Hartford, Conn. - Freshman tailback Tom Pierandri (Ridgefield, Conn.) came off the bench to rush for a career-high 103 yards on 30 carries and lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 27-20 win over the visiting Tufts University Jumbos in New England Small College Athletic Conference football action this afternoon.

Trinity, which wins its second game in a row, improves to 3-1 and moves into a first-place tie in the NESCAC with Amherst, Colby, Middlebury, and Wesleyan. The Jumbos fall to 2-2.

The Bantams broke open a 13-10 game early in the fourth quarter with back-to-back touchdowns. With 13:29 remaining in the game, Trinity sophomore linebacker Andrew Wertz (Newtown, Pa.) intercepted Tufts sophomore quarterback Todd Scalia (Fair Oaks, Calif.) and returned it to the Jumbo six-yard line. Trinity sophomore quarterback Greg Ward (Avon, Conn.) connected with junior fullback David Mogan (Foxboro, Mass.) on the next play to give Trinity a 20-10 lead.

Two plays later, Scalia was intercepted by Bantam sophomore safety Gavin O’Reilly (Cheshire, Conn.), who ran the ball back 28 yards for the second Trinity touchdown in a minute.

Tufts made the game interesting later in the fourth quarter, after junior kicker Howie Rock (Waltham, Mass.) made a 30-yard field goal and Scalia found senior wide receiver Brett Cichillo (New York, N.Y.) in the end zone to cut the Trinity lead to seven at 28-20. Rock had also nailed a 40-yarder in the third quarter.

The Jumbos appeared to get the ball back for a final chance with 1:27 left, but a Jumbo personal foul penalty on a Trinity punt gave the ball back to the Bantams to run out the clock.

Trinity scored a touchdown on its second drive of the game on a fake field goal. Junior holder Steven Cella (Peabody, Mass.) took the snap and ran around the left end for a touchdown. Trinity sophomore kicker Skip Sullivan (Milton, Mass.) missed the extra-point to make the score 6-0. The drive was costly, however, as sophomore tailback Brian Fabrizio (Norwell, Mass.) was lost for the game with an injury.

Tufts struck back in the second quarter on a 44-yard pass from Scalia to sophomore wide receiver Bryan Pitko (Arlington, Mass.). The Bantams answered in the final seconds of the first half, as Ward completed five passes on a 12-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a five-yard touchdown catch by junior wide receiver Mike Indelicato (Norwood, N.J.).

Ward finished with 208 passing yards, completing 22 out of 43 attempts with one interception. Indelicato caught six passes for 69 yards, while sophomore wide receiver Kevin Waters (Garden City, N.Y.) had six catches for 51 yards, and senior tight end Peter Nesbit (Wellesley, Mass.) made five receptions for 54 yards.

Scalia completed 12 out of 29 passes for 149 yards, but was intercepted three times. Senior tailback Brian Holmes (Newport, N.H.) paced the Jumbos with 84 rushing yards on 20 carries, and Pitko caught four passes for 68 yards.

Senior linebacker Mike Marino (Medford, Mass.) and sophomore defensive back Greg Devine (Springfield, Mass.) led all tacklers with 11 for Tufts. Jumbo junior linebacker Scott Mittenthal (Atlanta, Ga.) added 10 tackles for a Tufts defense that was on the field for over 33 minutes.

O’Reilly made seven tackles to lead Trinity defensively. Werts had six tackles and freshman linebacker Derek Collins (Saugas, Mass.) totaled four tackles and one sack for the Bantams.

Tufts (2-2) 0 7 3 10 -- 20

Trinity, Conn. (3-1) 6 7 0 14 -- 27

SCORING

1. 8:00        TC- Steven Cella three-yard run (kick failed) TC6-0

2. 7:15        TU- Bryan Pitko 44-yard pass from Todd Scalia (Howie Rock kick) TU7-6

2.     :03         TC- Mike Indelicato five-yard pass from Greg Ward (Skip Sullivan kick) TC13-7

3.     13:17 TU- Rock 40-yard field goal TC13-10

4. 13:13 TC- David Mogan six-yard pass from Ward (Sullivan kick) TC20-10 T36-34

4. 12:13 TC- Gavin O’Reilly 28-yard interception return (Sullivan kick) TC27-10

4. 7:59        TU- Rock 30-yard FG TC27-13

4. 2:05        TU- Brett Cicchillo 21-yard pass from Scalia (Rock kick) TC27-20

TEAM STATS

                                                                   Tufts                                             Trinity

First Downs                                                 9                                                 18

Rushes-yards                                             32-110                                       43-131

Passing (att-comp-int-yds)                     29-12-3-149                              44-22-1-208

Return yards                                               133                                                  209

Punts-avg                                              9-36.6                                        6-32.3

Fumbles-lost                                               1-0                                                   2-2

Penalties-yards                                        6-59                                                   6-3

Time of Possesion                               26:54                                         33:06

RUSHING

TU- Brian Holmes 20-84, Chuck McGraw 7-31, Steve Lapham 2-4, Todd Scalia 3-(-6)

TC- Tom Pierandri 30-103, Brian Fabrizio 3-41, Steven Cella 1-3, Greg Ward 8-(-1), Joe Wahl 1-(-15).

PASSING

TU- Todd Scalia 12-29-3-149.

TC- Greg Ward 22-43-1-208. Joe Wahl 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING

TU- Bryan Pitko 4-68, Matt Cerne 2-48, Brett Cichillo 3-32, Brian Holmes 1-1, Tim Mack 1-1, Chuck McGraw 1-(-1).

TC- Mike Indelicato 6-69, Peter Nesbit 5-54, Kevin Waters 6-51, David Mogan 2-21, Andrew Eastman 2-13,

Ray Cattaneo 1-0.