Football closes season with win over Middlebury

The Jumbos closed out their 2018 season with a dominant win on Saturday. They traveled to Middlebury, Vt. to take on the Middlebury Panthers, finishing the match with a commanding 35–13 advantage. The win brought the Jumbos to a final record of 7–2 for the season. That mark grants them sole possession of the third spot in the NESCAC behind the Trinity Bantams and Williams Ephs, who both finished 8–1.

Senior quarterback and co-captain Ryan McDonald led the Jumbos offense in his final game with the team. The signal caller threw for 262 yards and five touchdowns while completing 25 of his 31 passes -- an 80 percent clip. For the outstanding offensive display, McDonald earned NESCAC Offensive Player of the Week accolades to close out the 2018 season. His five-touchdown performance also tied the Tufts record for touchdown passes in a game, which was set by Dave Piermarini (E '84) in 1983.

McDonald accomplished a number of other historic achievements in this game. He broke the university record for most touchdown passes in a season with a conference-leading 17, topping the 16 thrown by Anthony Fucillo (LA '11) in 2010. McDonald also became the Jumbos’ all-time leader in touchdown passes, finishing his career with 33, surpassing another Piermarini record.

McDonald displayed pride in his accomplishment but said that he had focused on bigger goals.

“It’s definitely nice to look back on and see the success I’ve had,” McDonald said. “Going into the Middlebury game, we were really focused on channeling all of the emotion of our final game as a senior class. We really just wanted to go out on top.”

The offense as a whole put on a clinic in this lopsided victory. Senior running back Dom Borelli put forth a remarkable effort in his final game, racking up 121 receiving yards and two touchdown catches. Sophomore running back Mike Pedrini led the team with 85 rushing yards.

The Jumbos defense played an equally stellar game, limiting the Panthers to only 27 rushing yards. Middlebury has a strong running attack, but Tufts' front seven was able to snuff it out with ease.

Yet this might not have appeared the case right at the start of the game, as the Jumbos allowed the Panthers a quick touchdown drive on their first possession. The Panthers scored on a quick three-minute drive, with sophomore quarterback Will Jernigan running in a touchdown from seven yards out.

The Jumbos responded in kind when McDonald threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Spenser Clouse with about six minutes left in the quarter. Borelli set the tone for his strong game on the drive, accruing three key receptions.

First-year defensive lineman Jovan Nenadovic stepped up next for the Jumbos, sacking Jernigan for a loss of six yards on a key third-down play and forcing a Panthers punt. However, Tufts was unable to take advantage of their opportunity to seize the lead, as McDonald was soon intercepted by Middlebury's junior defensive back Coltrane Marcus. The Panthers converted their excellent field position stemming from this turnover into points, as Jernigan ran in for another touchdown. After missing the extra point, the Panthers led 13–7 early in the second quarter.

After unproductive possessions from both teams, the Jumbos found a way to gain momentum and close the half strong. McDonald was able to convert on a critical fourth down in the red zone and preserve the drive with a two-yard run. Soon after, he tossed a one-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Jack Dolan, as Tufts went into halftime with a one-point lead after sophomore kicker Matt Alswanger converted the extra point. 

In the second half, Tufts again started slowly but soon turned up the heat. After punting on their first possession, the Jumbos put together a scoring drive. An 18-yard punt return from sophomore wide receiver Bryce Adam allowed Tufts to begin the drive in the Middlebury half. To end the drive, McDonald threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Borelli on another fourth-down attempt, widening a lead that would continue to expand throughout the remainder of the game.

Tufts' defense got another three-and-out, allowing the offense to pick up right where it had left off. The Jumbos produced a 68-yard scoring drive, bolstered by a couple of big plays by Pedrini. The Jumbos almost gave up all of this progress with a fumble at the Middlebury-5, but they were able to recover the football, before Borelli caught his second touchdown from McDonald on the day. 

The defense stepped up yet again on the next drive, as junior linebacker and co-captain Greg Holt intercepted Jernigan’s pass and returned it all the way to the Middlebury 19-yard line. It took all of just one play for McDonald to capitalize on this turnover, as he scored the record-tying fifth passing touchdown -- this time to senior wide receiver Dan de Leon -- for the final score of the day.

The defense picked up two more stops, including an interception by senior defensive back Tim Preston with only 1:44 remaining in the game.

The second half was strong on both sides of the ball for the Jumbos. The offense caught fire while the defense pitched a shutout. It was fitting to see this powerful, well-rounded team finish the season with such a dominant half of football.

Coach Jay Civetti had nothing but praise for his team’s effort.

“I’m so proud of the team,” he said. “I thought they did a great job doing everything we asked of them. They competed and executed really well, and put together a great game.”

This pride extended particularly to the seniors, who, with this 25th victory, tied the 1982 seniors for the most wins by a Jumbo football class. This historic accomplishment has clearly been on this team’s mind for a while, making its attainment all the sweeter.

“Going into the season, we knew we were a certain amount of wins away from being in this group of highly regarded teams,” McDonald said. “As the season grew on we noticed how much success we were having, and entering the last game, we knew we were one game away from tying the school record. So that just built up a lot of emotion and energy, and I think we did a great job of focusing that emotion and energy on our sideline.”

Even if this team failed to bring home the ultimate prize -- a NESCAC Championship -- the seniors can hold their heads high after such a stellar end to a successful season.

“I’ve never had a team that was more unified and played as a complete unit,” Civetti said. “I don’t think it was just one guy who did it, nor was it just one side of the ball, even though of course there are some times during a season when one side of the ball plays better than the other. This year we probably had the best team dynamics and execution that we’ve had.”

McDonald echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the lasting lessons that he and others would take away from this year.

“It was such an exciting season overall,” he said. “Closing it out with a couple victories strung together was awesome and really exemplifies all of the hard work that the class of 2019 put in and the commitment that the younger [players] showed to us throughout the process. Coming into the season we expected to win a NESCAC Championship, but looking back at it, we still had a great season with a lot of learning experiences that we’ll be able to use all throughout our lives."