By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
The junior varsity football team fell in a fourth-quarter loss at South Shore Voke 22-18 on Tuesday afternoon. It was the third game of the season for the 14-player Whalers squad, which fell to 0-3 on the schedule.
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Michael Molta, center, runs the football in the third quarter with blocks from Chris Santangelo, left, and Zatrick Pinkney. The Whalers led 18-14 as late as two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter before South Shore Tech scored. |
“We had 14 guys dressed and they wore us down at the end of the game. That was one of the big problems. We had the same kids playing offense, defense, kicking off, receiving and they just took us out of the game,” head coach Dennis Caron said.
“In a lot of things we didn’t execute very well because we just haven’t been together. Some of the offensive plays we ran because we hadn’t had a lot of practice time. Particularly in the passing game it hurt us, but all in all I thought they did an outstanding job even though we lost.”
South Shore Voke relied on a sturdy running game, which ran roughshod over the Nantucket defense. The Vikings punted only once, while scoring three times. The Nantucket defense picked off one interception and recovered a fumble in the game.
The Whalers offense was able to keep pace with a running game of its own, holding the lead as late as two minutes remaining in the game at 18-14.
“Our offensive line played an outstanding game. We ran the ball really well and they were responsible for it,” Caron said of linemen Eddie Moreau, James Rhodes, Chris Santangelo, Curren Huyser and Brandon Watson.
Larry Woolfolk handled the bulk of the running duties for the Whalers alongside Michael Molta and Kevin McLean.
South Shore Voke got on the scoreboard first. On the first possession of the game, they ran down the field and punched it in for the 6-0 lead. The Whalers stopped the extra point rushing attempt.
Nantucket responded with runs from Woolfolk and near the end of the first period Zatrick Pinkney capped off the drive with a three-yard dash into the end zone for the touchdown. The Whalers missed the two-point conversion and the two teams remained locked at 6-6.
In the second period, South Shore Voke assembled another long drive and scored on a short run from inside the 10-yard line and added the extra points for the 14-6 advantage.
The Whalers were able to pull within two before the half with a long drive of their own. Quarterback Ryan Trainor connected with Tim Marsh for the eight-yard touchdown strike, but without the extra points still trailed 14-12.
Taking the kickoff out of the halftime break, the Whalers were able to eat up much of the clock in the quarter with an 85-yard drive on 16 plays. Woolfolk scored on an 11-yard sweep play to give Nantucket their first lead of the day at 18-14.
The Whalers defense stopped South Shore in the third as the Vikings had to punt for the only time in the game and in the fourth quarter Trainor recovered a fumble to give Nantucket a chance to seal the victory.
“We began to march the ball down the field, but we ran into a fourth-down situation. We hadn’t punted all day and we hadn’t had a lot of practice. We tried to rush and we were unsuccessful, so we turned the ball over on the 45-yard line of South Shore,” Caron said.
With seven minutes remaining on the game clock the Vikings drove down the field and ran off-tackle for the touchdown with 1:45 remaining to earn the win.
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