Middlebury Stuns BFA 18-7, Advances to Title Game

Middlebury fullback Jordan Connor eludes BFA's Oliver Manning as the Tigers upset BFA 18-7.

After carrying a lead into the third quarter Friday night, the Middlebury football team let BFA take the lead on them—again.

Last month, the Tigers traveled to BFA and held a 7-2 advantage before allowing the Bobwhites to score 21 straight points to close out the game.

This time however was different.

With a trip to the finals on the line and facing a 7-6 deficit, the third-seeded Tigers outscored second-seeded BFA 12-0 in the fourth quarter and went on to win 18-7 in a Division I semifinal Friday night.

“Last game when they took the lead, we eased up just enough and they hit us again and again,” said Middlebury head football coach Dennis Smith. “We made some mistakes the first time we played, but we corrected them.”

BFA caught a break in the third quarter when they appeared to be stalled after punting the ball, but they maintained possession when Middlebury could not control the punt, setting up a first down at the 41-yard line. Six plays later, the Bobwhites took their first lead of the game when running back Doug Saffo spurted for a 24-yard touchdown with 3:48 remaining in the third quarter.

On the next Middlebury drive, the Tigers marched 80 yards on eleven plays and took a 12-7 lead when quarterback Dillon Robinson rolled out to his right for a ten-yard touchdown run.

After BFA punted on their next drive, Middlebury ate up seven minutes of clock on fifteen plays. With 1:40 left in the game, the Tigers finally sealed the win when Jordan Connor ran up the middle for a one-yard touchdown on a 4th and goal on the one-yard line.

While late scoring sealed the win, Middlebury was in position to win due to their defense. BFA’s running attack was kept quiet all game. Sam Rose finished with six carries for thirty yards while Doug Saffo had fifteen carries for 32 yards for the Bobwhites. The Tigers outgained BFA 408-170 in offensive yards.

“The defense kept up and didn’t give up anything big,” said Coach Smith. “They tried to hit us over the top big but we didn’t give anything up.”

The senior fullback Connor piled up 150 yards in 24 carries for the Tigers. While usually setting up the run for tailback Marshall Hastings, Connor received the majority of the carries in this game

“It was part of the pre-game talk,” said Connor of the workload. “We saw some holes and took advantage.”

“After watching the film from the first game, we probably played our worst game of the season,” said Coach Smith. “We figured we could match with anyone physically. We made a lot of errors in the first game but we were able to correct a lot of the mistakes we were making.”

Middlebury took a 6-0 lead with 3:19 left in the first quarter when Robinson scored on a two-yard rush. The Tigers looked to extend their lead twice in the second quarter, but fumbled the ball in BFA territory each time. On their last possession of the first half, Middlebury marched down the field on twelve plays, only to miss on a 27 yard field goal attempt, and keep the lead 6-0 at the break.

Middlebury returned to Division I for the start of 2011 after a two-year stint in Division II—including an appearance in last year’s championship game.

”I thought we would do pretty well,” said Connor about the division move. “I knew the other teams had some big boys but I knew we had the heart to do it.”

Middlebury quarterback Dillon Robinson left the contest due to an ankle injury with under six minutes remaining after an eight-yard scramble. Tyler Provencher, who started the first four games of the season for the Tigers, came in to finish the game at quarterback.

BFA finishes their season with a 8-2 record. The Bobwhites were looking to return to the Division I championship game after falling to Hartford last year.