Whalers fall short against Hawks, 14-6
BY STEVE SHEPPARD INDEPENDENT SPORTS EDITOR
They were playing up a division and against an opponent with far greater numbers, but they held their own for all of the first half,

MICHAEL GALVIN/The Independent The Whaler defense did its best to stifle the Hawks Saturday. Above left: Curran Huyser (left) and Delroy Lawrence rush Southeastern quarterback Kevin Rivera. In the right photo, Jordan Ferreira cradles the ball in the endzone for Nantucket's only score.

and nearly pulled it out in the end.

But it was the Hawks, and not the Whalers, who would prevail, as the home team hung on to win. It was Southeastern's second win of the season and just its second victory all-time over Nantucket.

Down 14-6 in the fourth quarter, and unable to mount a significant drive in the period, Nantucket was revitalized when Nigel Koester recovered a fumble at midfield. From there, the Whalers moved the ball with confidence. On second down, first year varsity quarterback Chris Welch found Delroy Lawrence along the sideline, whose great grab and run was good for a 19-yard gain to the Southeastern 29 yard line. Immediately, Welch teamed up with Lawrence again, this time over the middle, giving the Whalers a first down on the 14 yard line. A subsequent pass over the middle - and into a sudden gust of wind - appeared to fall incomplete. The refs, however, ruled that the trap catch made by Southeastern was good. The questionable call gave the Hawks the ball with just over 3 minutes to go in the game, and they sat on it for the remainder of the contest.

The Hawks played ball control from the outset, chewing up the clock with their wedge offense. The Hawks struck first when A. J. Goucher, who ran for 116 yards on 22 carries, ran in from the 10 yard line early in the second quarter. The fullback also carried in the conversion for the 8-0 lead.

Nantucket, meanwhile, was finding its rhythm in its first game of the new season. While Southeastern relied on grinding it out up the middle, the young Nantucket team showed flair by going to the air time and time again. This strategy paid off when the Whalers capped their subsequent possession with a 12-yard touchdown toss to Jordan Ferreira in the endzone. The conversion attempt failed, however, and as the first half wound down it was apparent the Whalers matched up well against the Hawks.

"I'm very happy with the way the kids hung in there," coach Capizzo said afterwards. "We had our chances."

The Hawks added to their advantage late in the third quarter after the teams exchanged turnovers when Nantucket recovered a Southeastern fumble, only to give it back two plays later on a pass interception and runback to the Whaler 16 yard line. The wedge offense brought it to the four where the Hawks ran it in for the touchdown. The conversion was stopped, setting up the possibility of the Whalers tying it on their fourth quarter drive, but the Hawks

prevailed in the end.

While Southeastern held the ball for much of the contest, and rushed for 244 yards and 17 first downs, the Whaler defense must be praised for making tackles when they mattered, causing three turnovers and stuffing the Hawks twice on fourth down. The Whaler offense, meanwhile, made the most of its four first downs.

A year ago, Nantucket came back to thwart the Hawks at home, scoring 34 straight points to win, 42- 28. The comeback this year, unfortunately, was foiled.

The team did many things right, however, and cocaptain Erik Hughes, end Josh Butler and running back Hunter Day are set to return this week. Lawrence, though, suffered a knee injury late in the game against Southeastern and will not play.

How will the odds stack up when the Whalers host last year's Mayflower Large Super Bowl representative Cape Tech this Friday? Only the coach knows for sure.

"We'll have Hughes in the middle, who has a great nose for the ball," he said. "We're going to get

better; I have faith in them." I