Players come, players go. And year in and year out a new batch of seniors, true brown-and-blue bleeders, must play at Ellis Oval for the final time.
This season will be the last time four Tufts football players don a helmet and shoulder pads, unless they try on their nephew's Pop Warner equipment.
"It really hasn't hit me yet," senior offensive center Ben Bloom said. "It was the last game at home, but the season's not over yet. We still have one more."
"I haven't really thought of it being the last home game yet, but I know I'll be thinking about it after our last game," senior wide receiver Kevin Holland said.
On Saturday, the Jumbos had a golden opportunity to stamp their season with a two game winning streak and a chance to go .500 before they head up to Middlebury to end what has been a dissapointing 2-5 season, but a 5-2 Colby squad had different plans, winning17-3.
While the seniors didn't get the royal sendoff they had hoped for, they have created many memorable moments on the home turf.
One stuck out more than any other for most of them: beating Amherst 24-17 in overtime last season.
Senior quad-captain and cornerback/return man Donavan Brown had his own favorite recollection.
"Winning against Trinity freshman year [9-7]," he said.
While Brown played a great deal of cornerback and returned punts and kicks on that 2001 team, many of his compatriots were bench ridden for that one. However, recent memories of home greatness have been hard to come by. That may be the hardest pill to swallow for Tufts' seniors.
"We played a lot of close games out there," Bloom said. "Besides the Wesleyan game [37-7 opening game loss], we have had some tough ones."
It was hard to figure their failures, especially considering that the offense was the experienced bunch while the defense was the young group looking to get their feet wet.
But the defense, one that ranks fifth in the conference in total defense, kept the Jumbos competitive.
And many seniors played a major role in the effort. Senior quad-captains Chris Lawrence and Brown anchored a unit that had some question marks. But outstanding years from both, not to mention defensive end Josh Harris who saw a lot of action in the latter half of the season, kept the Jumbos close throughout.
"The D stepped up this year," Bloom said. "We just needed to put up more points on our side of the ball."
The three points they had Saturday notwithstanding, there is still hope for the team, and hopefully the offense, to explode this coming Saturday. But whatever happens will have to be away from Ellis Oval/Zimman Field. Lawrence knows this all too well.
"It has been a major part of our life for four years," he said. "A win would have made things a whole lot better on Saturday, but what can we do now, except beat Middlebury."
