Tufts misses opportunities in loss to Williams

WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS. -- The Tufts football team put up excellent rushing numbers and adequate passing yards on Saturday, but it wasn't enough against Williams' superior execution. The Ephs rushed the Jumbos' defense into the ground and converted in red zone situations en route to a 23-10 NESCAC victory.

Both teams are now 3-2 and in a four-way tie for third place in the conference.

With the ball on its own 24-yard line, down 14-7, with eight minutes remaining in the third quarter, Tufts' ensuing drive would make or break the game.

Let's backtrack. Earlier, the Ephs were up 14-0, but their defense showed a weakness. It struggled to contain converted wide receiver and acting tailback, senior quad-captain Tim Mack.

Late in the first half, with the ball on Tufts' 45-yard line, Mack carried the ball on every down for eight straight plays. Thanks to the offensive line, to which Mack said, "all credit is due," the Jumbos found themselves on the one-yard line. Sophomore quarterback Casey D'Annolfo snuck the ball in from the one-yard for the touchdown.

"I didn't really see [Mack] on film or anything, I didn't even know about him," Williams junior defensive end Hugh Green said. "He's real fast and real quick. They ran a lot of counters against us and we really had a lot of problems adjusting during the first two or three series he was in."

After the Jumbos' touchdown drive, Williams was very aware of Mack's presence, which set up Tufts' crucial third quarter drive that sprung from the Jumbos 24-yard line.

First, a pass interference call on the NESCAC's leading tackler, Williams' linebacker Graham Goldwasser, gave Tufts a first down on its own 27-yard line. Mack, who had already amassed 52 yards on nine carries in the first half, then ran the ball 12 yards on a counter play.

Sensing the momentum shifting to the Tufts, Williams junior linebacker Wes Connors roamed the sidelines, rallying the Ephs on the bench by shouting "We're not going to lose this game."

But Tufts kept the pressure on Williams' defense on the next play. Knowing the Ephs would probably be playing the run on first and ten, junior quarterback Jason Casey dropped back and completed a 38-yard pass to junior Kevin Holland.

Now at the Ephs 23-yard line, Casey dropped back on a second straight pass and delivered the ball seven yards to senior Eddie Casabian. After Mack rushed for a one-yard loss on second down, Casey took to the air again, this time on third and four. He found a leaping Holland for a 12 yard completion to Williams' five-yard line.

The only thing Jumbos had done all contest was trail. The last tie was 0-0 before Williams scored its first touchdown with 5:02 left in the first quarter. But now the momentum seemed to be shifting.

On first and goal, Mack took the handoff from Casey and was hit in the backfield, but spun away from the initial contact, finding his way for three yards down to the Ephs' two-yard line.

But after blowing a timeout and throwing an incomplete pass in the end zone to Holland, Tufts' faced third and goal. Coming out with multiple receivers, Tufts was penalized for too few men on the line, but Williams committed pass interference on Casey's throw to the end zone, so the penalties offset one another.

This gave Tufts another shot at third and goal from the two. From coach Bill Samko's perspective, it seemed that passing the ball was Tufts' only ticket to the end zone.

"If they got 11 guys in there playing the run, and you got a quarterback and a guy running the ball, you're two guys short," Samko said. "Sometimes you can't run it down there."

With its second shot at third and short, it seemed like Tufts reversed the play that went incomplete to Holland on second down. Instead of dropping back and throwing to his left, Casey looked to his right for senior wide receiver Matt Cerne. Williams' cornerback was all over Cerne and tipped the ball away from the receiver's hands.

The Jumbos' offense was forced to settle for senior kicker Marcellus Rolle's 20-yard field goal to bring Tufts within four points of Williams at 14-10.

That goal line breakdown may have cost Tufts any shot at winning the game.

Williams took its next possession downfield on a mix of rushes and clutch passes from Williams' two-time NESCAC player of the year quarterback Joe Reardon.

Reardon entered the contest with eight career interceptions against Tufts in three previous starts, but threw zero on Saturday. On this drive, he led the Ephs 71 yards to Tufts' nine-yard line.

The Jumbos' defense finally stepped up in the red zone, forcing Williams to settle for a 25-yard field goal to give the Ephs at 17-10 lead with 12:38 left in the game.

On the next drive, Mack broke off a seven-yard run, but could not reach the first down on his next two rushes. The Jumbos were forced to go three and out.

On Williams' ensuing drive, a controversial call gave the Ephs a huge advantage.

After giving the ball to running back Mike Hackett three consecutive times, Williams found itself one yard short of a first down on Tufts' 46-yard line. Instead of punting the ball, the Ephs offense decided to give Hackett one more shot.

It appeared that the Jumbos' defense corralled Hackett, who rushed for 156 yards on the day, short of the 45-yard line. After a controversial spot of the ball and a measurement, Williams had a first down by half a ball's length.

"That was probably the worst spot I've seen in a while," senior cornerback Mark Tilki said. "His helmet didn't even reach the line, so I don't know where they got that spot from."

That spot turned out to be huge because on the next play, Reardon hit 6-6 freshman wide receiver Brendon Fullmer for 38 yards. Two plays later, Reardon completed his only touchdown pass, a four-yard toss to tight end Mike Babiner. After a missed extra point, Tufts was down 23-10.

On the next drive, instead of leaving Casey, who finished 8-21 passing for 131 yards passing and one interception, in at quarterback, the offense opted for D'Annolfo, who failed to complete a pass all game.

"We're staying with out normal script on those quarterbacks and [Casey's] series was up," offensive coordinator Mike Daly said.

D'Annolfo was unable to move the offense, setting up a seventh punt from freshman Bryan McDavitt.

Tufts had one more chance to score points with Casey back in at quarterback.

After completing three passes that moved the Jumbos' offense from its own 30-yard line to Williams' 12, disaster struck.

Looking for Mack on a fade pattern to the end zone, Casey overthrew his man and Williams' cornerback Kevin Greener intercepted the pass in the end zone.

There were some breakdowns in clutch situations, but overall, Williams just beat Tufts.

"It was a really physical game," Goldwasser said. "Both sides played really well and we were lucky enough to come out on top."