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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Whaler quarterback Chris Welch finds a hole against Southeatern Saturday. The Nantucket football program has fallen on hard times, and has not managed to win a game so far this season.
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By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
To say the 2008 high school football season has been frustrating is an understatement. After displaying signs of improvement on offense in the previous two games, the Whalers were shut out 32-0 by Southeastern in front of a home crowd Saturday afternoon.
The Hawks came in to the game with only one win in six tries, but looked like a first-place team as they ran for 360 yards through the Whalers’ defense and picked off any attempt to score by the struggling offense.
The winless Whalers (0-6) will hit the road for the first time in more than a month when they travel to Tri-County Saturday afternoon. The Mayflower Small League Cougars have never beaten Nantucket in the history of the program. They come into the game at 5-2 with wins over Southeastern, Old Colony, West Bridgewater, Diman and Blackstone Valley.
“I think they have to come out and listen to the staff and have the will to win,” head coach Vito Capizzo said. “They have to take constructive criticism as a positive thing, not a negative thing. That’s what bothers us the most.”
The Whalers have allowed 226 points this season, for an average of nearly 38 points per game by their opponents. Nantucket has also been outscored 226-68.
The Whaler offense moved the ball well in the first half against Southeastern Saturday. Jamie Viera rushed for 54 yards as part of the Whalers’ 89 yards on the ground in the first two quarters. But two interceptions inside the red zone cost the Whalers any opportunity to put valuable points on the board.
“We were in the red zone four times and we couldn’t put it in, and that’s not blocking and not hitting the right holes,” Capizzo said.
Meanwhile, Southeastern took advantage of the Whalers’ poor run defense to put up three touchdowns for a 19-0 lead at the break.
The Hawks ran only three plays from scrimmage: the sweep, the quick trap and the counter. They mixed it up well and confused the Whalers for 360 yards on the ground.
Four backs picked up more than 60 yards rushing for the Hawks. Nick Guido led the way with 109 yards and one touchdown on seven carries, Mike Sacks tallied 85 yards and a touchdown on eight carries, Mike Smith had 80 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries and sophomore Tyson Boone picked up 64 yards and a touchdown on seven carries.
“They played with a lot of heart and they played as a team, and we are playing as individuals,” Capizzo said.
Joe Bopp had three catches for 38 yards and Michael Molta made one catch for 16 yards in the second half, but it was too little, too late for the Whalers.
Setting the tone
The Hawks set a precedent early in the game, taking their first possession 80 yards on nine rushing plays into the end zone. Guido broke through the line untouched for a 28-yard pick-up for the 6-0 lead.
Quarterback Chris Welch threw his first interception of the half on an attempted slant play to Troy Sullivan, which was picked off by Hawks quarterback and safety Tim Crouch. Southeastern needed eight plays to drive 66 yards to score on its next possession. On a fourth-down play after a series of solid defense, Smith found a gaping hole in the Whalers’ line and took the ball 30 yards for the touchdown. The Hawks again missed the two-point conversion but led 12-0.
After a quick three-and-out, the Whalers were forced to punt into the wind. The ball traveled only five yards and set up the Hawks with a short field on the Whalers’ 34-yard line. Smith tallied his second touchdown of the quarter on a five-yard sweep to the left. Nick Ready hit the point-after attempt for the 19-0 lead.
The Whalers responded with their best drive of the game. Josh Butler picked up 19 yards on the reverse and Rasheed Smith (18 yards) and Viera (10 yards) each picked up first downs as Nantucket marched into the red zone. On third down and eight from the 10, Welch put a ball high to Butler in the end zone, but it was picked off, this time by Sacks for the touchback.
The Hawks threatened to put the game away just before the half with a drive to the Whalers’ one-yard line. But the Nantucket defense put a stop to Southeastern’s plans with a four-down goal-line stand.
The Whalers took the ball just inside midfield on the first possession after the half, but on three straight downs with one yard to go, could not pick up the first down and turned the ball over to the Hawks. On Southeastern’s first play from scrimmage, Sacks ran 53 yards on a sweep to the right for the touchdown that sealed the game.
The Hawks added another score in the fourth quarter as the Whalers failed to mount a comeback.
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