Photo taken from The Blue and Gold Archives.
After losing a game to Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School, Malden is off to a shaky start into the season. Taking home a loss of 38-0 against Melrose in an away non-conference game, head coach Witchie Exilhomme, told the team “it [is] not physical, it [is] mental.” He added that “if they want to win, then the victory is theirs,” but it is only “if they want it enough.” Before the game he told the team “[they] came [there] to win and leave.”
The team began the game immediately without the necessary winners’ energy. During the game, Melrose made five touchdowns and made four out of five of their field goals. Player Justin Desimone of Malden tackled the Melrose quarterback Brendan Fennell during a snap. The defense and offense were trying, however it was not enough to win the game.
During halftime, the coaches were modifying plays in an attempt to fix what was not working: changing which gap the defensive linemen were blocking, different routes for receivers to run, and changing the gaps the running back would go through. Though the players’ heads were down throughout halftime, Exhilomme stated that ”the game is not over, [they] still have another half so [they] should pick [their] heads up.”
The Malden High School players were upset after missing numerous chances to score touchdowns and block the Melrose team from scoring. Next practice everybody did conditioning which is an exercise program performed by the athlete to produce a higher level of function. At the end, Exhilomme told the team to “practice with a purpose, then [they] will play with one.” He noted that ”they are taking it to the next level” and “it [is] them who have to be ready to level up with the rest of [everyone].”
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