Sports Roundup: Football Loses To Falmouth 14-10, Murray Breaks School 5K Record Again
David Creed •
This Whaler sports roundup includes updates on the football team after they began consolation play on Friday and the boys cross country team after senior captain Rory Murray added another accomplishment to his outstanding year and earned the opportunity to compete in the All-State Championship Meet this weekend.
Whaler Football Drops Close Matchup To Falmouth 14-10
The Nantucket football team narrowly lost to the Falmouth Clippers Friday evening in a game between two teams that missed out on their respective state tournaments.
The Whalers led 10-6 at halftime but were unable to generate much of any offense in the second half and when they did drive down the field, committed costly mistakes that stunted otherwise promising and productive drives.
"Coming into the season, we knew we had a lot of young guys that needed to step up and bring this team to where it needs to be," head coach Reese Everett said. "At the end of the day, things happen in the game that are not under our control. We need to overcome those situations. It's minor things week after week after week, and if we expect to win at Fenway Park (on November 26th), we cannot do that. So we're just going to get on that at practice and continue to perfect our craft.”
The Clippers got the scoring going with a touchdown at the 2:33 mark of the first quarter, but the two-point conversion was no good. Nantucket responded with a long drive of their own but settled for three points to make it 6-3 with 11:50 to go in the second quarter.
Nantucket’s defense stepped up and forced a turnover on downs with 9:30 to go in the second. They proceeded to drive down the field and cap off the drive with a three-yard touchdown run by junior star wide receiver Arann Hanlon to make it 10-6 with 1:31 to go in the first half.
But the Clippers came out of halftime with energy and were able to retake their lead following a 26-yard touchdown run to make it 14-10 with 4:38 to go in the third quarter.
In the game’s final minutes, freshman quarterback Burke Lombardi began driving his team down the field with Hanlon, sophomore receiver Eli MacIver, and sophomore running back David Guillen-Taveras all getting touches.
But on a drop back, Lombardi was pressured and fumbled the football while attempting to escape a Clipper's rusher. A Clipper defender picked it up and scurried towards the end zone, but Hanlon gave a phenomenal effort to chase the defender down and catch him inside Nantucket's five-yard line, punch the ball out of the defender’s grasp, and picked it up at the one-yard line. Hanlon's momentum carried him into the end zone to earn Nantucket a touchback and a second chance at a game-winning drive.
Nantucket drove down the field again all the way to the Clipper’s 36-yard line but were unable to seal the deal with their final play being a miscommunication between Lombardi and MacIver on fourth and eight with Lombardi throwing to the left sideline with MacIver cutting to the middle.
“Coming into this year, I wanted to get the best competition possible," Everett said. "That's the only way we can compete at the highest level possible and especially to get the experience for our younger guys. We have a freshman starting quarterback. This team is very, very young.”
Nantucket has one more guaranteed game on their schedule, which is the Island Cup at Fenway Park on Tuesday, November 26th at 5 p.m.. They could still play one more consolation game this weekend however, so stay tuned.
You can view more photos from this game taken by Current Sports Photographer Chris Tran by clicking here.
Boys Cross Country Competes In Divisional Meet
The boys cross country team traveled up to the Wrentham Development Center on Saturday to compete in the MIAA Divisional Meet.
For a fourth time this year, senior captain Rory Murray broke the school 5K record with a time of 16:54, which placed him 13th overall amongst all runners at Divisionals.
Murray told the Current last month his goal was to break the 17-minute mark and finish "in the low 16s." He crept much closer to that goal and will have one more shot at improving his time after qualifying for the All-State Championship, which will take place next weekend.
Below are each Whaler runner’s times after Nantucket came in 17th out of 29 teams in Division 3B.
Rory Murray – 16:54 (PR)
Dorian Manov – 17:54 (PR)
Mike Sullivan – 18:49 (PR)
Jimmy Fuller – 20:28 (PR)
Harlan Wright – 21:11 (PR)
Nick Ferrantella – 22:02
Hayden Roberts – 22:08