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by Dakota Antelman
The Hawks struggled during their 35-21 loss to Westborough Friday. Miscommunication plagued their offence, the defense struggled against the pass, and the run game could not consistently gain yards until the third quarter. All and all, the loss put a damper on the team’s confidence, which had been soaring after two straight wins.
Hudson quarterback Armel Conyers was in particularly low spirits after the loss. He said he was “childish” while playing in Friday’s game.
Conyers had a direct hand in a fourth quarter fumble at midfield that effectively ended the game for Hudson. The frustrated junior also accumulated two technical fouls in the fourth quarter. Conyers was benched for most of the fourth quarter and could be seen sitting alone on the Hudson bench, with his head in his hands.
“The maturity level is important, and I think I was really childish today,” Conyers said following the game. “I let down the other kids and that whole senior class who were relying on me.”
Conyers added, “I let my team down with not only a first technical but then a second technical. So then Stephen [Miranda], a quarterback who I think the coaches don’t give a shot, came in and actually showed me up today with his arm.”
Not all was bad for the Hawk quarterback though. He threw for a season high 81 yards and dodged a slew of defenders for a 39-yard punt return in the first quarter.
After Conyers left the game, Stephen Miranda took over at quarterback. After the defense got him the ball back with just under ten minutes to go in the game, Miranda marched the Hawks down the field and tossed a touchdown pass that made the score 28-21 at the time. Miranda threw for 98 yards in the fourth quarter alone and had particular success connecting with wide receiver Chis LaFlamme on pass plays. LaFlamme caught five passes for 71 yards Friday.
Conyers praised Miranda after the game.
“I definitely think Stephen should get more playing time at quarterback.”
Hudson fought hard throughout the game. They matched Westborough’s scoring in the first quarter and entered the second half trailing by just one touchdown. The Hawks made adjustments at halftime and broke open their run game in the second half. At the forefront of that second half run game was senior running back Jesse Nemerowicz. Nemerowicz finished the day having rushed for 80 yards on 14 carries.
He brushed those numbers off nonetheless.
“I want to go out there and get that W,” Nemerowicz said. “That’s what I really want to do. As a team that’s what I want to do. What happened to me today personally doesn’t make a difference when we don’t gel as a team.”
He added, “We just weren’t there this week. We didn’t get out schemed; we got out toughed. We got beat with our brains.”
The run game was not enough for the Hawks to even the score. That is why Conyers, and eventually Miranda, dropped back to pass more on Friday than they had in the first two weeks of the season.
“We felt that we needed to play some catch-up, and we felt like we couldn’t play catch-up with the run game all the time,” Coach Dan MacAnespie said.
But the Hawks fell behind by too much to overcome the deficit. Westborough continually strung together long drives that kept the Hawks offence off the field. In doing so, they ran up the score and matched much of what Hudson managed to muster on offence. Punctuating that was senior Rangers running back Anthony Caspaerillo. Caspaerillo ran for three touchdowns and snagged another on a five-yard reception from quarterback Dan Lis.
Westborough coach Dave Tinglof praised his team’s effort after the game.
“We kept it up. We talked to them about how emotional the game was and how we had to finish what we started in the first half,” Tinglof said. “Playing in this game, playing football, it’s not a one quarter or two quarter game. You got to win four quarters.”
Westborough did win four quarters, dealing Hudson their first loss of the year. The Rangers themselves improved to 1-2 with the win and climbed right back into playoff contention in a well matched Midland League B. They left the field Friday night feeling good.
Across the parking lot though, a crowd of Hudson players silently gathered around their clubhouse door, waiting for their coaches to let them in. One by one over the next half hour, the players left the clubhouse. Some patted each other on the back. Jesse Nemerowicz walked out sporting a slightly blackened eye and a bruised lip from that night’s game. Finally, out came Armel Conyers who spoke frankly about his disappointment.
“This team knew we were hotheaded kids, so they came in and pushed our buttons,” he admitted. “They knew that we had a breaking point. But this loss is gonna build us back up. It’s kind of good for us to lose early in the season rather than late. That way, we have a chance to bounce back and still win some games.”
