A jumbo disaster

As David Bodner's 29-yard game-winning overtime field goal split the uprights, sealing a 27-24 victory for the Lord Jeffs, it was only fitting that rain, which had subsided for all of the second half, again began to fall on the storied football field in Amherst, Massachusetts. The game itself was the Jumbos' season in microcosm: a strong beginning, flashes of brilliance stained by inconsistency, and ultimately, disappointment. As the Jumbos meandered off the field, muddy and defeated, their faces reflected only confusion about a potentially special season that has gone so terribly wrong.

The game began promisingly for Tufts, as Amherst turned the ball over three times in the first quarter. The Jumbos took a 7-0 lead midway through the opening frame when Fletcher Ladd, the NESCAC's premier halfback, fumbled a pitch that cornerback Mark Tilki recovered in the endzone.

"It was a wet day out there," junior defensive end Reid Palmer said. "He (Ladd) had problems catching the ball all day. A bunch of us fell on it and it squirted out again, and Tilki just fell on it."

Amherst cut into the lead in the second quarter. Sophomore Jason Wagstaff gave the Jeffs a good field position after a 20-yard punt return. After the drive stalled out at the Jumbo 10, Bodner hammered home a 27-yard field goal to make the score 7-3.

The Jumbos answered right back. Behind the strong running of sophomore halfback Steve Cincotta, who picked up 31 yards on the drive, they marched down the field before settling for a Marcellus Rolle 33-yard field goal.

Amherst took over possession with 1:21 remaining in the half, and seemed content to run out the clock and regroup for the second half. Yet coach Bill Samko elected to use the team's timeouts in an aggressive move aimed at getting the ball back. After Ladd failed to earn sufficient yardage for a first down, the Jeffs punted, giving Tufts possession with under a minute remaining. Senior quarterback Scott Treacy, who managed only 57 yards of passing all afternoon, looked to Matt Cerne down the left sideline on the first play from scrimmage. The pass was thrown into double coverage, and an Amherst defensive back intercepted the errant toss and returned it to the Jumbo 37-yard line. As time expired on the clock, Jeff quarterback Marsh Mosely lobbed a pass to the goal line. Tilki leaped and attempted to bat the ball down, but it deflected upwards, and as Tilki fell back, the ball landed in the hands of senior wide receiver Brian Hart to tie the game at ten at the half.

"Sometimes the ball bounces in funny ways," defensive coordinator Mike Walsh said. "That was certainly a crazy play."

Tufts has been a great third quarter team all fall, and Saturday was no exception. After Mosely threw two incompletions, he looked deep over the middle on third down. Backup safety Mike Leist, starting in place of the injured Drew Blewett, made a great read, stepped in front of the ball and intercepted it.

As has been the case all season, the Jumbo offense performed at its best after the defense forced turnovers. With the ball at the Jeff 36, Treacy ran a bootleg for eight yards before finding sophomore tight end Chris Roy with a beautiful tight spiral in the corner of the endzone for a 17-10 Tufts lead.

The Jumbos held Amherst's offense in check on the subsequent possession, and Tilki made a brilliant return to the Jeff seven. On the first play from scrimmage, Treacy threw a fade left to Ryan Papi. The big tight end reeled in the pass, and the Jumbos took a commanding 24-10 lead with time dwindling in the third quarter.

Tufts again stopped Amherst and took over the ball with 13:26 remaining in the game, but failed to move the ball. A big punt return gave the Jeffs possession at the Jumbo 15, and on the first play, Ladd took a pitch and glided through a big whole on his way to the endzone. The extra point was no good, but Tufts' precarious lead fell to eight points.

Amherst recovered an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff, and managed to drive to the Tufts five-yard line before Ladd fumbled and Tufts recovered. Behind the hard running of Cincotta, who had two tackle-defying scampers, Tufts ran four minutes off the clock before it was forced to punt. Amherst took over at its own 34-yard line with just over three minutes remaining.

Mosely threw two incompletions and on third and ten was flushed from the pocket, but scrambled his way for a huge first down.

"That was one of the game's biggest plays," Palmer said. "He was definitely feeling pressure from our line, I thought over all we did a pretty good job at the line of scrimmage, but we dropped eight guys in coverage. He's a quick quarterback, and there was a lot of open field for him, and he made a big play."

Mosely kept composure in the pocket, finding receivers on quick patterns across the middle as time dwindled. With only 12 seconds left in regulation, the sophomore slinger found wideout Jim Devine in the endzone, giving the Jeffs the opportunity to tie the game. Surprisingly, on the two-point conversion attempt, Mosely dropped back to throw instead of handing off to Ladd, who finished with 196 yards on 48 carries for the day. The pass was incomplete, but a late pass interference call gave Amherst a second shot, this time from the one-yard line. Ladd was hit before the goal line, but after a spinning second effort, found his way in the endzone to tie the game.

"That guy's a good back," Tilki said. "He'll be sore tomorrow, we hit him a lot, and he had some problems hanging onto the ball, but he got it done when it counted."

The contest went into overtime where each team gets the ball at its opponent's 25-yard line. Each team must match each other's scoring or the game is over. Amherst won the toss and elected to give the Jumbos the ball first. Treacy was sacked on the first play, and after an incompletion, he hit Tim Mack to set up a 43-yard field goal. Marcellus Rolle's kick had plenty of leg, but was pushed to the right, and Amherst got its chance for victory.

Another tough interference call against the Jumbos gave Amherst a fresh first down at the Jumbo 21. Ladd carried the ball three consecutive times and took the ball to Tufts' twelve-yard line, where Bodner calmly hit the field goal to close the coffin on Tufts' hopes of a NESCAC crown.

"I'm in a lot of shock right now," Tilki said. "A lot of things went wrong out there. I'm not accepting this one. We have to pick it up. We'll be back."

Perhaps a silver lining was the running of Cincotta, whose role is becoming increasingly more important. The sophomore finished with 116 yards on 20 carries and seemed to be on the field in the game's most important situations.

"Steve's a hard nosed runner," said offensive lineman Adam Collette. "He stepped it up today."

Though brilliant for stretches, the Jumbos never achieved the consistency they needed to seal the victory. As has been the case in all three losses, Tufts squandered a fourth quarter lead and failed to play solid football for an entire game.

"We were one score away from winning this football game," Palmer said. "Playing consistently has been the problem all year, and it got us again today. Too often we gave them a short field. They're a good team and they battled. It's a tough loss to take."