The football team's defense has to be tired.
On Saturday, host Trinity controlled the clock for over two−thirds of the game and racked up nearly 300 yards of rushing in a decisive 27−7 victory over Tufts, who fell to 1−3 on the season for the first time since 2004.
Freshman running back Evan Bunker led the Bantams' rushing onslaught, gaining 158 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries. Fellow first−years Hedley Jennings and Delonte Wellington, who chipped in with 61 and 50 yards, respectively, were the other main contributors to Trinity's 294 rushing yards, the highest single−game total of any NESCAC team this season.
"We definitely expected them to run, but we did not stop" them, Tufts defensive end Donnie Simmons, a junior, said.
The Bantams, who stretched their home winning streak to 37 games, moved the ball on the ground throughout the game and captured early momentum on a special teams play.
At the midpoint of the first quarter, sophomore Nick Campbell blocked Tufts sophomore Marty Finnegan's punt, and Trinity first−year Brendan Bader scooped up the loose ball and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown. Though Simmons blocked the ensuing extra point attempt, Trinity got on the board early with a six−point lead.
"I think that was a huge play because it put them ahead and it kind of just sucked the life out of us a little bit," Simmons said.
The Jumbos went three−and−out on its following possession, and the Bantams increased their lead to two scores on a 14−yard pass from senior Craig Drusbosky to senior tight end Chris Hunt. Trinity ran for 40 yards on six carries during a 70−yard, three−minute scoring drive that was aided by a Jumbos face−mask penalty.
Tufts kept the contest close in the second quarter when senior defensive lineman Alex Gresham recovered a fumble at the team's 44−yard line and senior quarterback Anthony Fucillo found classmate Greg Stewart for a 44−yard touchdown two plays later, cutting Trinity's lead to 13−7.
The Jumbos sustained their momentum on defense. After a 16−yard Finnegan punt gave Trinity promising field position at Tufts' 39−yard line, sophomore Austin Crittenden intercepted Drusbosky's pass to negate a scoring opportunity.
Junior safety Nick Falk snared an interception of his own with a minute remaining in the second quarter, and Tufts players were confident coming off the field at halftime.
"We were wired up in the locker room. We were amped," Simmons said; he finished the game with nine tackles, one sack and the blocked extra point. "We thought we were in control of the game. We thought we were going to win."
This locker room vibe, however, did not lead to a second−half comeback. On the contrary, the Tufts offense was stagnant, and the Jumbos' defense had no answer to Jennings when he entered the game in the second half.
Jennings provided a substantial change of pace, Simmons said, running for 61 yards on nine carries — all after halftime.
"He was a scrambler, and they ran quarterback power," Simmons said. "It didn't work out for us."
With Jennings serving as a new offensive element, Trinity converted solid field position on its opening third−quarter possession into a 45−yard touchdown drive capped by Bunker's 1−yard scoring run.
The Bantams took over with a short field when the Jumbos' offense failed to pick up a first down during the second half. Tufts, in its new fast−paced spread offense, held the ball for under seven minutes in its scoreless second half. Throughout the afternoon, the team averaged just under 17 seconds per play.
The offense stalled as Fucillo completed only 12 of his 42 passes for a season−low 166 yards on the day, while the Jumbos as a team went 3−for−16 on third downs. Short drives that stalled quickly put defensive players back on the field without giving them the chance to catch their breath on the sideline.
"We have to be more efficient passing−wise," Fucillo said. "We had too many three−and−outs in the second half that ended up killing us."
Trinity sealed its victory by driving 83 yards early in the fourth quarter and scoring on a 1−yard plunge by Wellington.
Tufts hosts Williams this Saturday in a matchup that looks to be challenging for the Jumbos, who are on a three−game slide. The team will try to keep its hopes high in preparing for a formidable foe that beat Trinity 29−21 in its second game and is currently undefeated at 4−0.
"We're going to take the same approach we take every week," senior running back Pat Bailey said. "They're just another team in the NESCAC."
"The bigger they are, the harder they fall, as they say," Simmons said.
