In an impressive display of resiliency, the Jumbos battled back under the lights on Saturday night as senior tri-captain running back Chance Brady's two fourth-quarter touchdowns helped beat the Wesleyan Cardinals 17-14. The Jumbo defense stepped up in the second half, preventing the Cardinals from putting any points on the board.
The first half was frightening for Jumbos fans. While the Jumbos benefited from a few Cardinals penalties, they struggled to advance the ball on their first possession and senior kicker Willie Holmquist was unable to hit a long field goal attempt.
Tufts had better luck on its second drive, starting at its own nine and driving as far as the Wesleyan 10-yard line. Most of the yardage came on a 55-yard connection between senior quarterback Alex Snyder and senior tri-captain wide receiver Mike Rando. The drive stalled after Snyder was sacked, but this time, Holmquist hit a 36-yard field goal to put the Jumbos on the board.
Despite the slow start to the game from both teams, Wesleyan's offense heated up in the second quarter. The visitors drove down the field 51 yards and Cardinal senior wide receiver Devon Carrillo punched in a two yard touchdown that put his team up 7-3.
The Cardinals held the Jumbos to a three-and-out on their next possession and got the ball back around midfield. After driving to the Jumbos' 23, Wesleyan sophomore quarterback Mark Piccirillo found space outside and ran the ball to the end-zone with 6:50 left in the half.
Following that Wesleyan touchdown drive, the Tufts offense was back on the field, but without Snyder. Sophomore Ryan McDonald took snaps under center to gain valuable game experience, coach Jay Civetti said.
Much of the rest of the first half was uneventful, but the Cardinals started a drive with 4:25 remaining, winding the clock down all the way to 0:15 before kicker Ike Fuchs missed a 30-yard field goal to end the half.
The Jumbos' offensive and defensive lines were the story of the game. Brady, the cornerstone of Tufts' offense, was unable to find holes and was often hit at or behind the line of scrimmage, and Snyder was always on the move due to pressure. Snyder was sacked twice in the first quarter for a total loss of 22 yards.
"We knew there was another half of football to play," Rando said. "We had to get focused during halftime and come out flying in the second half."
On the defensive side of the ball, the Jumbos occasionally over-committed on passing downs, pushing into the backfield and allowing Piccirillo to make plays with his legs. Piccirillo finished the game with 18 rushes for 84 yards to go along with 189 yards through the air.
"We were so close [to the sacks]," junior defensive end Micah Adickes said. "We were getting after him but we were just seconds off every time. We just needed to settle in and make sure we maintained our gap integrity and contain him. He wasn't going to run in the second half."
In the second half, both Jumbo lines significantly improved their play. The Jumbos received the kickoff and Rando fielded the kick, returning it 31 yards to the Tufts 37-yard line. Thanks in large part to Rando, the Jumbos benefited from excellent starting field position all day, and they gained 72 yards on three kickoff returns throughout the game.
With McDonald still under center for the Jumbos, the offense suffered fewer negative plays but still failed to convert on third downs, resulting in two straight three-and-outs. Holmquist’s soaring punts plus a penalty against Wesleyan on the first punt pinned the visitors deep in their own territory both times.
Snyder returned to the game in the third quarter, but the Jumbo offense still struggled and punted on its next two possessions.
Wesleyan took over on Tufts’ 34 and drove to the 18-yard line where Fuchs would once again line up for the field goal. His 35-yard kick sailed wide left at the start of the fourth quarter and the Jumbos took over on their 20.
Tufts' offense came alive behind the much improved blocking of its offensive line. On the first play of the drive, the offensive line opened up a hole for Brady and he hit it hard, shaking off three tackles before being run down. The play went for 33 yards.
Snyder set up in the shotgun and launched deep to senior tight end Nik Dean, who made an acrobatic snag for 39 yards. As was often the case in the second half, a questionable penalty against the Jumbos brought the ball back and cost the Jumbos five.
The call did not faze Snyder, who found reliable receiver Rando down the sideline for a gain of 39 to the Wesleyan 10-yard line on the next play. A seven-yard run from Brady following an incompletion set up a third-and-goal from the three, a spot Brady thrives in. Winding and weaving through the line, Brady fought forward and crossed the plane for Tufts' first touchdown of the season.
In a tough decision, Civetti chose to line up for the extra point rather than attempt a two-point conversion which would pull the Jumbos within a field goal of the Cardinals. Civetti opted for the added security of a three-point lead if the Jumbos managed to once again find the end zone, a decision that would ultimately pay off.
"We'd talked about [that scenario] in practice," Civetti said. "It's the kind of thing we do dry runs with all the time. I felt like there was enough time left in the game, we had all our timeouts, and the defense was playing really well. I'd rather take the point we needed, and I just felt confident with where we were."
Tufts' defense was reliable in the fourth quarter, allowing just 14 yards on the next two Wesleyan possessions. Forced to punt from deep in his own territory, Fuchs managed just a 23-yard punt that set the Jumbos up with the ball at the Cardinal 45 with over six minutes to go.
With Brady in the backfield, the Jumbos made sure the star back got plenty of work, giving him three straight handoffs that culminated in a 31-yard touchdown run that put the hosts up 17-14.
The Cardinals got the ball back for what would be their final possession with 5:24 on the clock at their own 32. Wesleyan managed to move the chains once, but then Adickes followed Piccirillo on a rollout and dropped the QB in the backfield for a loss of five yards.
A holding penalty pushed the Cardinals back another 10 and pressure from junior linebacker Zach Thomas forced an incompletion on third-and-25. The Cardinals were forced to punt with 2:58 remaining, and after a first down, the Jumbos easily ran out the remainder of the clock to seal the 17-14 win.
"From a coverage standpoint, when you've got a quarterback who can scramble, you have to always be aware of that and stay on your man a little bit longer because routes start turning into guys who were going deep [coming] back for short balls," junior defensive back J.P. Garcia said.
Brady finished with 151 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. Snyder passed for 111 yards, only connecting on five of 16 pass attempts. Rando racked up 111 receiving yards on the day.
While the whole team stepped up in the second half, a lot of the credit for the victory belongs to the defense. In the first half, the defensive line could not maintain its gaps while pressuring the quarterback, allowing Piccirillo to scramble and gain ground with his legs. In the second half, however, the Jumbos bottled up the run game and put constant pressure on Piccirillo, preventing him from setting up for his throws.
"I think the whole day the defense played great," Civetti said. "They kept dealing with short fields, and I thought they really stepped it up."
While the Jumbos eked out a win against a tough Cardinals team, Civetti is certain they won’t get away with a first half like Saturday's again.
"It was the right challenge; it was the necessary challenge," Civetti said. "That's a really good football team. It would not surprise me if they win the next seven [games]. Winning at home under the lights in a big game sets you in the right motion, but none of us should be satisfied with that performance. We need to put four quarters together."
Jumbos come from behind, defeat Cardinals in season opener
