Opening day of the Zebra's 2014 football season was a tale of two halves, St. Mark's owning the first and Middlesex the second.
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In the first half, the MX offense moved the ball up and down the field but unfortunately, stalled three times in the red zone, coming away with no points. On defense, MX was able to handle the Lion's run game but their pass game always seemed to be able to pick up the necessary yardage to keep the chains moving, scoring three times for a 21-0 halftime lead.
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After some adjustments during halftime, MX came out with a renewed sense of purpose and responded on the first offensive series of the third quarter., Running back George Morris '15 got Middlesex on the board with a nifty 72 yard run. The PAT went wide but the team had finally crossed the goal line for a 21-6 score., Later in the quarter, MX running back James Burr '15 added another Middlesex score on a 31 yard run., MX went for 2 and converted on a pass from QB Austin Dorsey '16 to wide receiver Rory Glavin '17 to cut the Lion's lead to 21-14.
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The MX defense played inspired football during the second half, however St. Mark's was able to tally one more score early in the fourth quarter which pushed their lead back to 14 points, 28-21., Middlesex answered immediately on the ensuing kickoff when George Morris weaved his way 64 yards, and with the PAT, Middlesex again cut the lead to 7 points, 28-21., Although the remainder of the game was well played by both teams, there would be no additional scoring and St. Mark's went on to win, 28-21.
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The offensive and defensive lines played well all afternoon and deserve to be recognized, Connor Sloan '15, Steve Zawada '15, Walker Griggs '15, Alex Wagner '16, Will Baxter '15, Kai Long '16 and Ifeatu Menakaya '17.
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Middlesex will travel to St. Paul's this coming Saturday for a 3:00 PM game.