Muskies drop Homecoming game

The Muskie football team was hoping to make the best of playing a winless opponent during the annual Homecoming game Friday afternoon but fell 7-2 to the Dryden Eagles.
Dryden ran back the opening kick-off for a touchdown, then conceded a safety in the third quarter for the only scoring of the game, which was played in less-than-ideal conditions at Muskie Field.
“We were there,” Muskie head coach Vince Gouin lamented. “We had confidence. We could get the first down and for the most part, you might as well go to the first story—breakdowns. Mental breakdowns.”
The Muskies looked fundamentally sound and controlled the flow of the game after the opening play—seeming to be sharp on offensive plays as well as on defence.
The difference was that while the black-and-gold were able to rack up yardage, there was little they seemed able to do within 10 yards of the end zone.
“Overall, as you look at the sheet, we moved the ball well, just at certain times we made mental mistakes,” Gouin said.
One such mistake was a holding penalty in the fourth quarter that saw a Muskies touchdown waved off—a play Gouin called “a real killer.”
The silver lining is that the Muskies’ maligned offence finally seemed to click. The squad gained more than 150 rushing yards and, perhaps more importantly, passed for over 100.
The loss dropped the Muskies’ record to 0-3. Dryden and Fort High both entered Friday’s contest with 0-2 records, and many on the black-and-gold felt this game was within reach and could turn their season around.
Many players took the loss hard and wore their frustration on their faces after the game. Gouin shook off the idea that the team was “dejected.”
“I’d say the team is very disappointed,” he said.
One player who found the loss hard to swallow was running back Matt DePiero. He led the team with 73 rushing yards but took little solace in individual accomplishments, preferring to stay focused on the next game this coming Friday at Grant Park.
“There’s a lot of season left, and we just gotta bare down and put it behind us, and learn from this. We’ve got to learn from this,” he stressed.
“If we can get this team to play to its potential, we’ll be good.”