For Jumbos, one last chance

It all comes down to one.

For a football team that began the season overflowing with potential, the season has come down to one final game. One final chance for a senior class, steeped with talent, to walk off the field with heads held high. One final chance to put a smiling face on a season that has been, by all accounts, a disappointment.

"I think it's impossible not to feel disappointed with the way our season's gone," senior tri-captain Evan Zupancic said. "But we have to remember that it's not over yet. Every game counts, and we're taking it pretty seriously this week."

The Jumbos will take on Middlebury on Saturday, in the final week of the 2002 NESCAC football season. After four straight losses, Tufts sits at 3-4 on the season, tied with Colby and Middlebury for fifth place. And after a horrendous 9-0 loss to Colby last week in the team's final home game of the year, the Jumbos will be looking to save face and salvage a .500 record against the Panthers.

"Without a doubt, this is the most important game of the season," Zupancic said. "I don't know any competitive person who wouldn't want to finish the season on a high note."

But the task will not be easy. Middlebury has a highly talented squad that has suffered through a season eerily similar to that of Tufts. The Panthers have pounded out wins against the NESCAC's weaker teams, winning by 20 points at Hamilton and 21 at Bates, while suffering heartbreakingly close losses to conference powerhouses.

In its season opener, Middlebury led Wesleyan 21-7 late in the third quarter, before the Cardinals posted 17 unanswered points, including the game winning field goal with 0:33 left in the game to escape with a 24-21 win.

Against Amherst two weeks later, the Panthers trailed the Jeffs 17-10, and took the ball inside the Amherst 40 yard line twice in the final 3:43, but were unable to put one in the end zone to tie it up.

The following week at Williams, Middlebury led the Ephs 24-14 with 4:20 left to play. Williams posted back to back touchdowns, including the game winner with 0:53 remaining to snatch the victory away.

While most of the Jumbos' losses have come in similar fashion _ squandering fourth quarter leads on mental miscues _ last week was a different story. Against a mediocre Colby team Tufts was unable to find any sort of groove on offense, combining for just 76 yards all day. Despite this, however, coach Bill Samko said that the team will approach this weekend's game in the exact same way.

"At this point in the season there's only so much you can change," he said. "Until last week we moved the ball pretty well. (Colby) saw that Matt Cerne wasn't playing and they forced us to throw the ball a lot. We dropped about eight or ten passes that game."

Cerne, the Jumbos' top wide receiver, was a late scratch from last weekend's game after he suffered a severely pulled hamstring in practice the day before. He will not play this week at Middlebury. Also out on Saturday will be junior free safety Drew Blewett, who missed the last two games after suffering a concussion against Williams.

But even without Blewett, the defense has shouldered the load in nearly every game this season, and have to have a big game again on Saturday for the Jumbos to emerge with a victory. Middlebury is not dominant in any aspect of the game, but attacks with a very balanced offense, and does not allow an inordinate amount of points.

Receiver Denver Smith has had an impressive season, averaging 82 yards receiving per game with seven touchdowns, while running back Bill Lazzaro averages a solid 113 yards per game and has put six in the end zone.

Leading the way for the defense will again be Zupancic, who, with seven interceptions on the season, is only two shy of Tufts' single season record of nine. He may be hard pressed to come up with the two he needs to tie against Middlebury though, as quarterback Mike Keenan has only been picked off seven times in as many games.

"I think about picks every game, but not in terms of personal achievements," Zupancic said. "I'm always thinking 'I'd like to get a couple of picks this weekend to help us get the win.' I would much rather have zero picks and win the game."

For the departing seniors, Saturday's game will be the final stamp they put on their careers at Tufts. And after a season gone so terribly wrong, this game is more important than ever.

"I think we're all kind of shocked that our careers are coming to an end," Zupancic said. "Last week was a wake up call and a slap in the face, because we all really wanted to win that one. We're gonna be fired up and we're gonna leave everything on the field because it's the last time we'll ever be out there. It doesn't matter how beat up we get."