MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – After an Owen Brickley '23 touchdown put the Cardinals out in front with 4:49 remaining, consecutive sacks from Keith Henderson '23 and Zach Glenn '25 in the final minute sealed a win for the Wesleyan football team, 26-22, in yet another instant classic between the Cardinals (4-1) and Jumbos (3-2).
 
Tonight's win marks the third straight win for Wesleyan, who now jumps into a tie for second in the NESCAC standings with Middlebury, who to Trinity in a matchup of unbeatens heading into Saturday. A budding rivalry, this marks the sixth straight game between the Cardinals and Jumbos that has been decided by seven points or less, dating back to 2016. Wesleyan is 4-2 in those six contests and in all four wins, the Cardinals scored the go-ahead touchdown with five minutes or less remaining in the game.
 
In a matchup featuring the top two scoring offenses in the conference, after a scoreless first quarter, the action picked up late on with the lead changing hands three times in the fourth quarter and four times overall in the second half. Wesleyan put up a season-high 530 total yards of offense, their second-highest single-game total since 2018, second only to the 618 yards the Cardinals totaled in last season's 36-35 road win at Tufts.
 
Despite 13 penalties as a team, including eight false starts for the Cardinal offense, Wesleyan still managed to outgain the Jumbos 530-489 including a 143-73 margin in rushing yards. The Cardinals critically finished 8-of-14 on third down conversions while the Jumbos went 3-of-9. And perhaps the most-crucial of all the stats was the Cardinals scored touchdowns on all four of their red zone opportunities while Tufts scored on just one of their four chances inside the 20-yard line.
 
The Wesleyan QB duo was terrific all evening, with David Estevez '22 throwing for 187 with 1 TD and 0 INT and gaining 53 yards on the ground. Niko Candido '25 stepped up in a big spot, leading the Cardinals on a 9-play, 79-yard drive late in the fourth quarter that resulted in the game-winning touchdown run from Brickley. For the game, Candido threw for a career-high 200 yards, going 10-of-15 on his attempts with 2 TD and 0 INT. As a tandem, Estevez and Candido combined to throw for 387 yards on 23-for-35 passing with 3 TD and 0 INT.
 
The beneficiary of several passes thrown by the Cardinal QBs was WR Logan Tomlinson '22 who went off for nine catches, 171 yards and 1 TD. The 171 receiving yards are a new season-high and the second-most Tomlinson has put up in his career. He torched the Jumbo secondary with big plays time and time again, with four receptions of 30+ yards each in the contest.
 
DE Mike Rowan was a force on the line all night, racking up 2 tackles for loss, one sack and one pass breakup. Both LB Brian Carmichael '23 and LB Jake Edwards '24 snagged their first career interceptions while Henderson and Glenn had their second and first sacks, respectively, in the pivotal moment of the game.  
 
Tufts' Michael Berluti had a big game at QB, racking up a career-high 416 yards through the air, averaging an impressive 18.9 yards per completion, but he committed two costly interceptions. The first of which led to a TD-scoring drive for the Wesleyan offense in the first half, and the second came with the Jumbos inside the red zone on their first possession of the second half.
 
A scoreless first quarter wasn't without some sparks as Estevez connected with Tomlinson for 34 yards on just the second play of the game, but the drive would stall out on the Tufts 31-yard line before the Cardinals punted the ball away.
 
On the first Tufts series of the game, Berluti found Phil Lutz open deep down the field for a 52-yard gain, setting the Jumbos up inside the Cardinals' red zone. Four straight rushing plays, however, weren't enough as LB Ben Carbeau '25 and DE Joe Flinn '23 broke through to tackle Tufts RB Tyler Johnson behind the line of scrimmage for a loss of 1 on a 4^th-and-1 play.
 
Early in the second, Wesleyan managed to convert a key 4^th-and-2 play as Candido broke contain and lofted a 15-yard pass to TE Ezra Jenifer '23 to put the Cardinals in the red zone. On a 3^rd-and-9 play from the Tufts' 16-yard line, Candido escaped danger again in the pocket and found WR Matt Simco '22 with a perfectly thrown ball against great coverage in the end zone as the Cardinals went up 7-0.
 
After Edwards intercepted Berluti with Tufts driving in Wesleyan territory, the ensuing Cardianl possession featured an incredible 40-yard hookup from Estevez to Tomlinson deep down the sideline on a 3^rd-and-16 play, setting Wesleyan up with 1^st-and-goal from the 5. Just two plays later, Estevez finished the drive finding Tomlinson open for the 1-yard score.
 
Leading 13-0 at halftime, the Wesleyan defense continued to shine as Carmichael intercepted Berluti in the red zone, returning his first career INT all the way to midfield. Tufts, however, would break through for their first score of the game as Berluti found Jackson Butler for a 35-yard scoring strike to make it a 13-7 game midway through the third.
 
Tufts took their first lead on their next series as Berluti needed just four plays to take the Jumbos in for six, finding Jaden Richardson open for a 15-yard TD as the Jumbos led 14-13.
 
Just as the Jumbos were about to get the ball back, forcing what appeared to be a three-and-out, a key mistake saw a roughing the passer flag come out on what was a 3^rd-down incompletion. The Cardinals made the Jumbos pay for that mistake as Wesleyan connected for gains of 16, 12, 27 and 17 yards down the field in a drive that was finished off by Candido finding a wide-open TE Matt Luttenberger '24 on the near side as Wesleyan retook the lead at 19-14.
 
Points continued to come pouring in as Berluti tossed his third TD of the day, finding Butler open on the near side who took it all the way in for six on what was a 3^rd-and-9 play.
 
What was the game-winning TD drive came next as Wesleyan took the ball back with 10:20 remaining. Candido was terrific on the possession, finding Simco for 16 yards to kickstart the drive before finding WR Chase Wilson '25 open for 23 yards down the field. Later on a 2^nd-and-18 play, Candido completed a 30-yard bomb down the far sideline to Tomlinson to set the Cardinals up in the red zone. One play later, Brickely found room going off tackle on the near side for a 9-yard score, the first touchdown of his career, that made it 26-22 Cardinals with 4:49 left.
 
A few minutes later, Tufts got the ball back, starting at their own 45-yard line with 56 seconds left and no timeouts. Berluti started the drive with an explosive 37-yard find to Butler, putting the Jumbos in the red zone with the clock now running under 50 seconds. After missing Butler on the near sideline, Berluti was sacked by Henderson and as the clock wound under 20 seconds, the Cardinal secondary blanketed the Jumbo receivers, leaving Berluti retreating towards midfield before he was eventually brought down by Glenn to end the game.
 
The thrilling win in front of 5,000+ fans at Corwin Stadium on Saturday night moved the Cardinals to 3-0 at home in the 2022 campaign. Wesleyan will look for another win next weekend as the Cardinals head to Bowdoin on Saturday, October 22 for a 1 PM start.