Page 16 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Wednesday, November 23, 2022 SPORTS | FROM PAGE 15 Devin McNelis drilled the PAT kick in the first quarter, and that was it for scoring for the day, as the defenses took over. The anticipated showdown between star backs Elisee Pompilus for Malden and senior four-year starter Julien Mundele of Medford never materialized as each was essentially held in check, though Mundele did lead all rushers with 77 yards on 20 carries. Penalties stalled Medford all game; it never got inside the Malden 20 in the second half. For Malden, seniors McNelis, 6-7 NFL-bound end Breno Giacomini (4 sacks), Rob Quigley and Sam Nelson and junior Kevin Newhall bottled up Medford’s attack. After the game, Medford coach Al Pare announced his retirement after four years at the helm. 2004: One of the biggest offensive lines in Malden High football history simply dominated the line of scrimmage as Malden won its third straight, 28-6, on a partly sunny, brisk morning at Macdonald Stadium. Malden won its third straight for the first time in 26 years (1986-1988) and spoiled first-year Medford coach Mike DeFelice’s Thanksgiving debut. Seniors Kevin Newhall and Maurice Rodriquez, junior Brendan McNelis and sophomores James Brito-White and Brian Melo dominated up front, and Jamal Woods carried 13 times for 117 yards and two TDs to lead Malden. Junior fullback Renaldo Bloodworth ran for 60 yards, and junior slotback Anthony Pappagallo had 49 yards and a TD. Medford scored on the last play of the first half when senior QB Kevin Krasco hit junior end Kamal Mgaresh in the back of the end zone for an eightyard TD. Bloodworth and Woods scored in the second half, and junior Wiston Jeune hit 4-of-4 PATs. Outsized, Medford played tough all day, led by senior linebacker Gerry Murphy’s 12 tackles and two sacks. NU-bound Newhall led Malden’s defense with 10 tackles. Malden retook the all-time series lead, 54-53-10. 2005: Malden High started quietly but finished with a loud thump in a 39-6 demolition in a traditional “Mud Bowl” game at Hormel. The fourth win in a row for Malden was the first time in 40 years for a Golden Tornadoes “Four-Peat.” The one-sided win also capped the most successful Malden season since 1988, the first time it had won nine games since 1987 as it finished 9-2. Star of the day was junior Derek Freni, with three touchdowns: one running, one receiving and one punt return. Classmate Jimmy Chery capped a banner All-Scholastic campaign with 13 carries for 122 yards. Freni, senior co-captains Brendan McNelis and Anthony Pappagallo along with seniors Wiston Jeune and Sam Guillaume led the defense, allowing Medford only one completed pass all game and less than 50 yards rushing. Medford (3-8) scored its only points on an 85-yard kickoff return TD by senior Kamal Mgaresh in the third quarter. It was coach Rich Cullen’s last game at Malden as he retired in the offseason. 2006: Medford came in winless, shut out on the scoreboard for six straight games at 0-10, and the only history many gave the Mustangs a chance at making was they’d be the losingest team in school history if they dropped #11. There was positive history to be made instead, as Mustang Sean Foley booted a 26-yard field goal on Medford’s first possession in the first overtime game ever played in the storied, 119year history of Medford-Malden, a stunning, 17-14 upset at rainy, muddy and dark Macdonald Stadium in Malden. Medford’s fans rushed the field after the “season-saver” win, the second time in the decade (2000) they had entered the game winless and won it, and third time overall (1976). Malden finished 3-7 and spoiled coach John Lopresti’s Thanksgiving debut. It also turned out to be Medford coach Mike DeFelice’s final game at the helm on Thanksgiving, as he stepped down shortly into the 2007 season, as Medford broke a four-game win streak by Malden. Steve Murphy was the Mustangs’ workhorse in this game – 138 yards and a TD on 23 carries – as Medford shocked Malden by taking a 14-0 lead as drenching rain soaked the field. Malden did regroup and owned the second half, scoring twice to tie it: once on a short keeper by sophomore QB Justin Richardson and then on a 15-sweep around left end with just 46 seconds to play in the game by senior Jimmy Chery. Chery caught the twopoint conversion pass in traffic to tie it. Both teams got four downs from the 10-yard line in the historic, first-ever OT period. Malden was stopped at the three-yard