One of the most exciting parts of football is the preparation each week for the new style of offense and defense your next opponent will run. This shortened week took the team from two previous games of pound- the- ball running attacks to the best aerial attack in the league.
Roxbury Latin wasted no time in showing the MX defense what they were in for in this game, as they took the opening kick- off down the field and opened the scoring on a 2 yard pass. The kick was good and they had a 7-0 lead. The MX offense answered with two effective drives but were not able to score.
At the start of the second quarter RL scored again on a long pass to increase their lead to 14-0. This was definitely a deciding moment of the game and the MX defense stepped up to hold RL scoreless the rest of the half and the MX offense started to roll. With a combination of hard running by both Hasani Figueroa ’14 and George Morris ’15 and the effective passing of QB Nick Andonian ’13 the team moved the ball the length of the field and score on a 17 yard run by Figueroa. With the kick being good, MX cut the deficit to 14-7 at halftime.
MX received the kick to start the second half and Andrew Matos ’13 wasted no time in returning the kick 94 yards for the touchdown, the kick by Brendon Canavan ‘13 evened the score at 14-14. On an afternoon where the teams combined to throw 70 passes the action was hardly over. RL would score twice more in the third quarter, with MX answering with one of their own on a 40 yard pass completion from Andonian to wide receiver Will Kreitler ’13 to end the third quarter with RL ahead 28-21.
The secondary of Nick Widen ’13, Kreitler, Figueroa, Nick Colangelo ’14, Drew Coash ’14 and Andonian along with linebacking crew of Charlie Owen ’14, James Burr ’15, George Morris ’15, Sam Carlin ’15, Guy Kato ’15, Ben Marchand ’15 and John Schuster ’15 would hold the RL offense scoreless in the fourth quarter and account for two interceptions on the afternoon by Kreitler and Carlin. Unfortunately, a fumble by the MX offense would result in more points for RL and a 35-21 lead. The MX pass offense then went into high gear as all the receivers- Kreitler, Widen, Figueroa, and Canavan all contributed to cut the lead to 35-27 on a 2 yard Figueroa run. The MX offense had one more opportunity to tie the score late in the fourth quarter as they moved the ball down to the RL 30 yard line but not being able to convert RL ran the clock out on a tough loss for the MX 11.
Special note has to be given to the offensive line (Ben Canniff ’15, Steve Zawada ’15, Walker Griggs ’15, Chung Lim ’13, Will Baxter ’15 and Brendon Canavan ’13) that helped the offense produce almost 400 yards and 27 points on the afternoon. The MX 11 will head into their last game of the year against traditional rival St. George’s in Newport, Rhode Island on Saturday.
