The Middlebury football team finished as the NESCAC Runner-up with a 7-2 overall record during head coach Bob Ritter's final season at the helm. The Panthers fell 65-34 to Tufts in the last game of the year. 
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Tufts got out to a quick start and never looked back during the triumph. Quarterback Michael Berluti launched a trio of touchdown passes in the opening quarter. On the Jumbos' first possession, Berluti found Phil Lutz with a 63-yard pass, before the two connected again with a 44-yard toss. Later in the stanza, Berluti hooked up with Jackson Bulter for a 14-yard scoring strike. Kicker Vaughn Seelicke was 3-3 on extra points, as Tufts led 21-0.
• Middlebury marched down the field at the end of the opening quarter, as the Panthers positioned themselves in the red zone as the stanza expired. At the beginning of the second, Cole Kennon tossed a four-yard touchdown pass to Greg Livingston, cutting into the Jumbos lead (21-7).
• Despite Tufts jumping back out to a 21-point advantage (28-7), Middlebury responded with a pair of touchdowns to cut the deficit to eight. Kennon first found Patrick Jamin for a 33-yard scoring strike, before Anson Clough caught a 28-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-20. 
• With just 1:10 left on the clock in the first half, Tufts responded and extended the lead out to 35-20.
• The Jumbos came out strong in the second half, running its advantage to 55-20. 
• Kennon connected with Donovan Wood for a 16-yard touchdown, before Tony Wang split the uprights and added a field goal to make it 55-34 after three-quarters of action.
• The fourth quarter was all Tufts, as the home team tacked on another touchdown and a field goal for the 65-34 final.  

NOTES

• Ritter wraps up his head coaching career with an impressive .647 winning percentage (112-61). 
• Sam Wilson and Finn Muldoon led all players with 13 tackles, with Muldoon recording 10 solo stops. 
• Kennon, who played in six of nine games, finished the season tied for fourth place in Middlebury's record book with 24 touchdowns. 
• Wood's 938 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns rank third on the Panthers' single-season list.
• Cole Crider had a career-high 80-yard punt during the contest. He finished the season with 1,962 punting yards, placing him in fifth on Middlebury's single-season list, just seven yards behind former NFL star Stephen Hauschka '07.