Warriors Can't Keep Early Lead

After building up a 21-8 lead in the first half, the Warriors were not able to keep the Wareham High Vikings from storming back in the second half and dropped to 4-4 on the season and 3-3 in South Coast Conference play.

Head Coach Jack Whalen said Wareham made some impressive adjustments at halftime, and their ability to keep Seekonk from scoring during a lengthy third-quarter drive was a key turning point in the game.

“We ate up seven minutes on the clock but we couldn’t turn that into any points,” said Whalen. “The rest is pretty much history.”

With the victory over Seekonk, Wareham moves to 6-2 overall, 4-1 in conference play, and keeps its chances of gaining a share of the conference championship alive.

The Vikings’ head coach, Dan Nault, said he was nervous going into the game given his young team and Seekonk’s formidable running game.

“I’m proud of how they persevered, because they (Seekonk) were really handing it to us,” said Nault.

Seekonk’s running game was effective, with running backs Austin Travers and Jack Kane able to continually gain yards on the ground. Each scored a touchdown. Travers was also the recipient of a long pass from quarterback Matt LaChance that set up the Warriors' second score of the game.

The Vikings preferred to move the ball with their strong passing game. Quarterback Antony Abbot was able to connect on multiple long downfield passes in the game, including a quick 64-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Gomes that was a key play in their fourth-quarter comeback and gave Wareham the late three-point lead.

Darian Fernandez also caught a long pass that set up his own touchdown run. Fernandez also scored the last touchdown of the game on a long run as well as running in the successful two-point conversion attempt to ice the game for the Vikings.

Nault said the long passes were part of his game, as we wanted his offense to take some chances.

“It’s no fault of the kids,” said Whalen of his team’s pass defense, adding “They have guys who are 6’5’’ and 6’7’’ in their receiver corps, and we’re trying to cover them with guys who are six feet tall.”

“It really could have gone either way,” said Nault.

Seekonk will be taking on Lincoln Senoir High School next Friday at 7 p.m. at home.