The football team had its work cut out for it Saturday.
The Jumbos were 2-0 heading into their Homecoming matchup with Bowdoin, but the third win wouldn't come easy. They were without their top two running backs, senior Chris Guild and junior Brad Ricketson, and were faced with the Polar Bears' NESCAC-best pass defense.
But with junior Will Forde between the tackles and sophomore safety Tom Tassinari cleaning up on defense, Tufts rallied for 21 first half points and held on for the victory.
Forde took command of the Jumbo running game, taking 29 carries for 65 yards and two touchdowns. Tassinari had a career day, contrbuting an 87-yard interception return, a crucial fumble recovery, and a game-high 12 tackles. The Jumbos headed into the locker room at halftime up 21-13, and thanks to a stalwart defensive effort in the second half, left Zimman Field with a win by that same score, improving to 3-0 on the season.
Without Guild and Ricketson forming two thirds of coach Bill Samko's "three-headed tailback," the offense was dramatically weakened, and Forde and inexperienced sophomore Darren Ferguson played more prominent roles.
"It was tough, just splitting the carries between two guys," Forde said. "That's why I like Chris Guild and Brad Ricketson so much - us three, we can share the load. But we hung in there, and we did what we had to do to get the win."
Forde was unstoppable early on, picking up 26 yards on the Jumbos' first two plays from scrimmage and putting them in the end zone on their first drive. But he wore down as the game went on and by the fourth quarter was ineffective on offense and later made a key fumble on a punt return.
"We'd been fortunate with those three guys, so that we could space the carries out and nobody had more than 15 carries in a game," Samko said. "Today I think Will had 17 in the first half. I think he got fatigued there at the end, and that was part of that fumble on the punt - he was just tired."
The Jumbos dominated the time of possession in the first quarter, stringing together two six-minute drives, both ending with Forde in the end zone. Meanwhile the Polar Bears, with one of the NESCAC's worst rushing offenses, looked to sophomore quarterback Oliver Kell to carry the offense, and he didn't disappoint. Kell completed 21 of 42 passes for a career-high 234 yards and two touchdowns, one coming on a 31-yard bomb to classmate Justin Starr.
"He's good, he's young, and he's going to be around for a while," Samko said of Kell. "He's played well in their first couple of games and in our scrimmage. I think they made a wise decision last year, halfway through the season, when they started him and got him a little bit of experience. When he's on, it's really tough to contain him."
The Jumbos had a 14-7 lead with a minute left in the first half, but that final minute was a pivotal one for both teams. On the Bears' fourth drive of the half, Kell marched his offense to the Tufts 33, but when he tried to throw a 20-yard bullet deep into Jumbo territory, Tassinari was there.
The sophomore picked off Kell's pass at the 13, and with 11 white uniforms swarming at him, made the 87-yard mad dash to the Bowdoin end zone. The play left him, in his words, "so out of breath, so pumped, and just so absolutely dead."
"It was a big play for the team," Tassinari said. "It changed the game. But I couldn't have made it without my blocking downfield - that was amazing. That was a team effort right there."
Tufts went up 21-7 with 42 seconds to play, but the Bears came charging back in a hurry. After two incomplete passes to start the ensuing drive, junior Laurence Duggan made a 15-yard run for a first down, calling a timeout with 15 seconds left. Kell then got off a pair of beautiful passes, first a 22-yarder to senior Nick Tomaino, and then in the final eight seconds, the 31-yarder to Starr for the touchdown. Despite the missed extra point from junior Nate Morrow, the Bears were within striking distance at halftime, down 21-13.
"I'm sitting there going, 'Okay, let's go in there up two scores at the half, and they have to throw the ball now,'" Samko said. "When you can make them one-dimensional, they're much easier to defend. But then that play put them back, and it's a little different."
The game was close on the scoreboard, but given the changed tempo of the second half, the Jumbos took the Bears' offense out of the game. Their last eight drives ended in two punts, three turnovers on downs and three fumbles.
"Coming in at halftime, when they got that big play at the end of the first half, our defense just said, 'We're not letting up any more points,'" Tassinari said. "And we didn't."
Tassinari himself led the way, as his 12 tackles were a season high for all Jumbos. Junior Andy Henke had another huge day, recording 11 tackles of his own, while junior Tyson Reynoso added 10, and senior Stephen Albertine had eight - two for losses - as well as a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a sack.
The scariest moment for the Jumbo defense came in the fourth quarter, when Forde fumbled a punt from Bowdoin freshman Bill Donahue at the Tufts 22. Bowdoin took over, and after Kell found Tomaino for 14 yards and a first-and-goal, the Jumbo defense was in trouble. But after a pair of two-yard runs put the Bears on the 3, the Jumbos held their ground, stuffing sophomore Nick Tom for a six-yard loss and forcing an incomplete pass from Kell.
The turnover on downs gave Tufts all the time it needed to run out the clock, and it brought redemption for Forde. After the game, he thanked his team's defense, now the NESCAC's best in red zone situations having allowed just two scores this season in five red zone drives.
"You have no clue how relieved I was," Forde said. "The defense did its job and bailed me out. I was a little worried on the sidelines. But that's what the game's all about - helping out your teammates."
With the win, the Jumbos are now 3-0, tied for first place in the NESCAC alongside Trinity and Middlebury. Trinity, perennially the class of the NESCAC, is coming to town next weekend, and there are major championship implications for Saturday's game at Zimman Field.
"We have a lot of respect for Trinity and Middlebury," Forde said. "But we think we can play with anyone in the league if we do our job. Next week should be a very good game. I'm excited - I'm ready to go."
