What would be the best way to celebrate any football player's first home game of the season?  Exactly, a "Saturday Night Game" under the lights.  The whole environment turned out to be electric, the players were sky high, and the crowd was larger than anything we have seen around Middlesex for a very long time.  

The hype of the pre-game definitely affected the team more than our opponent, as St. Mark's took the opening kickoff and moved it down the field for the first score of the game. This worked as a wake-up call for our defense, as they blocked the PAT and then went on to play shut out football for the rest of the game.  With St. Mark's leading 6-0, the MX 11 took over on offense combining timely passing and straight ahead running. Middlesex's first score happened on a pass play where QB Cam Fries '22 scrambled out of the pocket to find fellow captain Mark Conde '22, who had made a varsity adjustment on his pass route for a 16-yard TD completion. Liam Connor '22 added the PAT, as the MX 11 took the lead 7-6.

As the first quarter ended the MX 11 were gaining more confidence due to the play of our offensive line (Charlie Haight '23, Kevin Ma '22, Pranav Natarajian '22, Nick DeBruin '22, Peter Sleeper '22, and tight end Nate Crozier '22) which would pay tremendous dividends in the second quarter as MX would score twice. The first TD coming on a 6-yard run by tailback Bo Bensley (who would finish the night with 18 carries for 119 rushing yards). The second came just before the half on a 26-yard pass from QB Cam Fries to wide receiver Liam Connor.  Connor would add PATs on both touchdowns for a 21-6 MX lead at halftime. 

Although the offense pushed the ball into St. Mark's territory throughout the second half, turnovers and penalties halted all our drives.  However, the real story of the second half was our defense, who intensified their efforts and had an answer for anything the St. Mark's offense threw at them.  High praise has to go to our defensive front for this game, including many two-way players. The defensive line- Charlie Haight, Kevin Ma, Nick DeBruin, Peter Sleeper, and Hunter Kuftinec '23, and our linebacking crew- Nate Crozier, Max Toomey '22, Bo Bensley and Chester Boynton '23.  The defense also produced two fourth down stops in the second half and a timely interception by cornerback Eoin Morrissey '22.

It was a very needed victory to get the team back on the win track.  Our next game will be this Friday, October 15th at Groton at 2:00 pm.