An Inspiring Win, on an Emotional Night, for Masuk Football

Entering the 2012 season, the Masuk High football squad had a number of question marks.  Fresh off a successful 2011, a season that saw the Panthers battle their way to the SWC championship and a spot in the Class L semi-finals, they graduated 11 seniors including ESPN/Gatorade state player of the year Casey Cohran.  In what most were dubbing the “post-Cochran era”, many knew they had a challenge ahead to stay on top.

But challenges are what head coach John Murphy thrives on.  He threw down the gauntlet to his players beginning last spring, and over the summer adopted the Twitter mantra “All In” for his team.  Tweets of encouragement and tweets of disappointed efforts would be sent throughout the August practice season, but each message would urge his group of kids to buy in to the town-wide support for their program, and prove the naysayers (and those other schools looking for revenge after 3 years of dominance) wrong.  Friday night witnessed a big step in the right direction, as the Panthers hosted a very-good Pomperaug squad and treated the hometown crowd to an impressive 47-10 victory. 

Clearly, the reports of the demise of Masuk football had been greatly exaggerated.

“Gentleman I've never been prouder to have the title Masuk head football coach than I was tonight,” Murphy tweeted after his team’s inspiring win. 

Indeed, in an early season full of interesting storylines, several got off to roaring starts.  Senior wide receiver Thomas Milone, also a standout baseball prospect, tallied 5 total touchdowns (3 on receptions, 2 on punt returns) that allowed the defense to play with little pressure throughout the game.  Having seen their biggest offensive weapon from last season, Colin Markus, graduate last spring, the Panthers needed somebody to step up.  On Friday, Milone certainly was that guy.

Perhaps an even more pressure-filled role is that of the first quarterback in the post-Cochran era.  Even with those big shoes to fill, junior Malik Cummings played like somebody ready to take the next step and lead this team.  Cummings threw for 280 yards, hitting Milone on three separate TD strikes as he continues to build a rapport with his #1 receiver.  As the season goes on and the bonds begin to strengthen, we can only expect this connection to get better.

And of course, Friday was already an emotional game to begin with.  Junior receiver Russell Lilly lost his father to cancer earlier in the day, but made the tough decision to play that night.  The team dedicated the win to Lilly’s family, and coach Murphy, for the first time in his coaching career, awarded the game ball to his player.  Truly an emotional win, on an emotional night.

It’s a long season, but the 2012 Masuk football program certainly started it off with a bang.  When others doubted their ability with the loss of so many key players from last year, the Panthers pulled together around their coach and around each other to open more than a few eyes around the league.  “Wait, Masuk still has football?”, Murphy tweeted after the game, sarcastically.  “I thought they went out of business after last year. Guess not.”  One game in, and it’s apparent that Murphy’s players are “all in.”

Other Sports in the News.....

*Professional sports all seem to be under the “curse of the bad commissioner” right now.  Gary Bettman allowed the NHL to lockout its players with no end in sight…..again.  Roger Goodell is refusing to pony up a few extra dollars for real NFL referees, opening up the league to complete mockery thanks to these sad sack replacement refs; they’re also opening up the players to potentially major injuries due to a rash of non-calls.  Who would’ve ever thought that the NBA’s David Stern and MLB’s Bud Selig would look the best of all?  Truly, end of days are upon us.

*The Bridgeport Sound Tigers open their season on Friday, October 12^th against the Connecticut Whale (formerly the Hartford Hell Ca….er, Wolfpack).  In fact, Bridgeport has 10 meetings on the slate this season versus their heated in-state rival.  If you haven’t experienced one of these meetings in person, I urge you to check one out this season. 

*What’s going on with the American League East?  The Yankees and Rays are still near the top, but we’ve seen a monumental climb atop the division by the scrappy Baltimore Orioles, along with a monumental descent by one of baseball’s storied (and big money) franchises, the Boston Red Sox.  It would be great if we had this type of parity every season; although, thanks to the lack of a salary cap in baseball I wouldn’t hold my breath.