The Middlebury football team (3-6) dropped its season finale on Saturday afternoon, falling to visiting Tufts (4-5) by a score of 34-27. The Panthers closed out their season on senior day, with a pregame ceremony honoring the contributions of the team to the program on the field and in the classroom. 

Tufts jumped on the scoreboard first after a 10 play, 82-yard drive was finished off by Mike Pedrini on a three-yard rush to put the Jumbos up, 6-0. 

In the second quarter, Tufts took advantage of a turnover by Middlebury at its own 24. On the first play of the drive, Michael Berluti found Jackson Butler open in the end zone to extend the Jumbo lead to 13, following the extra point by Sal LoCoco was converted. 

On the ensuing possession, Will Jernigan and the Panthers finally broke through when he found a running lane on a 1st and 10 at the Tufts 13-yardline and ran into the end zone for a touchdown.  The rush by Jernigan capped off an eight-play, 75-yard drive by Middlebury, who cut the lead to six (13-7). 

With 7:19 left in the first half, Peter Scibilia found the end zone for the Panthers, who were able to even things up at 13 apiece.

After getting a defensive stop, Middlebury again finished off a 2:01 drive with Jernigan pounding through the line for a touchdown to give the Panthers their first lead of the game at 20-13. 

The Jumbos responded by following up the Panthers scoring drive with one of its own when Berluti found Billy Dunn for a 26-yard touchdown connection. The two teams went into the halftime break knotted up at 20. 

On its first possession of the second half, Tufts was able to score after Tyler Johnson found an opening on a nine-yard touchdown rush. 

The Jumbos took advantage of a nine-play, 74-yard drive on their following possession when Johnson recorded his second touchdown of the game with a six-yard rush. 

The Panthers responded, going 11 plays for 75-yards in 3:17 to score off a Jernigan pass to Donovan Wood from nine-yards out with 14:55 remaining in the fourth quarter. 

The Jumbos defense was able to withstand the pressure applied by the Panthers offense however, holding on for the 34-27 victory. 

Jernigan finished 13-34 in the game with149 yards a touchdown and a pair of interceptions. Jernigan also rushed for 132 yards on 20 attempts averaging 6.6 yards per carry in the game. It marked the third-straight contest Jernigan the eclipsed 100 yards rushing mark. His top target was Wood who caught six passes for 84 yards in the game. Jack Pistorius topped the Panthers with 11 tackles, while Nate Stewart posted 10 stops and one pass break-up.    

Berluti went 18-31 for the Jumbos racking up 217 yards and two touchdowns in the game. Tyler Johnson was the feature back for the Jumbos carrying the ball 19 times for 120 yards while recording a touchdown on the ground. Philip Lutz was featured as the primary focus of the passing game making seven catches for 70 yards. Defensively, Matty Drouillard recorded 12 tackles, while Brandyn Jones had five tackles, three pass break-ups and an interception.