line on fourth down by a Steve Murphy tackle in its try. Medford appeared to win it on second down on a Murphy eight-yard TD run on its try, but it was called back due to penalty. Two plays later, Foley’s FG sealed the win. 2007: Game #120 at Hormel in Medford featured the best weather since the 2000 game – sunny and “balmy” in the high 40s – and also brought the closest finish since that year as well, as it took a PAT kick by sophomore Nick Hoyt, the first of the season and of his career, to make the difference in a 7-6 Malden victory. This was a “pick ‘em” game to start and ended the same way. Medford scored first on an 11-yard run by senior star runner Steve Murphy, but could not convert and led, 6-0. Malden (4-7) came back and tied the game on a three-yard run by backfield “newcomer” junior captain David Freni, and it was up to Hoyt to deliver the end-over-end kick that made it by about two feet over the uprights for the lead at the half. That was it for scoring as the defenses took over. Both Freni and sophomore Marcos Almeida ate up lots of yards for Malden, and Murphy did the same for Medford (2-9), but no one could get into the end zone. Medford’s last and best bid ended on Malden’s eight-yard line with 3:26 left to play when Murphy was stopped short of the stake by Malden seniors Andrew Dinisco and Rodney Borgella. Medford still didn’t quit, held Malden and got the ball back with under a minute to play, but sophomore Mustang QB Mike Sullivan’s last pass of the day was intercepted by Richardson with 41 seconds left on the clock. Interim Head Coach Jon Wilson, stepping in for Head Coach Jim Atkins, was at the helm for the Mustangs in his first and only Thanksgiving game. Coach Lopresti of Malden earned his first Thanksgiving win. 2008: Nick Hoyt’s foot made the difference in the 2007 game when he kicked the extra point that won the 121st meeting in 2007, 7-6. In this one, Hoyt used both feet to grind out 153 yards rushing and a TD, the most rushing yards for a running back for either team since 2001, in a 33-22 Malden win. The win cemented a winning record for Malden, as it put the Tornadoes team at 5-6 overall. Malden was awarded a forfeit win when one of its non-league opponents was later found to have used an illegal player, so Malden finished 6-5. Medford finished 0-11 and, unfortunately, interim Head Coach Mike Marchese’s Mustangs became the first team to ever lose 11 games in Medford history. Marchese was coaching in place of Head Coach Jim Atkins, who was on paid suspension for the second straight Mustang football season on Thanksgiving Day. Hoyt ran in a TD, and junior David Console and sophomore Frankie Dunn also scored on the ground for the largest first-half lead for Malden in 20 years, 19-0. Soph Ronnie Pitterson caught a TD pass from QB Alex Krasco, and Medford trailed, 19-8, after three periods. Herbens Antenor caught two fourth-quarter TDs from Malden junior QB Skakarus Semexant, and Malden led 33-8. Krasco finished off with pair of TD tosses: to senior Jan Lopez for 31, and 23 yards to Jimmy Richardson for a comeback try that fell short. Giovanni Sanders and Mike Sullivan each had twopoint conversion scores for Medford. It turned out to be the last Thanksgiving game for both head coaches, as Malden’s John Lopresti retired in the offseason with a 2-1 Turkey Day record in his three years at the helm. Marchese departed when Medford hired a new football head coach in the offseason, Rico Dello Iacono, a former Everett High assistant. 2009: Malden made it three in a row with a hard-fought, 13-7 win over host Medford on a crisp, sunny day at Hormel Stadium. This one went down to the very last play in one of the most exciting finishes in many years. With 18 seconds to play and Medford facing fourth-and-goal from the Malden 4-yard line, QB Alex Krasco fired a pass to Giovanni Sanders in the corner of the end zone. But Malden’s Frankie Dunn was there to tip the pass away and seal the win. Both teams came in with different hopes. Malden, at 4-5, sought to avoid having a losing season. Medford, at 5-4, was looking to complete its first winning season since 1998. Malden scored first on a 17-yard TD catch by Ramon Viches from Malden QB Shak Semexant. Nick Hoyt’s PAT made it 7-0. Medford tied it in the second quarter on a nine-yard keeper for a TD with freshman Isad Dzolota’s PAT kick making it 7-7 at halftime. Malden drove 45 yards after a Mustang turnover for a go-ahead score, four-yard run by Hoyt after a series of short passes to Frankie Dunn and David Console. Hoyt’s PAT fluttered away, and it was 137, Malden. Malden turned the ball over in its own territory twice in the final four minutes of the game on fumbles after completed passes, but Medford could not capitalize. Malden first-year coach Joe Pappagallo became the first Malden coach in 36 years to win his Thanksgiving debut since Malden Hall of Fame coach Paul Finn’s boys beat Medford in an upset in 1973. 