After three blowout wins, it took a last-minute interception on Saturday for Tufts to hold off the Trinity Bantams, as the Jumbos won 9-7 and maintained their perfect record (4-0). With 1:27 remaining in the game and the Bantams driving on Tufts' 35-yard line and needing only a field goal to win, sophomore defensive end Reid Palmer dropped back into coverage and picked off Trinity quarterback Greg Ward's pass.
"We were in a prevent coverage," Palmer said. "We've been working on getting underneath the out pattern since the first day of practice. I got in position and made the play. We needed someone to make a play."
Palmer's pick, the first of his career, preserved Tufts' fourth victory and allowed the team to take a collective sigh of relief. With Tufts up 9-7 - a score the teams had been stuck on since 2:41 in the second quarter - the ball at the Trinity 36, and 3:26 left on the clock, coach Billo Samko had a decision to make on 4th and 2. He could have run the ball with his bruising back, junior Keven Kelley, who had already amassed 214 yards on 37 carries, or punted.
Samko chose the safe route, and senior kicker Howie Rock booted one of the best punts of his college career.
"It's difficult to drive 80 yards consistently," Samko said. "So we just didn't want to make the field shorter for them. And Howie Rock, our punter, is the best punter in the conference. We're kind of playing old-fashioned football: we try to run the ball, and we are not adverse to kicking it back to you as long as we give you a long field to work with."
The punt pinned Trinity at its own six-yard line, and as Samko handed the game over to his defense, things looked up for the Jumbos. But then Ward started picking apart the Jumbos' secondary.
Ward started the drive with a ten-yard completion to running back Tom Pierandi for a first down. After two incomplete passes, Ward connected with wide receiver Joe Wahl - also the Bantams' punter - for 13 yards. The tandem had been effective all day, as Wahl caught seven passes for 138 yards.
Four more completions kept the Bantams moving into Jumbo territory, but after two consecutive incomplete passes, Trinity was faced with another third and ten. Again, Ward found Wahl, but this time only for six yards, setting up a fourth and four. From the shotgun, and with the Tufts secondary chasing Bantam receivers, Ward took off on a quarterback draw and gained five yards for another first down.
That set up the fateful first and ten from the 35, and Palmer's game-saving interception.
"The offense has been big all season," sophomore defensive lineman Caleb Hudak said. "It was our turn today."
As confident as the defense was, it was getting worried as the Bantams continued to drive. "We were just trying to catch our breaths," Hudak said. "We were tired, but we were the better conditioned team, and Reid made a hell of a play."
Hudak was a major part of Tufts' defensive prowess. He batted down four passes, recovered a fumble, and had eight tackles on the day, including a number of stops in clutch situations.
"We knew that their quarterback threw the ball low," Hudak said of his deflections. "So we just tried to get our hands in the air."
Not only did the defense hold Trinity to seven points, but it contained Ward's passing for the most part. While the quarterback was able to complete a few long passes, the only drive that was sustained through the pass was the final one.
Trinity got on the scoreboard first, as it put together an impressive scoring drive late in the first quarter. The Bantams went nine plays and 67 yards in 3:39, as running back Brian Fabrizio dove to pay dirt from one yard out. The key to the drive was a fourth and five conversion from the 17-yard line. Instead of a field goal, the Bantams opted to pass, and Ward connected with Fabrizio for eight yards and a first down.
It would take Tufts less than four minutes to answer, as junior running back Chuck McGraw took a pitch from quarterback Scott Treacy on an option from the shotgun and ran 33 yards, cutting all the way back across the field for a touchdown. Rock missed the extra point, making the score 7-6 Trinity with 14:37 left in the first half.
McGraw's run had been the first play of the drive, as the Jumbo defense had pinned Trinity and forced a punt, which went out of bounds at the 33-yard line. "Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes players make plays," Samko said. "I thought that was a great individual effort by Chuck. Once he got in the open field, cutting it back - it was a hell of a run. It was just like I coached him."
Late in the second half, Rock capped the scoring with a 28-yard field goal. It was a disappointing score for the Jumbos, as a one-yard touchdown run by Kelley was called back for holding.
The Jumbos are now 4-0 and head to Williams next week to face the undefeated Ephmen. While Tufts is unbeaten in the first half of the season, it is the second half - with games against Williams, Amherst, and Middlebury - that will pose the sternest test for the Jumbos.
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