By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
In its first game since early October, the junior varsity football team led Blue Hills for most of the game before giving way to a Warriors comeback with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter for the 16-8 loss.
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
James Rhodes, left, and Matthew Marrett take down Blue Hills quarterback Michael McCormick during last Wednesday’s 16-8 loss to the Warriors at home. It was the final game of the season for the junior varsity squad.
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“I thought it was a great game. I thought my kids played really well. They worked hard and we just ran out of a little bit of gas toward the end on defense,” head coach Dennis Caron said.
Nantucket fell to 0-4 to conclude its shortened season. The team will not play its annual game against Martha’s Vineyard Saturday due to low numbers. Borrowing a few bodies from the varsity squad, the Whalers fielded 15 players to the Warriors’ 17 on Wednesday at home.
The Whalers went through three quarterbacks in the game. Blue Hills fullback Darnell Derosa took out starter Ryan Trainor and back-up Josh Sibley-Liddle with minor injuries, both playing on defense at the time.
“He ran over both those guys. A big guy like that, you gotta hit low and he delivered the blow. If you are a defensive player, you need to deliver the blow and our guys were sort of wishing that they didn’t have to tackle him.
They were waiting and I think that hurt us,” Caron said. “It came down to the fourth quarter. I think losing Ryan Trainor right near the end of the half, I think that it hurt us big-time on offense. We were moving the ball pretty well, then we had to move to other options.”
Trainor led the Whalers in the first half, going 2-for-4 on passing attempts for 25 yards on completions to Josh Sibley-Liddle for 10 yards and Michael Molta for 15 yards. Sibley-Liddle took over and went 0-for-1 passing and ran for 36 yards on three carries before being sidelined himself. Jamie Viera, with no quarterback practice this season, had to finish the game under center when the first two signal-callers left with injuries.
Viera picked up 68 yards and a touchdown in running-back duties, while Molta contributed 34 yards rushing on eight carries, Tim Marsh ran for 10 yards on five carries, and Kevin McLean ran for 12 yards on two carries.
On defense, James Rhodes was strong on the outside, while McLean broke up a couple of passes in the secondary. Defensive end Matthew Marrett was successful in taking runners down in the backfield.
Trainor controlled the Whalers offensive movement with ease in the first half. On their first possession of the game, Marsh, Viera and Molta all had solid runs. It was Viera who would put the Whalers on the scoreboard first with a rush up the middle on third and short, which ultimately went for a 46-yard touchdown score. Trainor connected with Sibley-Liddle for the two-point conversion to put Nantucket on top 8-0.
The defense came up with some big plays in the first half to keep the Warriors off the scoreboard. On the ensuing possession Blue Hills drove down the field with ease, utilizing various running-back options. On a second and 15 play from the Whalers’ 18-yard-line, Mack McGrath recovered a Warriors fumble to retake possession at the start of the second quarter.
Nantucket ate up almost nine minutes in the 10-minute second quarter with a drive from its own 17-yard line down to the Warriors’ eight-yard line. Trainor connected with Curren Huyser and Molta for big pick-ups, while Marsh, Viera, Molta and McLean each had big runs. But the Whalers failed to get into the end zone when Marcus Brown recovered a Nantucket fumble.
With just over a minute on the clock before the half, Blue Hills made a valiant effort to get into the end zone but coverage in the secondary thwarted any chance at a score.
The dueling teams traded fumbles to open up the third quarter. Blue Hills was able to capitalize on the Whalers’ miscue on a drive that lasted into the fourth quarter. Hadi Bah made a nice cut through the Whalers defense into the end zone for the Warriors’’ first touchdown of the game. Derosa powered up the gut for the two-point conversion to tie the score at 8-8.
With 3:44 remaining in the fourth quarter, Blue Hills recovered their fourth fumble of the game on the Whalers’ 21-yard line, and Derosa, Bah and Michael McCormick picked their way down the field. McCormick made the big run for 24 yards down to the one-yard line and then punched it in on the next play for the game-winning touchdown with 42 seconds remaining.
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