Defense Shines, Offense Explodes as Football Cruises to NMH Shutout

EXETER - Exeter’s varsity football team dominated Northfield Mount Hermon 54-0 last Saturday. After two straight games on the road, Exeter was excited to show off their talent in front of the home crowd. Big Red scored a season-high eight touchdowns (seven of them rushing touchdowns) and held NMH scoreless. Big Red is now 4-0 on the year.From the start, Exeter came out firing on all cylinders. Quickly marching up the field, quarterback Vincent Sansone ran in for the first touchdown of the day. On the following kickoff, senior Luke Gray recovered a fumble and then scored on a fourteen-yard rush later in the drive.With the tide rolling on Big Red’s side, Exeter poured 40 more points onto NMH during the half—postgraduates Chewy Ucheomumu, Austin Roberts and Sansone (who scored another TD on a 22 yard run), all ran for touchdowns. NMH had no answer for Exeter’s ground game. “We established our run game early and were able to continue it throughout the game…we never let up,” lower Ben McLean said. Along with the rushing TDs, Exeter also threw for one touchdown on a pass from Sansone to senior co-captain Joey Hebl.Big Red’s defense also played a tremendous first half, forcing NMH to commit four turnovers. After Gray’s fumble recovery, upper Will Edwards had an interception, postgraduate Alex Kasirye forced a fumble that upper Brendan Rosseau picked up and senior Matt MacKay recovered a fumbled snap. Postgraduate Stone Hart also finished the game with three sacks. With great offensive and defensive play, Big Red easily overmatched NMH.The second half provided a great opportunity for non-starters to play, and they excelled, outscoring NMH 14-0. “At every position we have people who can step up,” upper Tucker Lemos said.Hart also commended his fellow teammates. “We have guys that can be thrown in [at any time] if we need them,” he said.Through the first four games Big Red has developed great team chemistry. When upper Jake Willett ran for his first touchdown of the season, he unselfishly credited his accomplishment to his teammates.“I honestly wouldn’t have been able to do anything with the ball if it hadn’t been for the blocks laid down by my offensive line and my full back [lower] Alex Farley. Getting the touchdown was great, but I was just the guy who walked in. It was really the linemen that scored,” Willett said.After a two-game road stint, playing at home was a refreshing break, but winning on Exeter’s family weekend only made it better. “It’s always better to play at home,” McLean said. “I know a lot of us were also looking forward to playing in front of our families. It added to the win for sure.”Though the game was a blowout in the end, the team worked diligently the week before to prepare to play NMH. “We always prepare as much as we can no matter the opposition,” Lemos said. Big Red takes every matchup seriously. As long as Big Red maintains this mentality, they will be an incredibly tough team to beat this season.Big Red will head to Massachusetts to face Deerfield (3-1) on Saturday. Over the years, Deerfield and Exeter have developed a great rivalry in football, but Hart knows Big Red can again pull out a victory. “[Although] no game in this league is a gimme, we just need to play hard, fast, and smart and the chips will fall where they need to," he said.