It is a common concern for coaches that their teams will experience a let down the week after a big win. Whether that affected Tufts on Saturday is a matter of conjecture, but the outcome was the same, as Tufts was beaten on their home field 17-3 by the Colby White Mules.
The score was just 3-0 in favor of Colby at halftime. The While Mules took that lead in the second quarter on a 26-yard field goal that was set up by a fumble on the Tufts 16 yard line.
Colby stretched its lead in the third quarter on a pair of touchdown runs by freshman running back Chris Bashaw. On their first possession of the quarter, the White Mules marched 51 yards on 10 plays to set up a 2-yard Bashaw score. They scored again on their next possession, on a 1-yard Bashaw run. The touchdown was set up by a 39-yard pass from Justin Smith to Jon Vacca.
Tufts scored their only points of the game early in the fourth quarter on a 43-yard field goal by junior Phil Scialdoni. The score capped off a nine-play, 55-yard drive which featured a 40-yard run by senior running back Steve Cincotta.
The White Mules were able to run out the clock, repeatedly handing off to Bashaw and shutting down the Jumbos defensively.
Colby out-gained Tufts by just 57 yards, 257 to 200, but the Jumbos had to work for everything they got.
"They made more big plays than us," senior quad-captain Donovan Brown said. "We only had one big play; Steve's run. They just got in the end zone, and we didn't."
The Jumbos offense made it past their own 50-yard line only twice all game and finished just 2 of 13 on third down conversions. Colby repeatedly forced the offense into third and long situations, and blitzed on nearly every third down.
"When you get in situations of 3 and 8 or more, it's always going to be tough to get first downs," senior quarterback and quad-captain Jason Casey said. "They blitzed a lot on third down - that's probably where they got half their sacks."
The White Mules sacked Casey and junior Casey D'Annolfo nine times, resulting in a loss of 37 yards.
"[The sacks] weren't so much because of their pressure," Casey said. "A couple of them were at the end of the game, looking downfield. And some of them were because Casey [D'Annolfo] and I didn't want to force things. They were doing a pretty good job with coverages, and we were holding onto the ball for a little too long."
Casey, who began the season as the Jumbos' starter, replaced D'Annolfo and finished 8 of 13 for 76 yards. After the game he said that splitting time can make it hard to get into a rhythm.
"Individually, it does," he said. "But for the team, I think that's why the change is made, to cause a little bit of a spark. It wasn't too much of a factor in this game, because I played the rest of the way after coming in."
Cincotta lead Tufts offensively, gaining 93 yards on 15 carries. Senior wide receiver Kevin Holland had five catches for 50 yards. D'Annolfo went 2 of 9 for 28 yards and an interception before being replaced. Senior captain Chris Lawrence and sophomore Bryan McDavitt led the Jumbos with 10 tackles each.
Bashaw gained 92 yards on 34 carries and Smith finished 15 of 32 passes for 164 yards for Colby.
With the loss, Tufts drops to 2-5 and is guaranteed to finish the season with a losing record. The players are not thinking about that, however, heading into the season-ending game at Middlebury.
"Any time we practice all week, we expect to win," Brown said. "If someone didn't go into a game expecting to win, I wouldn't want that person on this team."
"I know we can come out and play well (against Middlebury)," Casey added. "It's the final game of the season, that's enough motivation in itself, and we want to win every game."
