Football falls to Tufts, loses QB

Wesleyan Football dropped its home opener to Tufts this past Saturday 20-14. The Cardinals looked great out of the gate as they took the opening kickoff for a determined drive of 63 yards capping it with a touchdown. Quarterback Joe Giaimo ’11 converted all five passes he threw on the drive connecting with fellow sophomore Steven Hauser ’11 in the corner of the end zone for the points. The impressive possession took 7:15 off the clock on 12 plays.

Wesleyan’s defense forced the Jumbos to punt on their first four possessions. David Brustein led the Cardinals defense with nine tackles on the day. Tufts didn’t get on the scoreboard until just before halftime, when the team converted on a 30 yard run from tailback Will Forde ’09 at the 1:19 mark in the second quarter. Remarkably, the Cardinal offense took advantage of the last sixty seconds of the half, responding with a 7 play 56 drive to take the lead, 14-7 going into the intermission. Giaimo connected twice with senior receiver Ryan Walsh ’09 on the drive before finding Kevin Leamy ’09 over the goal line for the touchdown — Giaimo’s second of the half.

Wesleyan dominated the first half especially in time of possession, holding the ball for 19:42 compared to Tufts’ 10:18. The momentum shifted, however, with the start of the third quarter. In the second half, Tufts ran all over the cardinal defense, tallying 172 yards rushing. Time of possession also swung in the Jumbos favor in the second half, 22:39 to 7:21. On the opening kick in the second half, Tufts marched down the field beginning with a 33 yard kick return and ending with a one yard push from Forde for his second score of the day.

The Wes offense stalled and the Jumbos continued to dominate the ground game.
The team ate up over seven minutes of clock on a 16 play 89 yard scoring drive — 13 plays of which were designed runs.

“[Tufts] stepped up their run game following halftime,” commented Chris Helsel ’09.

The third quarter didn’t net any points for the Cards, but at the beginning of the fourth the team endured a much greater set back. Giamo suffered an injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the game and potentially the entire 2008 season. He finished with a solid day completing 14 of 20 passes for 102 yards and 2 touchdowns.

“The worst part was losing Joey,” explained running back Lane Kirshe ’10. “[Giamo] was playing a great game and was a good leader for our offense.”

The loss of Giaimo hurt the Cardinals’ offense, which had a chance to manufacture a winning drive after the Wesleyan special teams blocked an extra point attempt, leaving the score locked at 20-14. A couple of crucial penalties and a distinct inability to convert first downs cost the Cardinals the chance to go in for the win. Down six points, backup quarterback Blake Dubois ’12 was forced to throw the ball downfield on all but one of his snaps in the fourth quarter.

“Because we couldn’t maintain possession, our defense was forced to stay on the field too long and wore out,” said Helsel.

While the first half of the Wesleyan defense seemed to highlight the team’s strength, as the game went on the defense struggled with their assignments and Tufts was able to move the ball on the ground while eating up the clock. Tufts strung together two drives of 10 plays and 11 plays that combined to tick over 11 minutes off the clock.
Both halves of the game included, the stats appear lopsided as the Jumbos accumulated 425 total yards to the Cardinals 229. Giaimo led with 102 yards through the air, and Lane Kirshe ’10 led the Cards in rushing with 8 runs for 50 yards.

Another key struggle for the defense was the injury and subsequent loss of safety Justin Freres ’11. According to his teammates and coach, Freres is a skilled defensive player as well as a leader on the field, and his presence is important to the defense as a whole.

This coming Saturday Wesleyan looks to avenge this loss at home against Hamilton College. Hamilton dropped their opener 20-6 at Amherst. It will surely be another defensive battle as the last two years have produced low-scoring games between the Cardinals and Continentals. Wesleyan won at the last two meetings, 10-9 and 7-0 in 2007 and 2006 respectively.

“Hamilton always plays us tough,” said Kirshe. “But we will be prepared and ready to go.”