Last Saturday, the football team continued their undefeated streak with a comeback victory over Tufts. With the win, the Cards maintain their position at the top of the NESCAC.

Though not at the top of the conference this year, Tufts has been a decent team all season, losing only to Amherst (who’s in the running for the championship) and Williams, who’s also been in the running for a top-three finish this season.

Thanks to his immaculate kicking during Saturday’s game, Mason von Jess ’23 was named as the NESCAC special teams Player of the Week for the second time this year. Von Jess converted all his extra point attempts and made two field goals from 37 and 27 yards.

Similarly, the defense played well throughout the matchup, recording four sacks and two interceptions.

Though not Wesleyan’s best offensive performance, they put points on the board when they needed to and scored the vital game-winning touchdown with just six seconds left to play.

The offense was able to gain somewhat consistent yards both on the ground and through the air. Running back Glenn Smith ’21 was the team’s leading rusher with 46 yards on 10 attempts. Quarterback Ashton Scott ’22 gained another 39 yards on the ground, contributing to the the team’s more than 110 total rushing yards.

However, it was Cardinals’ effective passing that gave Wesleyan the victory on Saturday night. Scott threw for over 200 yards and two touchdowns with a 57 percent completion rate. Delando Clarke ’21 and Matt Simco ’22 were the standout receivers for the Cardinals, with a touchdown apiece. Simco gained 130 yards during the match and was definitely the centerpiece of the offense.

But the offense struggled to maintain drives, as they only converted two third downs throughout the game and failed half of their fourth-down conversions.

In the end, the Red and Black had to punt seven times throughout the game. More importantly, the Cards had some trouble protecting the ball. Scott threw an untimely interception in the fourth quarter that allowed Tufts to march down the field into field goal range. Luckily, Tufts was stopped, forcing them to take a field goal. The Tufts kicker missed, but it was a close call for an offense that doesn’t usually give up a lot of turnovers.

Though it was the offense’s flashy game-winning drive that won the game with time running out, the defense was the real star of the match. The Cards’ defense held the Jumbos to three points in the second half and forced Tufts to punt five times throughout the game. The Red and Black stopped 12 third-down conversions and contained the opposition to only one touchdown and 54 rushing yards. Ben Thaw ’20 has continued his dominant season with his third interception of the season (only one away from his career high of four, with another four games to play). Eli Blair-May ’20 also grabbed an interception.

Nick Livingston ’21 continued his fantastic season with another sack and a half, which made him the NESCAC sack leader for the season with six. Will Kearney ’20, Isaiah Miller ’22, Connor Krusac ’21, and Nick Helbig ’23 all chipped in as well on the defensive line with at least half a sack.

The Cardinals have continued their defensive dominance, boasting the most sacks (16) and the most interceptions (11) in the conference while being second in points allowed and third in yards allowed.

Next week comes the greatest test of the season so far.

While the rest of campus rests for fall break, the Cardinals face up against the only other undefeated team left in the NESCAC: Middlebury. It will be a challenge as the game will be played at the frozen tundra of the Vermont campus.

The Panthers are unbalanced offensively and heavily reliant on their passing attack, which bodes well for the Red and Black, who arguably have the best passing defense in the league. In the same vein, Middlebury lacks a top-tier defense in the conference, while Wesleyan has one of the most potent offenses. The Cards are also fairly balanced between rushing and passing, which gives them a fair amount of flexibility to outwit Middlebury. It is also worth mentioning that the Middlebury defense relies a lot on generating sacks, but Wesleyan has only given up five sacks throughout the season.

We’ll have to wait for until Saturday to see which team will remain undefeated at the top of the NESCAC.

 

Jacques Slaughter can be reached at jslaughter@wesleyan.edu.