Riding a 17 game winning streak into Saturday's home game withTufts, the Trinity Bantams had earned the right to be a confidentbunch. With their 36-14 dismantling of the Jumbos, the Bantamsproved yet again why they are the elite squad in the NESCAC. Theloss dropped Tufts to 1-3, while elevating Trinity to 4-0.
From the opening kickoff, the Bantams were suffocating ondefense and the Jumbos could do little to stop the onslaught. Thiswas evidenced by the seven sacks surrendered by the offense. Seniorquad captain Jason Casey, with hardly any room to breathe in thepocket, only mustered four passing attempts, none of which wascompleted. He was taken down behind the line of scrimmage fivetimes. With the score 30-0 at halftime, Tufts only had 16 yards toshow for its troubles, mainly because much of the team's yardagewas lost on sacks.
Tufts was not helped by the departure of senior running backSteve Cincotta, who, on his first rush of the game, re-aggravatedan ankle injury and did not return. Filling in for him was freshmanBrendan Georges (16 carries, 48 yards), who was coming off of astrong performance against Bowdoin, and sophomore Brian Cammuso (13carries, 56 yards).
Although the half time deficit may have been too big a hole toclimb out of, under the guidance of junior quarterback CaseyD'Annolfo, the second half went a bit more according to the Jumbos'initial plans. D'Annolfo was seven for 13 for 97 yards, including a31 yard touchdown strike to sophomore Steve Menty which cut thescore to 30-7 late in the third quarter. It was Menty's firstcollegiate touchdown.
"We opened up the offense a little bit more in the second half,"Menty said. "It felt good to get some points on the board."
Cammuso would score the other Jumbo touchdown on a nine yard runto cap off an 11 play, 80 yard drive as time was winding down inthe fourth.
Defensively, Tufts encountered the same troubles that theoffense endured; a lackluster first half making way for a solidsecond half effort. The first thirty minutes saw the Bantams grab16 first downs, amass 240 yards (136 passing), and score 30 points.The back end of the game only saw the Jumbos yield 120 yards tohave something positive to hang their hats on heading into nextweek.
"Rather than making adjustments, we just had to make plays,which we hadn't done in the first half," senior defensive end JoshHarris said.
The Bantams' offense had been averaging 487.7 yards per gameentering the contest, which they fell below in totaling only 360against Tufts. Leading the charge in containing Trinity were twojuniors, linebacker Mike McCann and safety Pat Magoon (nine tackleseach) and sophomore defensive end Chris Decembrele (nine tackles,blocked punt). Always-steady senior quad captain defensive tackleChris Lawrence chipped in with eight takedowns.
But it was the Trinity passing attack, led by quarterbacks JoshPitcher and Chandler Barnard, which did Tufts in. Their 212 passingyards were well above their season average, while running backGennaro Leo's 67 yards, which led all rushers, was well below hisusual output for the year. The Trinity running game, averaging 370yards a contest coming in, may have suffered its biggest hit whenstarter Drew Finkelday went down after his first carry of thegame.
But moral victories such as containing Trinity's running gamecan only be worth so much. At some point the Jumbos will have toplay a full sixty minutes to win games, and Harris knows what thatentails.
"We all have to trust the system and do our jobs when we areexpected to," he said.
The Jumbos play host to Williams (3-1) this Saturday on ParentsWeekend. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
