October 9, 2004
MIDDLEBURY, VT - Senior tailback Fletcher Ladd (Amherst, NH) scored a pair of touchdowns and became the first player in school history to crack the career 3,000-yard rushing plateau, rumbling for a workmanlike 284 yards on 35 carries, as the undefeated Amherst College football team improved to 3-0 with a 34-26 come-from-behind win at NESCAC-rival Middlebury College (1-2) on Saturday.
Ladd scored a pair of touchdowns on the day - including an electric 80-yard scoring jaunt on the game's opening play - and fell just one yard shy of Amherst's single-game rushing record of 285 yards, set by Josh Mason '97 in a 1994 win over Tufts University. Ladd, who shattered Mason's career rushing record with 175 yards in last week's 34-28 win at Bowdoin, upped his career rushing total to a whopping 3,268 yards with five games left in the season.
The Jeffs were dominant on offense, racking up 368 rushing yards and 450 yards of total offense. Much of the credit goes to Amherst's offensive line, especially seniors Ryan Sykes (Charleston, SC) and Sean Carroll (Foxboro, MA) and junior Gavin Weeks (Cranford, NJ), who helped blast gaping holes for Ladd and Co. all afternoon long.
Ladd's first-quarter touchdown run did little to dissuade the Panther defense, which evened the score at 7-7 less than two minutes later with an interception and 26-yard touchdown return by Scott Secor.
The Jeffs were set to punt the ball away midway though the second quarter but drew a reprieve with a poorly timed Middlebury penalty. Amherst capitalized immediately, reclaiming the lead with a 30-yard scoring scamper by senior tailback Matt Monteith (Madison, CT), who bolstered Ladd's career day with 65 rushing yards of his own.
Middlebury opened the second-half scoring with a 39-yard field goal by Steve Hauschka, cutting its deficit to 14-10, but Amherst answered with a seven-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, highlighted by a 47-yard rush from Ladd and capped by a 15-yard scoring strike from senior quarterback Marsh Moseley (New Orleans, LA) to his tight end, Sykes.
Down but not out, Middlebury responded with a similar drive on its next possession, thanks in part to 30 yards in Amherst penalties. Tim Sheridan punctuated the drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Mike Keenan, bringing the Panthers within five points, 21-16, after a failed two-point conversion. Middlebury then recovered a Ladd fumble and took a 24-21 lead with 7:34 left in the fourth quarter, courtesy of a 26-yard touchdown grab by Tom Cleaver.
Despite coughing up the lead, Amherst refused to panic and jumped out in front yet again, driving 79 yards in 2:46, as Ladd notched his fifth rushing touchdown of the season with a one-yard plunge on third-and-goal.
Hanging on to a 28-24 lead with eight seconds left in regulation and the ball on its own nine-yard line, Amherst elected to take a safety rather than punt from its own end zone. On the final play of the game, Middlebury's kick-return unit tried a succession of desperation laterals, the last of which Amherst sophomore Will Beeson (Kansas City, MO) snagged mid-flight before sprinting 43 yards untouched for the game-sealing touchdown.
Though the Jeffs did the bulk of their offensive damage on the ground, Moseley was solid through the air when called upon, completing 6-of-11 passes for 82 yards and a touchdown. Senior Jay Wagstaff (Tewksbury, MA) was the main beneficiary, hauling in four catches for 59 yards. Senior inside linebacker Mike Salvatore (Greenwich, CT) paced the defense with 10 tackles and a pair of pass deflections. Amherst also victimized Keenan with a trio of interceptions by junior Justin Roemer (Jupiter, FL) and seniors Rob Walsh (Fair Lawn, NJ) and Bob Sargent (Chantilly, VA). Walsh, the reigning NCAA Division III National Defensive Player of the Week, now has six interceptions on the season and is just two picks shy of the Amherst single-season record of seven, shared by John McCarthy '88, Brian Daoust '01 and Jeremy Carroll '03.
Amherst returns to action next Saturday at 1 p.m. against visiting Colby College.
BOX SCORE/PLAY-BY-PLAY
