John Madden once said “Football is a game of mistakes and the team that makes the least mistakes usually wins the ball game” this quote certainly was proven true during Saturday’s game versus Middletown. Hall received the ball to start the game but was forced to turn the ball over on downs. Middletown couldn’t get anything started either and they ended up pinned deep in their own zone and when they tried to punt it was blocked and picked up by Edgar Hannibal who returned it for the touchdown. That was Middletown’s first mistake.
Both teams battled until the end.
Photo by Matthew Jacques
After Hall scored, Middletown was able to string together three big plays, two of which, were big passes caught by Alex Wetherell and came up with a touch down tying the game at 7 a piece. When Hall got the ball their first play was a backwards pass which was dropped and recovered by Middletown. That was Hall’s first mistake.
Middletown was then held inside their own red zone and forced to kick a 22 yard field goal which put the score at 10 to 7 Middletown and it stayed like that until the end of the half.
To start the second half Hall kicked off but Middletown was only able to move the ball a couple yards and was forced to punt. There was a bad snap and the ball rolled into the end zone. Middletown’s punter managed to get to the ball and get a kick off under heavy pressure. However the ball barely went any where and was immediately caught on the 5 yard line by Justin Sundstrum who returned it for the touchdown. The score now was 14 –10 Hall. That was Middletown’s second mistake.
When hall got the ball back they put together a 6-play drive ending in a three yard rushing TD by Jacob Rosario, which put hall up 21-10. Middletown then put some plays together for what looked like a scoring drive until Brian Febles came up with a big time interception near the end of the third quarter. That was Middletown’s third mistake. Hall managed to get the ball again and Riley Carroll delivered a short pass to Wayne Brookbanks who found a lane up the middle and into the end zone putting Hall ahead 28-10 going into the forth quarter.
In the fourth quarter Middletown was able to score on a couple short passes after a Hall fumble. Then Middletown, in a desperate last effort, tried for a onside kick but it was recovered by Hall who just ran out the clock.
In conclusion, Middletown quarterback Jason Wood did everything he could to get the Blue Dragons a win, passing for 121 yards and rushing for 45, but Hall’s defense really came alive in the second half making a lot of big time plays. Hall split up its rushing game evenly as Riley Carroll, Jacob Rosario and Wayne Brookbanks all ran for around 20 yards. Riley Carroll passed for 119 yards with the majority of passes going to Joey Mascolo and Justin Cleaver. However, putting stats aside, what the game really came down to was mistakes. Middletown had two touchdowns taken away due to penalties, one of them ended up in a field goal the other was on forth down and they had to turn the ball over. Middletown’s mistakes cost them the game.
