Mepham Football Opens With Tough Loss at Garden City

The Mepham Pirates were victims of their own mistakes Tuesday, as a string of turnovers lead to a 28-0 opening-day loss to the Garden City Trojans.

With four fumbles, one returned for a touchdown, and an interception, the Pirates stood little chance at Warren King Field, home of Garden City.

As Pirates Coach Anthony Cracco said: "we shot ourselves in the foot."

While the Pirates continued to try and pound the ball between the tackles, enjoying some success in the first half with junior tailback Kevin Tauriello, the team kept coughing up the football.

One mistake for the Pirates, however, came at a much bigger cost than just a loss of possession. During the first drive of the third quarter, Tauriello took a hand-off, and when the Trojans made contact with him, the ball popped lose. In a common theme of the game, the Trojans recovered the ball. Tauriello, however, did not recover from the hit.

Tauriello went down with what appeared to be a knee injury, laying on the ground for a few minutes before his teammates helped him off the field. After the game, Tauriello was being taken to a medical center to have the knee, which was heavily wrapped, examined.

Without Tauriello, the Pirates sinking ship took on even more water.

Senior quarterback Nick White, who Garden City managed to keep in check for most of the game, said "we just didn't execute as well as we should have" during the game. White broke off two runs for double-digit yardage, and also converted a fake punt for a first down run.

But beyond White's few big plays, the Pirates offense without Tauriello stalled against a stingy Trojans defense. After the game, coach Cracco said that the team has "got to sustain drives" in order to be successful.

Cracco also said that the team "ran the ball well between the tackles," but the key was that they "can't turn the ball over." Garden City capitalized on four of the five turnovers committed by Mepham.

The Pirates did create one turnover, as White snatched the ball from Garden City receiver Mark Ellis in the third quarter. Cracco noted the play of the defense, saying after the game that they "played tough defensively."

The Pirates return to action Sept. 16 with their home opener, taking on Jericho at 4:30 p.m. As of press time, there was no word on Tauriello's condition.

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