After a strong start, the Old Colony football team suffered a setback on Saturday, losing 43-20 to Upper Cape.
“We weren’t tackling – we weren’t doing much of anything,” Head Coach Bryce Guilbeault said. “After that, the hole was too deep to dig out of and offensively, I think they were trying to do too much,” which Guilbeault said led to more trouble for the team.
In all, the Cougars (2-2) gave up 389 yards rushing to the Rams, who also ran for six touchdowns. Though most of the news was bad for the Cougars following Saturday’s game, Guilbeault and his team remain positive coming into this week’s matchup versus South Shore Voc-Tech (1-3), who Guilbeault thinks they match up well with.
“They’ve won a tough game, and they’ve lost a couple of tough games as well,” said Guilbeault, noting that his team is in a similar situation. In all, Guilbeault said that in his four years with OC (he spent two as an assistant, and this is his second has head coach), this is the strongest team he’s seen.
“I think this is the best team since I’ve been at Old Colony,” he said. “This is the most talented team we’ve had. [Last game] was just one of those games. A couple of weeks ago [against Cape Cod Regional Vocational], we could do no wrong. This week was the opposite. It’s just one of those things. You just have days like that, and you can’t really explain it.”
Guilbeault said that he was proud of his team for hanging in despite going down big early.
“The kids, they didn’t quit,” he said. “It would have been easy. They kept fighting. They kept playing until the end. It’s a pride thing. And we were able to punch one in at the end of the game.”
Old Colony will go to work this week with a few things in mind. On the defensive side of the ball, they’ll need to shore up their tackling if they want to build on one of their best starts in recent years. On offense, Guilbeault would like to see his team be more efficient.
“We’d do some good things, and we’d have a mishap on the offensive line or at QB or running back,” he said. “We’ve got to stay out of third and long situations.”
Senior quarterback Jacob Pringle (9 TDs) leads the way offensively for the Cougars, with senior running back Ryan Farias averaging over 80 yards per game on the ground. Junior wide receiver Cole Bernier has 15 catches and 3 TDs receiving, and Pringle has found 5 different receivers for touchdowns this year, a positive sign moving forward.
As for the defense, senior Jacob Soares leads the team with 15 tackles; senior Alec Klevecka leads the team with two sacks; and sophomore Drew Maurer and senior Seth Moniz each have an interception.
Old Colony faces South Shore Voc-Tech this Saturday at 11:00 am in Hanover.
By Nick Walecka
