack Doll. Starting at the Tufts 43, Lippe completed three passes, to bring the team inside the redzone. The senior’s one-yard touchdown run on 3rd and goal gave the home team a 7-0 lead.

After an injury sidelined Doll for the rest of the game, sophomore quarterback Alex Snyder came in to relieve, arguably, the best offensive player Tufts has on its roster.

“The doctors are evaluating [Doll]," coach Jay Civetti said. "He suffered a couple of different injuries. I can tell you that it has to do with the upper body."

Snyder’s day did not start well, as he was intercepted by senior linebacker Ned Deane on his second attempt of the day. Amherst was again able to capitalize on the Tufts turnover with a 37-yard field goal from senior kicker Phillip Nwosu.

The Jumbos' offense was forced to punt on the subsequent drive, but in the waning minutes of the first quarter, Snyder found sophomore tight end Nik Dean for a massive 80-yard completion. Looking at 1st and goal at the Amherst 7, Tufts had a great opportunity to narrow the 10-point gap.

However, a 14-yard intentional grounding penalty, followed by a holding and then a sack made what was once 1st and goal at the 7 into 3rd and goal at the Amherst 40. Luckily, Snyder was able to rush for 17 yards on 3rd down, and first-year kicker Zach Thomas made the 40-yard field goal.

On the next drive, the Tufts defense forced an Amherst punt. At the start of the second quarter the Jumbos had the ball down seven points. A holding penalty followed by a sack gave Tufts 3rd and 38 at its own 8-yard line. The Jumbos' quarterback then threw his second interception of the game, this time to junior linebacker Thomas Kleyn.

With the ball at Tufts’ 4, Lippe handed the ball off to junior wide receiver Adam Wallace, who plunged into the endzone to give the Lord Jeffs a 17-3 lead.

The Jumbos’ succeeding two drives ended in a missed field goal and a punt. But with just under five minutes to play in the half, Snyder’s Jumbos began to show some life. The sophomore completed three consecutive passes as the clock approached the two minute warning. However, on 1st and 10, Snyder threw his third pick of the half.

Junior defensive back Christopher Gow came down with the ball at the Tufts 38-yard line and sprinted past the away team’s offense for the pick six. The score was 24-3 at the half, and it appeared that Tufts would remain winless on the road.

On Tufts’ first drive of the second half, however, Snyder completed two passes for 21 yards and ran three times for 22 yards. The Jumbos' offense was knocking on the door, but on 4th and goal at the Lord Jeffs 3, Snyder was tackled for a two-yard loss, killing Tufts’ momentum. For the next 26 minutes, Tufts’ offense never crossed midfield.

Despite the offensive struggles, the Jumbos stayed strong on defense in the second half. They allowed just one score, a 37-yard touchdown pass from Lippe to Wallace, but even with its strong second half Tufts still lost 30-3.

Neither Snyder nor Lippe played particularly well in this game. The former was 14-32 for 175 yards and three interceptions, while the latter was 15-29 for 136 yards with one passing and one rushing touchdown.

“[Snyder] got in there in a backup situation," Civetti said. "A year ago he played some against [Amherst]. They were definitely the best defense, the best in the league that we’ve faced all year. He was under duress a lot, but he made some big throws. There were also a couple of drops out there, and the O-Line was banged up."

In addition to the less-than-stellar quarterback play, both teams’ entire offenses struggled throughout. There were a combined 20 punts in the game, the teams converted on a total of nine out of 37 third downs and neither squad put up over 250 yards of total offense.

“Again, they’ve got a great D," Civetti said. "They did a great job. We had a couple guys [on the O-Line] who couldn’t suit up, [Landon] Davis was one of them."

Despite the loss, Tufts is sitting at .500 and has a home game against Colby on Saturday. This crucial game will determine whether the Jumbos can finish the season with an undefeated home record.