Football Lacks Offense in Loss
After a very productive preseason, Big Red football looked forward to launching another successful season Saturday at Worcester Academy. Quickly the outing revealed flaws in the team’s core; the game ended with a 34-0 score in Worcester’s. Although the loss was unfortunate, the team now has a quick indicator of what they need to work on as the season moves on.While it is true that Exeter’s offense was unable to score during the game, to say that the offense struggled would be too critical of the hard work put in by blockers to create time in the pocket for the plays to unfold. To say that the team struggled to gain yards would cast a shadow of the accomplishments of a breakout player on Saturday: lower Harrison Money. Money had a love connection with the quick pass; snagging 5 catches for 60 yards.No, the trouble seemed to be with what seemed to be the lovechild of the offense in preseason: Keaton to Cecil. Shaken up for 4 interceptions on the night, there were harsh critics of the new PG gunslinger brought in to lead our team to victory in E/a. However, what all the couch commentators didn’t know was that 3 of those were when Keaton threw to Cecil, who was in double coverage for a good part of the night. No fingers can be pointed here: an elite WR gets targeted in double coverage and has the pass intercepted. Whose fault is it: the QBs for throwing it, the WR for not catching it, the offense for not adapting to it…who can say? The only way to fix it is practice, and that seems to be something that the team is certainly looking forward to.“We didn't play half as well as we would have liked to,” said senior Tucker Lemos. “But the team is jumping into practice with a vengeance.”“The first game was definitely an eye opener. Not having a scrimmage to prepare for our first game was tough. But, everything that happened in the game against Worcester was in our control. Every mistake that was made is fixable with hard work and a good week of practice,” said postgraduate Tim Reitzenstein. “I am expecting that we bounce back and play a lot better than we did now that we know how fast we have to play and how hard we have to hit in order to be considered one of the better teams. We just have to keep our heads up and remain focused and be ready for Choate on Saturday. The season is far from over!”“Our offense just needs to get angry,” said upper Tommy Cefalu. “The defense was riled up and we made a few key stops, but because of some offensive errors, [Worchester] always started with great field position, and there’s only so much a defense can do. We’ll be ready.”Well, ready or not, Choate Rosemary Hall will be dropping by the stadium this Saturday at 4:00, and the trials and tribulations of a week of improving will be shown for all to see in Big Red’s home opener.