The football gods have played yet another cruel trick on Tufts.
With a win at their fingertips on Saturday at Zimman Field, the Jumbos went to overtime against Colby tied at 14. The Mules got the ball first, and on 3rd?and?goal from the Tufts 3?yard line they handed off to senior Ryan Veillette, who proceeded to throw a two?handed chest pass to classmate Derrick Beasley for a touchdown.
Here's the catch: Veillette, listed at 6?foot?1, 230 pounds, is an all?NESCAC defensive end. He is second in the league in sacks. Before Saturday, he had never attempted a pass.
Veillette's big moment was the Mules' last bizarre play in a wild game, and it proved to be the difference.
"That takes guts to call that play," Tufts head coach Jay Civetti said. "We had the run stuffed ... guys were being aggressive trying to stop the run. Who's gonna cover the wideout that slips a block?"
With Colby ahead 21?14, Tufts took over at the Mules' 25?yard line needing a touchdown to prolong the game. But on 4th?and?9 from the 14, senior quarterback John Dodds sailed a throw out of the end zone.
The defeat dropped the Jumbos to 0?7, extended their losing streak to 22 games and left them wondering when they will finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. With just one game remaining next weekend at 6?1 Middlebury, their chances for a victory this season are slim.
For Tufts' seniors, who were honored before the game, the loss was especially tough to swallow.
"I feel for our seniors," Civetti said. "Those kids have done everything I've asked of them."
The way the Jumbos rebounded from a 51?7 defeat at Amherst was admirable.
But for a team desperate for a win, what mattered was the result.
"Had we been a team that had won games, and lost a game like that, you'd just say a game went to overtime and you lost," Civetti said. "We made mistakes, they made mistakes. But when you've had as many losses as we've had, and there's nothing else to compare it to, it just seems that much more grave."
Ultimately, missed opportunities were what did Tufts in.
"There were so many good things, and the fact that we didn't capitalize on all those good things is frustrating," Civetti said.
On both of their third quarter drives, the Jumbos pushed inside the Mules' 10?yard line, and both times they came up empty. First, sophomore Connor McDavitt hooked a 26?yard field goal attempt. Later, Tufts went for it on 4th?and?2 at the Colby 4?yard line, but junior short?yardage back Marcel Pitre was stopped shy of a first down on a questionable spot.
"I'm extremely proud of the effort we put in, the way guys worked, the type of football we played - we played a very physical game - but we didn't execute," senior tri?captain offensive lineman Andrew Rayner said. "That's the most disappointing part."
Still, in the fourth quarter, the Jumbos caught a couple of breaks.
With less than a minute remaining, the Jumbos decided to take a shot downfield from their own 30. But as Dodds dropped back to pass, he was blindsided by sophomore Gabe Salzer, who jarred the ball loose. Fortunately for Tufts, senior tight end Nick Kenyon pounced on it, and the Jumbos let the clock wind down to zero.
Colby also missed a golden opportunity to take the lead with two minutes left in the fourth. With the play clock winding down, the Mules scrambled to set up a 33?yard field goal try, and sophomore LouwScheepers sent it straight into the line to be blocked by Tufts. But the referees gave Scheepers another chance, saying that the Mules called timeout before the snap. On his second try, Scheepers missed again, this time wide right.
Quite simply, Colby won because of freshman quarterback Justin Ciero. Ciero threw for 118 yards and rushed for 166, including a 52?yard gain on the Mules' first play from scrimmage. The freshman also accounted for both of the Mules' regulation touchdowns, with one through the air and one on the ground.
Ciero also managed to keep his team in the game despite its lack of discipline.
The Mules had 10 penalties for 70 yards, including a nullified touchdown in the second quarter due to an illegal formation penalty. One play later, Tufts freshman linebacker Wes Hartmann came up with an interception.
But the Jumbos gave the ball right back when Dodds was picked off by Daniel Maddox, and Colby took over on the Tufts 18 after a personal foul. Six plays later, Ciero found Indigo Dow in the end zone to give the Mules a 14?7 lead.
With 3:16 to go in the half, Dodds led an excellent drive that featured a 28?yard reception on third down by freshman Jack Cooleen and a 3?yard touchdown catch by senior tri?captain Dylan Haas.
Tied 14?14 at halftime, the game turned into a war of attrition in the second half, marked by big defensive stops and missed offensive chances.
Somehow, neither team scored in the third and fourth, and the Jumbos limped into overtime. Senior defensive end Curtis Yancy and classmate defensive back Vincent Lee both left the game in the first half; sophomore running back Zach Trause, who had 75 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, watched the final minutes of the game on crutches from the sideline; and Dodds was shaken up on the last play of regulation, though he returned for overtime.
In overtime, Colby running back Spencer Gopaul, who finished with 20 carries for 84 yards, picked up 13 yards on 3rd?and?1 to set up 1st?and?goal at the 3. Tufts stood up Gopaul on first down, but freshman defensive lineman Patrick Williams was hurt on the play.
Williams, who broke out on Saturday with a pair of sacks and several batted passes, lay on the ground for several minutes. Meanwhile, on the Colby sideline, first?year head coach Jonathan Michaeles and his staff drew up the trick play that would win the Mules the game.
Though the day ended badly for Williams and the Jumbos, the freshman's performance was emblematic of the way Tufts fought the entire game.
"[Pat] had one of the best games I've ever seen a D?lineman play," Rayner said. "It's really a testament to what he's been doing all season. If you watch him in practice, he's been working his butt off every single day, never taking a play off. It was awesome to see that work pay off on the field."
Williams' effort is also one of many indications that there are brighter days ahead for Tufts football.
"You get recruits in here on Sunday morning after a game, and they're talking about how seniors are coming to them saying, 'Hey, there's a great future here,'" Civetti said. "Seniors, guys who haven't won with me as the head coach, are telling freshmen to come here because the future here is gonna be so good. You can't make that stuff up."
Now, Tufts has one last week of practice before finishing its season on the road at powerhouse Middlebury next Saturday.
After such a crushing loss, it might seem to an outsider like another week is just adding insult to injury. But that's not how the Jumbos are built.
"The players we have on this team are a different breed," Rayner said. "We've faced a lot of adversity in our careers here at Tufts, and all of us pushed through, never gave in."
"You know what's awesome?" Civetti added. "I know that on Monday, they're gonna come to the weight room like we're 7?0. I don't know if there's a coach out there who understands how lucky I am."
