Before the football team's Sept. 20 season opener against Wesleyan, coach Bill Samko promised that his top two quarterbacks, juniors Anthony Fucillo and Tom McManama, would both see action. And when McManama failed to take one snap during Tufts' contest against the Cardinals, Samko stressed that the team's win was far more important than individuals' playing time.
But when Fucillo went down with a shoulder injury in Saturday's game against Colby, it was McManama's turn to step up, and this time the backup was the hero.
McManama entered at the start of the fourth quarter with the Jumbos and Mules knotted at 7-7, and the offense responded with two quick scoring drives, giving Tufts a permanent lead and an eventual 17-10 win on Senior Day at Zimman Field.
McManama had previously stepped under center just once this fall, going 2 for 4 with an interception against Bates on Sept. 27. When his number was called this Saturday, the junior stepped up in a big way. McManama responded immediately to Fucillo's departure, hooking up with senior receiver David Halas for 27 yards on his first pass of the game.
He then found senior wideout Asmerom Adhanom for 20 yards on the next play, and the Jumbo offense later converted a fourth-and-three with a nifty seven-yard pass to senior tight end Max Cassidy. The drive concluded with freshman Adam Auerbach's 34-yard field goal, giving the Jumbos a three-point cushion.
It was the next drive which made McManama's first collegiate win all the more special. With 9:03 left in the fourth quarter, Halas burned the defense up the left sideline, and McManama unleashed a bomb from 34 yards out that settled quietly into his receiver's arms for the touchdown. The play gave the Jumbos a 10-point margin that they would not relinquish. "When I came in, all I had to do was just protect the ball, make plays and get a score," McManama said. "They didn't bring their safeties over on a couple of plays, so I just found the soft spots in their defense."
"All I know is that Tom has a cannon," said Halas, who hauled in seven passes for 101 yards on the afternoon. "He told me that if I got open on the long ball, he'd get it to me. Today he kept his word."
For Halas, a two-touchdown game added to his already historic single-season stat line. The fourth-quarter TD, along with a seven-yard touchdown catch from Fucillo midway through the second frame, extended his single-season Tufts record to 10 and his career record to 18.
"I'd take touchdowns from anyone, from [senior runningback Will] Forde, from Black, as long as we got a win," Halas said. "But when my number is called, I just want to find the end zone."
Give credit to the offense where credit is due, but neither of Halas' touchdowns would have come without crucial stops by the defense. Halas' second score came on the heels of junior cornerback Andrew Elfman's interception on the drive following Auerbach's field goal. Elfman streaked to the ball from the far sideline, snaring it out of the air across the middle of the field and returning it to the Colby 33. Two plays later, Halas hauled in McManama's bomb to secure the win.
"It was just a classic Tufts-Colby game, always coming down to the wire," Colby coach Ed Mestieri said. "It was close to the vest for the first half, especially since both programs preach a very physical style of play."
The physical play was exhibited primarily by the Tufts defense, which battered and bruised the Mules' offense throughout the afternoon. Senior tri-captain linebacker Tyson Reynoso had 10 tackles and sealed the victory with his first collegiate interception late in the fourth quarter.
"We just played defense the way we know we could play," Reynoso said. "With all of those three-and-outs, we kept stepping up in a big way. Every one of those gave our offense more time on the field, letting them drive and eat time off the clock."
All told, Colby was held to 35 yards on the ground and just 117 through the air. Mules freshman quarterback Nick Kmetz, despite completing 54 percent of his passes in his first collegiate start, threw two interceptions that gave Tufts the momentum it needed for McManama to dispatch Colby.
The Mules were just two for 14 on third-down conversions and averaged a meager 1.2 yards-per-rush. But the most telling statistic of Tufts' defensive effort is that Colby senior punter Victor Gagne had 97 more yards punting than his team had total offense. The lone blemish on the Jumbos' defensive effort came in the third quarter, when Kmetz danced and side-stepped his way up the right sideline for an 11-yard touchdown for Colby's only trip to the end zone on the day.
"They had a good QB, and he made some good passes, so I have to give him some credit," Reynoso said. "On film we thought it was a different quarterback, but they ended up running the same schemes, so it didn't change our game plan at all. We just came up big when we needed to."
On the offensive end, Tufts racked up 348 yards of total offense in the final home game for 19 seniors. Fucillo and McManama combined for 258 yards through the air and two scores, completing a combined 58 percent of their passes. Forde, who had rushed for 100-or-more yards in each of Tufts' first five contests, was held below the century mark for the second straight game, rushing for 56 yards on 23 carries. But Forde proved to be effective in the passing game as a dump-off option, hauling in five passes for 45 yards.
It was a defensive struggle throughout the first quarter as both teams tried to find their rhythm on offense. Tufts entered the Mules' red zone on its first two possessions, but an interception and a missed field goal left the score knotted at zero. Late in the second quarter, Fucillo found his groove before giving way to McManama.
"You have to tip your hats off to Tufts," Mestieri said. "[McManama] really provided a spark for them. They are a good team, and they played better than we did this week."
With the win, Tufts improves to 4-3 on the season and remains undefeated at home. It is the first time since 1991 that the Jumbos have put up an untainted record at Zimman Field.
Tufts hits the road this Saturday to take on Middlebury, who boasts the top scoring and passing offense in the NESCAC. The two teams are currently in a tie for fourth place in the conference and, while the Panthers have a stellar passing game, their pass defense ranks last in the league. For now, though, the Jumbos are free to bask in the glory of last Saturday's Senior Day win.
"It was a good win for us, even though we made it harder on ourselves than we should have," Samko said. "I'm trying to not be too emotional with the seniors, but it was great to come out and get that win for them. We were so close to having a great year as opposed to a 4-3 one, because the seniors all deserve to win year-round and career-long. This win we earned."
"This last home game is especially sentimental, walking out onto that field for the final time," Halas said. "Having a game like this is something I'm going to look fondly back on. It was a nice conclusion to my athletics career at home, but we have to take care of business next week at Middlebury."
