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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Friday, March 29, 2024

Tufts takes on Hamilton again in season opener

2014-09-20-Tufts-Football-vs.-Hamilton-31
Nicholas Pfosi/ Tufts Daily

When the Jumbos played the Hamilton Continentals on Sept. 20, 2014, the former were bearing the burden of a 31-game losing streak. That game had been touted as the Jumbos' best chance of breaking their run of losses. They were playing another struggling team. They were playing at home.

And they won.

Tufts went on to finish the season 4-4, an unexpected upswing for a team where not a single player could boast a Tufts win under his belt. The Continentals, on the other hand, failed to win a game all season for the second consecutive year, solidifying their position at the bottom of the NESCAC standings with a three-year record of 1-23.

The closest Hamilton had come to victory in the 2014 season had been in their season opener at Tufts. The Continentals, at least on paper, had out-played the Jumbos that day, surrendering just 12 first downs and 236 total yards compared to their offense's 435 yards.

"As great as that win was, we got lucky," head coach Jay Civetti said. "We won the game by recovering an on-side kick. Had [senior] Jack Cooleen not jumped on it, history might have been very different."

As the Jumbos travel this weekend to play the Continentals, the hosts will attempt to do what the Jumbos did exactly a year ago: break their losing streak at home.

"We've been where they are [and] we know what they're thinking right now," Civetti said. "And there's very few people who can understand that emotion. Obviously it was great on that day [last season] to win versus them, to storm on the field on that day, everything, that's great. But they're not a team that needs that motivation. They're a good team. They have great players. And they're as tough as anybody at home."

The ground battle will likely be a test of each team's running backs, with Hamilton's LaShawn Ware, a sophomore, and Tufts' Chance Brady, a junior, as the go-to guys for their respective teams.

Ware topped his team with 287 yards rushing last season and an average of 41.0 yards per game compared to Brady's 399 yards rushing and 55.9 yards per game. Ware will be looking to redeem himself against Tufts, after a poor performance last year where he posted negative yardage on just one carry for Hamilton.

First-year Dominic Borelli, a likely starter on Saturday after a running back position opened up with the graduation of Zack Trause (E '15), will take some of the pressure off Brady and give the running game more options.

Yet if last year's matchup was any indication, where both teams posted virtually identical rushing yards (123 for Tufts and 119 for Hamilton), the game is going to come down to the passing game, where junior Alex Snyder will start for Tufts at quarterback. 

"Alex has been competitive throughout the entire preseason and he continues to get better everyday," Civetti said. "Wideouts like guys like Alex because he's got the big arm. He really can stretch the field significantly, and the thing that's unique about him is that he's good on the run. He's got a lot of power and he's tough to take down."

For most of the pre-season, the forerunner for the Hamilton quarterback position was junior Chase Rosenberg, who has started for the team since his first game as a Continental. Rosenberg almost single-handedly beat Tufts last season, where he threw for 320 yards and ran for 62 en route to a stellar season in which he finished with 1,121 yards and averaged more than 160 yards per game. 

Yet when the start list was announced yesterday, Hamilton listed Div. II Pace transfer Brandon Tobin as the team's starter.

Tobin started three games at Pace this past season as a true freshman, and prior to that was awarded the Section I-AA Offensive MVP in New York in his senior year in high school. 

"Chase [Rosenberg] had a huge day against us last year, and he's a really gifted quarterback," Civetti said. "We know about Tobin [too]. We recruited him last year, so we know...he's an excellent player. It'll be interesting to see how that unfolds ... If that kid beat out Chase, then we better maintain our focus because that means they're even better than I think they are."

Tobin will have strong support from his offensive line, which is returning all its starters save for former Hamilton's co-captain and offensive tackle Nick Noonan, who graduated this spring. The strength of the Continentals offensive line will be especially important in giving Tobin more time in the pocket.

"Those kids play tough -- they've been together for three to four years, [and] some of those kids have been playing since they were freshmen," Civetti said. "In any particular place, it's been the [offensive line] O-line that's set the tone. We're walking into a pretty hostile environment because they believe in one another, similar to us ... Their O-line's going to be a great match up for us, but at the same time I have all the confidence in the world in our defensive line.

Civetti added that he's counting on the experience of the Tufts defensive line to help the team perform well against Hamilton.

"We've got two guys that have played a lot of football," he said. "[Seniors] Corey [Burns] and Ife [Adebayo] -- those guys have played more football than most in their college career, so they've had a lot of snaps under their belt. Some guys have emerged that are really impressive, and [we've] improved immensely in the past three weeks."

And with the counter weight of expectation on the Jumbos this time, it will be on the team to ensure they don't fall on the wrong side of history this Saturday.