2010: Malden Head Coach Joe Pappagallo won his second game in two tries at the helm in a 29-0 shutout victory over Medford in Game #123 at Macdonald Stadium in Malden, keeping pace with the legendary Paul Finn in 1973 and 1974. But Pappagallo made more serious history when his senior captain, 6-1, 305 lb. lineman Aaron Samano, scored the game’s first touchdown on a fiveyard “lumber” into the end zone in the first. Little did anyone know this would be the only score of the first half as Malden led a spirited Medford bunch, 7-0, at halftime. In the second half, Malden used its size advantage to play ball control – senior quarterback Kevin Valley threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Frankie Dunn and then scored himself on a five-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Senior Kenny Metellus scored on an eight-yard run in the fourth quarter. Medford could not get much going offensively, though it did get solid efforts out of a pair of youngsters: a freshman starting at quarterback, Gene Consalves, and junior Nick Olivier out of the backfield. Malden’s three best defensive players in this shutout win were juniors Austin Teal, “Witche” Exilhomme and Jamie McInerney, all of whom were named tri-captains for the 2011 season. 2011: This one was all Malden as the visitors may have scored the fastest touchdown in the 124game series history when junior Ray Sainristil dove on a fumble in the end zone after Medford’s first snap from scrimmage. Thereafter, it was never in doubt, as junior quarterback Jake Martino threw three first-half touchdown passes on the way to a 36-0 Malden win – two shutouts in a row and for the first time in 50 years, five straight Malden Thanksgiving victories (9 of 10 since 2002). It was the fourth time in series history that Malden won two years in a row by shutout, the first since 2002-2003 (120, 7:0). Head Coach Joe Pappagallo’s Malden team posted the biggest Thanksgiving shutout win in over 100 years, since a 1907 Blue & Gold victory by a 44-0 count. Malden used its size and speed advantage to pile up points for a 28-0 halftime lead. After Sainristil’s fumble recovery touchdown, Malden made it 14-0 after the first quarter on a five-yard touchdown pass from Martino to senior captain Witchevalence “Witche” Exilhomme and a Martino keeper for two. Malden stayed in air raid mode in the second quarter – Martino to senior Garvin Cius for a 23-yard TD pass, with a Pat DeCicco run for a 22-0 lead. Late in the second quarter, Martino hooked up again, hitting junior Franklin Huynh for a 15-yard TD pass. Malden played ball control in the second half, feeding top back O’Shane McCreath, who picked up 87 yards on just 11 carries and became the first Malden back to top 1,000 yards rushing in a season (1,012) since Ricky Bethelmie ran for 1,130 in 2002. Martino threw for 198 yards on the game, 1,550 for the year and 19 TDs. Malden’s defense ruled for the shutout win led by fellow co-captains Austin Teal, Jamie McInerney and Exilhomme, the best defensive player in the GBL in 2011. Tyler Williams’ 32-yard interception return for the game’s final points five minutes into the second half completed the scoring. The Mustangs had some solid play from Max Clancy, Chris Bucknam and Reggie Fleurial. Medford started a freshman at quarterback in this one, for maybe the first time in series history, in Gene Conclaves. They were hurt by the loss of top offensive weapon and senior back Nick Olivier, who was injured and out of action for this one – gametime decision. It ended up being the final Thanksgiving game on the sidelines for third-year Head Coach Rico Dello Iacono, who stepped down after Game Three in the 2012 Mustang season. He went 0-3 for the holiday classic. 2012: The largest crowd in years turned out for this historic 125th Game held at Macdonald Stadium in Malden under a fabulous, sunny sky with temperatures perfect – around 40 degrees. Malden won the game, by a 32-6 fiSPORTS| SEE PAGE 17
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