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

Second half explosion leads football to Homecoming rout of Bates

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Tufts players line up before an offensive snap in its 47–14 Homecoming victory over Bates on Sept. 29.

It was a tale of two halves for the Jumbos in their Homecoming matchup against the Bates Bobcats. Facing a winless Bates team coming off a 59–16 loss to Trinity, and with a 2–0 record of its own, Tufts was heavily favored entering Saturday's match. In the end, the Jumbos proved their superiority with a convincing 47–17 win, but the outcome was not always certain.

Tufts started well in the first quarter, as the defense held Bates sophomore quarterback Brendan Costa in check, and the visitors' triple-threat offense could not get off the ground. The Bobcats were forced to punt in their first six drives, including all four of their first quarter drives.

On the offensive side of the ball, senior quarterback and co-captain Ryan McDonald led the Jumbos into the red zone on their second drive of the game. McDonald was strong with both his arm and his legs, while senior running back Dom Borelli contributed a 20-yard run, as well.The Bobcats made a stand at their own 6-yard line, and sophomore kicker Matt Alswanger nailed a 25-yard field goal to put the hosts on the board. On the next drive, McDonald broke several tackles during a 40-yard run to lead Tufts inside the 10-yard line for the second time.Sophomore running back Mike Pedrini punched in the game's first touchdown from nine yards out to put the Jumbos up 10–0.

Tufts' defense forced Bates to punt from deep in its own territory on its first full drive in the second quarter, which set up the offense in prime position at the Bates 44-yard line. The Jumbos were unable to capitalize, with McDonald throwing incomplete on fourth-and-9. Tufts drove to the Bates 26-yard line on its next possession but again failed to convert on fourth down.

After Tufts' second consecutive turnover-on-downs, Bates capitalized with a balanced scoring drive. Sophomore running back Christian Sanfilippo scored a five-yard rushing touchdown, followed by an extra-point conversion by senior kicker Justin Foley to make it a three-point game, 10–7.

McDonald was replaced by senior quarterback Ryan Hagfeldt on the Jumbos' next drive. Hagfeldt led his team into Bates territory before throwing an interception to Bates sophomore defensive back Anthony Costa, who returned the ball 34 yards to the Tufts 31-yard line.

The Bobcats quickly took advantage of the miscue, as Brendan Costa threw a 29-yard touchdown to junior wide receiver Kody Greenhalgh to give his team the lead. Foley converted another extra point to spot the Bobcats a 14–10 halftime lead.

Tufts coach Jay Civetti spoke about his message of encouragement to the team at halftime.

"It's a 60-minute game," Civetti said. "There were a lot of things we were overthinking and complicating. A lot of it was just about grounding ourselves and getting back to basics. I think we came out in the first half not as focused as we should have been. So that was the message: Let's just have some accountability, control the controllables and just play Tufts football."

"Play Tufts football" they did, scoring 37 unanswered points in the second half. The rout began on the Jumbos' first drive of the half, as Borelli took four consecutive carries for 32 yards to midfield. McDonald then ripped off some chunk gains on the ground to advance into the red zone, where Alswanger knocked his second field goal of the game, this one from 34 yards, through the uprights.

The Bobcats took over with a 14–13 lead but were forced to punt, which they did regularly for the rest of the game. Tufts' defense held Bates scoreless in the second half, forcing five total punts and two turnovers-on-downs. The Jumbos were especially strong against the ground game, as Brendan Costa finished with 30 yards on 19 rushes, and the Bobcats managed just 38 total rushing yards.



While Bates' offense sputtered, the hosts poured on the points. McDonald recorded an 18-yard rushing touchdown with 6:49 left in the third quarter and completed a 16-yard pass to senior wide receiver Frank Roche for his first passing touchdown of the game on the Jumbos' subsequent drive.

The Jumbos continued to light up the scoreboard in the fourth quarter, as senior wide receiver Dan de Leon caught a 16-yard pass at the Bobcats' 1-yard line to set up a one-yard touchdown run by Borelli, which opened up a 33–14 lead.

This capped off a nice day for Borelli, who commented on his goal-line score.

"It felt great," Borelli said. "It's always great to get in the end zone. I haven't been there as much as I've hoped, but we have a very special group of guys on offense this year. Between [McDonald] and the guys up front, anyone around them is set up for success."

After punting once, the Jumbos posted two more scoring drives. The first ended in McDonald's second throwing touchdown of the game on a 24-yard pass to sophomore wideout OJ Armstrong with 6:07 to play. Just over four minutes later, junior running back Jay Tyler scored the Jumbos' sixth and final touchdown, racking up all 53 of his rushing yards on the drive, which ended with a 13-yard touchdown.

This was the fourth rushing touchdown for the Jumbos, all of which were scored by different players: Pedrini, McDonald, Borelli and Tyler. Civetti discussed his team's versatile ground attack.

"In this league, being able to run the football is huge," Civetti said. "If you look at the perennial[ly winning] teams, who's competing for the championship is a team that can run the ball. Having four [running] backs, guys that can step in there and run the ball at any point, is really important."

Borelli echoed the coach's statements about the running back committee.

"I can speak for the running back room, because I'm there a lot," Borelli said. "This is the most talented running back room I've been around in my four years, and that's saying a lot since I played with Chance Brady (LA '17)."

Tyler's touchdown made the score 47–14, and Tufts lined up in victory formation to end the game on its final drive. The Jumbos' offense completely outplayed that of the Bobcats, dominating in total yardage (545–198), first-downs (32–10), third-down completion percentage (58 percent to 19 percent) and time of possession (33:39 to 26:21).

The Jumbos now prepare to hit the road for their next two games, a stretch that will begin with a 1:30 p.m. kickoff against Bowdoin on Saturday.