By Jake Enea
Wet and cold, that was the theme for the Indians’ first Friday night game under the lights for the home crowd. The MacArthur Generals (1-2) were visiting the Manhasset Indians (1-2). From the opening snap, fans could tell it was going to be a strong defensive game because of the poor conditions. The Indians strategy was to create turnovers because of the Generals problem of turning the ball over. Coming into the match, MacArthur had 16 fumbles in only three games. If the Indians were going to win the game they would need a strong output from the entire team.
Throughout the game, the offensive sides for both Manhasset and MacArthur had trouble moving the ball up the field. The only way the Indians could get anything going was from their strong running game. It was tough for the offense to attack with the passing game because of the rain making it difficult to catch and throw the ball.
The Indians had incredible performances from the running backs. Grant Petracca led many rushes and all the running backs seemed to have success. Will Theodoropoulos, Najon Dorsainvil and Ben Cirella all had impact performances during their running game. Cirella scored a two-yard touchdown late in the second quarter.
Unfortunately, the Indians couldn’t get the ball back into the end-zone as the playing conditions continued to deteriorate in the second half. If Manhasset was going to win this game, they would need amazing play from their defense.
The defense played extremely well, making key stops when needed and giving every opportunity to the offense to succeed in the harsh conditions. Led by Danny Hedberg, who easily had more than 10 tackles, they were making stop after stop halting the MacArthur offense any opportunity they had. Strong performances by Theodoropoulos and Gavin Olsen also attributed to the defense success. The defensive line hardly allowed the running game to get into the second level of defense, while the secondary allowed almost no passing yards to the opposing offense. The MacArthur Generals couldn’t get anything consistently going as the Indians only allowed 12 points to a high-powered offense.
Even though the defense played very well, the Indians couldn’t put enough points on the board as they fell to the MacArthur Generals 12-7.
