Tufts gears up for toughest challenge yet

The Tufts football team travels to Hartford, CT this Saturday to play the Trinity College Bantams in what will certainly be its most competitive contest thus far. Tufts has leapt out to a 3-0 start, scoring 91 points behind an aggressive and clock controlling running game led by senior halfback Chuck McGraw, and a steady air attack anchored by senior quarterback Scott Treacy. The Jumbo defense, however, has been the bigger story. The unit has yielded only 13 points this season, and has intercepted 11 passes. Yet Tufts' three victories have come against teams with a combined 0-9 mark, and Trinity possesses one of the league's strongest offenses.

"Trinity is a good team," coach Bill Samko said. "They present numerous problems for us. They're good on defense and on offense they have a lot of weapons."

The weapons of whom Samko speaks begin with the Bantam's senior quarterback Greg Ward. Ward is a 6'5," 240 lb star, who last year boasted a 102 efficiency rating and averaged 205 passing yards per game, good enough for a Second team All-NESCAC selection. Ward's favorite target is Joe Wahl, who last year caught 43 balls and was the team's offensive MVP. In the backfield, Trinity relies on a two-headed monster, senior Brian Fabrizio and junior Tom Pierandri.

"The quarterback has a lot of talent," Samko said." Those two backs are terrific, they both run well."

If this year's game against the Bantams is anything like last year's, Tufts is in for a fight. In one of their most thrilling games of the season, the Jumbos held a tenuous 9-7 advantage for the entire second half. With time winding down in the fourth quarter and the Bantams marching down on the field on what would have been a game-winning drive, defensive end Reid Palmer dropped back into pass coverage and intercepted an errant Ward pass to seal the victory.

The Jumbos' problem thus far, this season, has been consistency. Often after jumping out to big leads, Tufts has looked out of sync and sloppy. Samko believes the keys to victory against Trinity are establishing a running game and winning the turnover battle.

"I'm always worried about turnovers," Samko said. "Obviously they're a part of the game. A lot of what we've talked about has been protecting the ball. If we lose the turnover battle this week, we'll lose the game. I'm sure about that."

Another minor concern for the Jumbos might be the status of defensive lineman Caleb Hudak, the team's second leading tackler, who left the team's last game, against Bowdoin, after a collision with teammate Gaetan Kashala and was hobbling on crutches afterwards. Samko, however, expects his team to be at full strength.

"Caleb is fine," Samko said. "We're counting on him being in there and ready to go."

Do not expect Tufts to attack too much in the air on Saturday, as the Jumbos will stick with their pounding running game.

"We run to set up the pass," Samko said. "We have a strength at O-line and Chuck McGraw is a very good running back. I'm a big believer that you can't win if you don't run. Very few teams win by throwing. If we establish the running game, keep our defense off the field, and keep our turnovers down, I like our chances."