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Last-minute fumbles thwart Warriors
By Kevin Mullaney
Banner Correspondent
Turnovers matter — that’s the big lesson the Nauset Regional High School football team learned in Saturday’s homecoming matchup with North Quincy. Hot off their win over Falmouth last week, their first victory in 28 games, the Warriors took a 21-6 lead into halftime and dominated play most of the game, but a blocked punt and a lost fumble late in the game gave North Quincy a come-from-behind, 35-28 victory.
“The kids were crushed,” said head coach Dave Dykeman of the outcome. “They played extremely hard and there were a lot of positive things, but we made costly mistakes near the end. … All said and done, we turned the ball over twice to their none. You can’t do that in games.”
Nauset scored on their first three possessions. The first, 76-yard drive culminated with a five yard run off-tackle by sophomore running back Mike Kennedy. Early in the second quarter, a screen pass to junior Joe Madden brought the Warriors to the 21-yard line, where, on first and ten, junior running back Brandon Scalley broke tackles and spun his way free to the end zone. The two point-after kicks by Brian Niezgoda had the Warriors up 14-0. After a North Quincy score, Nauset lined up for a second-and-16 and senior quarterback Connor Seymour connected for a 74-yard TD pass to a wide open Jon Rouillard for a 21-6 lead at the half.
North Quincy opened the scoring in the second half with an 18-yard run to make the score 21-12, then, with seven minutes left, scored on a 40-yard return of a blocked punt. The extra point brought them within two, 21-19, before Scalley again broke tackles on a 60-yard touchdown run a minute later. North Quincy came back with a seven-yard TD pass, again pulling within two points (28-26), then recovered the fumble that led to a 23-yard field goal with three seconds left to take the lead, 29-28. Their touchdown on a fumble recovery on the ensuing kickoff accounted for the seven point, 35-28 final score.
“We’ve improved dramatically,” coach Dykeman said of the now 1-6 season. “We’re running the football extremely well and we have a quarterback that can absolutely throw the ball,” he said, remarking on Seymour’s 74-yard touchdown pass to Rouillard early in the second quarter. “That ball was 45 yards in the air, and a strike,” he said. “Our defense has gotten better. The kids are starting to learn the system, make plays. Depth is an issue — our weakness,” he said. “Our strength is 33 kids practicing hard, playing hard and caring about it.”
The Warriors travel to take on Quincy Friday night
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Oct 25th, 2007