Trinity Football Welcomes Tufts Saturday
Hartford, Conn. - The Trinity College football team, which won, 53-14, at Hamilton last weekend to remain unbeaten and tied with Middlebury and Wesleyan for first place in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) at 3-0, will host the Tufts University Jumbos on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 1:30 p.m. Head Coach Jeff Devanney (7th season) and the Bantams are looking to extend their nation-best 44-game winning streak at home against a Jumbo squad that is searching for its first win since the 2010 season opener. Trinity, which also has a four-game winning streak overall, leads the all-time series against Tufts, 36-18-1, and has won the last four meetings. Last fall, Trinity RB Evan Bunker (Topsfield, Mass.) rushed for 207 yards and the Bantam defense held Tufts to 146 yards of total offense in a 9-0 victory in Medford. Trinity is currently ranked No. 2 in the New England Division III Poll. This week's New England Division III Poll: 1. Salve Regina (6-0), 2. Trinity (Conn.) (3-0), 3. Framingham State (5-1), 4. Middlebury (3-0), Bridgewater State (5-1), 6. Wesleyan (3-0), 7. Worcester State (5-1), 8. Amherst (2-1), 9. Mount Ida (4-1), 10. Endicott (4-2).
Bunker posted his fifth consecutive 100-yard rushing game with 15 carries for 162 yards at Hamilton including touchdown scampers of 32 and six yards. Classmate Ben Crick (Middlebury, Conn.) ran for an 11-yard score and a three-yard touchdown last Saturday, and finished with 16 carries for 128 yards. The Bantams totaled 384 yards and averaged 7.4 yards per carry on the ground behind the line of senior tri-captains Mike Valenti (Betherl, Conn.) and Andrew Weiss (New York, N.Y.), seniors Gino Arnold (Ridgewood, N.J.) and Tim O'Brien (White Plains, N.Y.) and sophomore Joe Magardino (Chappaqua, N.Y.). Senior QB Ryan Burgess (Dracut, Mass.) had six completions in 10 tries for 109 yards and two scores, including a 33-yard touchdown strike to sophomore WR Chris Ragone (Sarasota, Fla.) for the game's first points. Bunker was selected as the NESCAC Offensive Player of the Week for his tremendous performance at Hamilton. The Trinity defense held Hamilton scoreless until the fourth quarter and forced three turnovers, as senior S Julian Brown (Philadelphia, Pa.) and junior S Mike Mancini (Rocky Hill, Conn.) both had interceptions and junior LB Tom Haverty (Marion, Mass.) recovered a fumble. Junior ILB Steve Goniprow (Barrington, R.I.) made a team-high six tackles and broke up a pass, and rookie DL Preston Kelly (Orange, Calif.) added two TFL and one sack on Saturday. First-year Kyle Pulek (Cheshire, Conn.) averaged 39 yards on four punts and dropped two inside the Hamilton 20 yard line.
Trinity leads the NESCAC in rushing offense (303.7 ypg), pass efficiency (144.0 eff.) and total offense (469.7 ypg), and tops the league in pass defense (104.0 ypg), pass efficiency defense (75.0 eff.), and total defense (211.3 ypg). Bunker is the conference's top rusher with 473 yards and ranks second in all-purpose yards with 561 to go with four touchdowns, while
Crick ranks sixth on the rushing list with 227 yards on the ground and ninth in all-purpose yards with 340. Burgess leads the NESCAC signal callers with a 148.0 efficiency rating, having completed 31 of 57 attempts for 447 yards with six touchdowsn and just two picks. Senior WR Andrew Grombala (Cincinnati, Ohio) and sophomore RB Michael Budness (Belchertown, Mass.) lead the Trinity pass catchers with seven receptions apiece, while sophomore LB Tom Szymanski (Dracut, Mass.) has a team-high 17 tackles with 2.5 tackles for loss, and senior tri-captain S Rae Haynes Hartford, Conn.) has 12 hits, two pass breakups, and an interception.
The Tufts football squad, under the direction of Head Coach Jay Civetti (2nd season), a 2001 graduate of Trinity and a fomer Bantam offensive lineman, is 0-3 after a 17-10 setback at Bowdoin last weekend and has an 18-game losing streak. Senior QB John Dodds averages 219.0 yards per game through the air to rank second in the NESCAC, while senior TE Nick Kenyon, senior WR Dylan Haas, and junior WR Pat Nee are all among the top ten pass catchers in the league with a combined 50 catches for 423 yards. Sophomore Tom Meade leads the Jumbo defense with 31 tackles to put him third in the NESCAC.
