Two Big Games Left for Mustang Football Team
Senior captain and running back Nick Olivier ran into the end zone to score Medford’s first touchdown against Cambridge on Friday night.
– Allison Goldsberry
The Mustang football team will close its season with two exciting games and two additional opportunities to earn a potential W.
On Friday Medford will head to Martha’s Vineyard for a mini-trip and night game before closing out the season with its historic Thanksgiving Day rivalry with Malden High.
According to Head Coach Rico Dello Iacono, the Vineyard trip has been in the works for about a year. He said everyone is excited about the trip and it will be a great bonding experience the kids will remember fondly.
It will be a long day on Friday, Veterans Day, with the team departing for the Vineyard in the morning and not expected to return to Medford until around midnight. Coach Rico said the team might have a little time to catch some island sights from the bus before heading to Martha’s Vineyard High School to prepare for a sub-varsity game in the afternoon and the varsity game at 6:00PM.
Martha’s Vineyard is 3-6 in the Eastern Athletic Conference. Coach Rico said the game will be “interesting” and a “good battle.”
“We really hope the team stays healthy and keeps playing the way they have,” said Rico.
Coach Rico said he is proud of how the team has played in its past two games against Cambridge and Everett.
“We’ve played much better on offense the last two games than we have all season,” said Coach Rico.
Rico credits his team for holding Everett, the defending Division 1 state champions, 14-0 in the second half when Medford visited the Crimson Tide on October 28. He said “the future looks bright” with “our young guys against their young guys.” Coach Rico, a former Everett High football player and coach, also praised Everett quarterback Jon DiBiaso for breaking the career touchdown pass record during the game.
“It made us better to see a kid like that,” said Rico. “He’s the best quarterback in the state.”
Going into the Cambridge game on Friday, November 4, the team had six goals and met five of them, including four touchdowns, five pass receptions, and 200 rushing yards, according to Rico. Despite a strong first half and a small lead going into the second half, the Mustangs lost a close battle, 36-28.
Coach Rico places the blame for the loss on himself, saying he “didn’t make the right adjustments at half time.”
Rico said it bothers him to see the kids try so hard yet be on the losing end of several games. He said the whole experience of playing football is “more than the record” but he wants the kids to win and “have something to be proud of.”
“I’m absolutely the proudest coach in the state…the kids have been killing themselves,” said Rico.
He said “the community is probably sick of seeing them lose” but he doesn’t want people to “lose faith” in the program and in the kids.
“When they play together, like they did in the first half against Cambridge and the second half against Everett, they’re a very dangerous group of kids,” said Rico.
Coach Rico credits all of the team’s seniors for providing leadership throughout the season. Steve Moran has had a “remarkable” last two games while sophomore Reggie Thelemaque has “been great all season long.” Newcomer Jake Porazzo has brought some levity to the team and “can get under a coach’s skin just enough to make him laugh.”
Coach Rico said it’s too bad there’s only two games left on the season when things finally seem to be starting to come together well.
“Little by little it will only get better,” he said.