MALDEN – Malden secured a 14-12 victory over Higher Boston League rival Somerville below the lights at MacDonald Stadium on Thursday night time.
This was the primary time the Tornadoes had defeated Somerville because the 2023 season. It was additionally their first win of 2025 after falling to Lynn Classical in its first sport. Malden head coach Witche Exilhomme mentioned his staff’s familiarity with the Highlanders made making ready for the sport simpler.
“We do a whole lot of work with Somerville; they know us very effectively, we all know them very effectively,” Exhilhomme mentioned. “We anticipated this, we deliberate rather a lot for it.”
Somerville started with a robust offensive drive, having management of the ball by way of nearly all of the primary quarter. Malden’s protection fought exhausting, gaining management of the ball at 3:29, and got here again with a vengeance.
With simply 2:02 left within the first quarter, Malden sophomore Jayden McGuffie scored a landing on a 66-yard run, making the rating 6-0 on the finish of quarter one.
The second quarter started with a robust back-and-forth between the groups, with Somerville’s Jojo Flores getting its first landing on an 18-yard run, bringing the sport to a 6-6 tie.
On Malden’s finish, McGuffie continued to make sturdy advances on the sector. William Gavin threw a powerful move, but it surely fell incomplete. With simply 2:43 left within the quarter, Malden discovered itself on the nine-yard line, and followers within the stands held their breath to see if they might observe by way of.
Fortunately for the Golden Tornadoes, McGuffie would as soon as once more ship with a landing with 1:48 remaining within the half. A two-point conversion gave Malden a 14-6 lead it will take into halftime.
The third quarter started with a robust run up the sector from Malden, incomes a primary down early. Nevertheless, Somerville gained management of the ball a couple of minutes later, and Ryan Louis scored a landing on a 51-yard run. This introduced the deficit to 2 factors after the Highlanders have been unable to get the two-point conversion.
Tensions have been excessive as the sport entered the ultimate quarter. With time working out, Somerville did make some sturdy passes, however all of them fell incomplete. With 4 minutes left within the sport, it regarded like Malden would stroll away victorious. As Malden continued to make its means up the sector, timeouts have been referred to as on either side, and the clock slowly ticked down.
Though Somerville managed to get better a primary down with simply eleven seconds remaining, Malden’s protection held sturdy and stored its lead over the Highlanders.
McGuffie completed the day with 236 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. Transferring ahead, Exilhomme believes that Malden has discovered its footing and is now arrange for a profitable season.
“I’m simply pleased with this staff,” Exilhomme mentioned. “I’m pleased with the teaching workers, I’m pleased with this program and the course that Malden soccer goes.”
The Tornadoes will tackle Northeast of their subsequent sport earlier than re-entering Higher Boston League play. Exilhomme mentioned the win over Somerville provides his staff some momentum as they put together for the remainder of the schedule.
“We’re on the appropriate path now,” Exilhomme mentioned. “The house opener was not what we anticipated; we weren’t ready for them… To get an enormous GBL win tonight, that’s very huge. The vitality is certainly again within the locker room. Now we have one thing to construct on going ahead.”
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