Mistakes in a close game never bode well for a team.
The Newton South football squad seemed to commit one at every inopportune moment Friday night leading to a 13-0 loss to Medford.
“We killed ourselves with penalties,” said Lions coach Ted Dalicandro, whose team drops to 0-2. “We lacked discipline. It just hurt us. We can’t play that type of football. That’s not us. That’s not who we are. We lost our cool. We lost our head.”
The errors allowed the Mustangs to capitalize and nix a 12-game losing streak.
“I’m right now a little speechless,” said Medford coach Rico Dello Iacono. “It’s been, geeze, a year and a half since we won our last game. It’s been a long, long road to getting here.”
He added, “It’s fitting that’s it’s 13-0 and the 13th game. I’m a little superstitious. Maybe that number had meaning tonight.”
Miscues derailed the Lions throughout the night, but nowhere as pertinent than on their fourth drive of the contest.
After a high snap pushed them back to their own 17-yard line, quarterback Sam Russell managed to scramble for three yards. But a delay-of-game penalty cost Newton five marks and then Russell was picked off by John McGreevey, who returned the ball to the three-yard line.
One play later, Medford was six points richer via a Nick Olivier rush. Nicholas St. Jean tacked on the extra point for the 7-0 advantage with 2:47 remaining in the half.
Four minutes into the third quarter, the Lions garnered advantageous field position at their own 49-yard line and began a campaign down the field. After a Jimmy Li eight-yard rush brought the ball to the four-yard line along with a first down, the Lions appeared poised to score.
But two straight rushes netted only three yards, and the third resulted in a turnover when Jake Alexander fumbled into the end zone.
“We tighten up when we get down near the end zone,” said Dalicandro. “Our kids seem to get a little nervous. The fumble really hurt.”
The Mustangs would add another touchdown on a Nate Clement one-yard rush with less than two minutes remaining in the contest.
