Walking into the Saturday game, both the Tufts Jumbos and the Williams Ephs held 1–1 records, looking to take a win home to move their win-loss record over .500. In the last two years, this has been a close matchup: Tufts walked away with a 35–28 win last year and fell in a 32–29 loss the year before.
A slow first four total possessions by both teams had both of them looking for a big play to get the momentum started. A combination of a good reach into the passing lane to block a pass by senior defensive linemen Ed Iuteri, and then a 12-yard catch on the next possession by wide receiver Henry Fleckner had the Jumbos moving in the right direction. Junior running back Chartellis Reece capitalized on this, scampering 28 yards into the endzone for a Jumbo touchdown. A good kick by sophomore placekicker Vaughn Seelicke made the score 7–0. The Ephs’ first-year quarterback Owen McHugh worked to get the Williams momentum started, but it was junior running back Mario Fischetti who rushed for 29 yards to spur the offense into gear. He was brought down by two senior Jumbo defensemen, linebacker EJ Comerford and defensive back Jeremy Zuniga. Another long throw broken up by junior defensive back Louis Timmins stopped Williams’ momentum from escalating. When the Ephs’ run defense got their act together, the Jumbos certainly noticed.
“They were definitely going to try to stop the run, and that definitely opened it up for [Jaden Richardson]. He scored three great touchdowns and even Michael [Berluti] was pulling the ball a whole lot more because they were biting on the run, which allowed him to get so many more yards,” Reece said.
Williams has a notoriously large defensive line, and that was expected to be a problematic factor for the Jumbos in Saturday’s game. Chartellis Reece dismissed this, acknowledging the Jumbo’s own strengths.
“We have a big line ourselves. So it wasn’t different from practice honestly,” Reece said. This game, he had 21 carries for 104 yards, averaging five yards a carry.
Fischetti would keep the Ephs’ momentum going, this time on offense, as he ran for 61 yards to the Tufts 15-yard line. He was brought down by first year defensive back Ty Richardson, the younger brother of star Jumbo wide receiver, senior Jaden Richardson.
For the elder Richardson, having his younger brother on the team has been special.
“It’s the first time we’ve ever been on the same team together,” Richardson said. “So it’s been awesome to be able to spend time together with him but also get to see him grow and do his own thing and come into his own as a player and a person as well.”
Jaden Richardson explained that his favorite moment of the game was not any of his three touchdowns, but observing his brother Ty in action.
“It was really great to see my brother and his roommate who we grew up with get out on the field and make plays,” Richardson said.
The Ephs would finally find the endzone after the long Fischetti run, with Owen McHugh connecting on a 13-yard pass to senior wide receiver Paul Harshbarger to even the score 7–7. It was then that the momentum swung firmly to the side of Tufts, with Berluti first finding junior tight end Jack Elliott for a first down, then Henry Fleckner for another. Berluti completed a 26-yard pass to Jaden Richardson who, with a remarkable one handed leaping catch, made the score 14–7. Louis Timmins intercepted a pass to put the ball back in Jumbo hands, but Tufts wasn’t able to do anything major off of the turnover. Luckily for them, neither were the Ephs.
Two Berluti runs on the next Tufts possession would add 24 more yards to the Tufts tally. Berluti rushed for a total of 120 yards in the game against the Ephs, more than any other Tufts player. Another three and out by the on-fire Jumbo defense gave Berluti the ball at the start of the second half, and he capitalized. He put the ball in the hands of Jaden Richardson once more with a 29-yard pass to make the score 21–7. Richardson had 10 catches for a total of 153 yards against Williams.
McHugh responded quickly though, hitting freshman wide receiver Brady Stahelski on a 43-yard gain. McHugh threw for 75 yards throughout the game, completing five out of 17 attempts. A long run by Fischetti put Williams inside the 15-yard line, but the Tufts defense was able to get a stop and prevent a touchdown. Fischetti rushed for a net total of 138 yards on Saturday. Junior kicker Ivan Shuran put the ball through the uprights to make it 21–10.
Fischetti on the next Ephs possession attempted to add more points to the tally, but was brought down by senior defensive back Kristian Rosario. Two incomplete passes for the Ephs put the ball back into Jumbo hands, and the dynamic duo of Berluti and Richardson made the score 28–10 on a 39-yard catch and run. Berluti threw for 265 yards, resulting in three touchdowns and completing 23 of 33 attempts. He pointed to the fact that the team had really found their rhythm, and that was what brought them success.
“I think we were able to just find our rhythm throughout the game,” Berluti said. “When we needed to make plays, we did, whether it was Jaden or Cade [Moore] or Henry [Fleckner] or the line, creating big holes, Chartellis [Reece] running hard or the defense coming up big on third downs.”
It was a stellar team win for the Jumbos, with all elements of the squad performing at a high level. From a yard comparison, Tufts had a total of 514 yards of offense on the day, while the Ephs only had 252.
Tufts will take on Bowdoin on Oct. 7, and it will be a close matchup. It will be Bowdoin’s homecoming game, and the Jumbos will be headed up to Maine looking to continue to play as a team and take down the Bowdoin Polar Bears.
