Big Red Defeats NMH
On Parents Weekend
42 – 6
On a beautiful late afternoon in Phelps Stadium, Exeter rolled to a convincing win over the Hogger's. A well-coached NMH team, which is plagued by the injury bug, managed to play a tough, physical game all day. Exeter received great field position on the opening kick-off to set the stage for the first drive of the day. The initial drive was capped off by an Eric Bunker 39 yard TD jaunt on a great cutback. Matt Rawson hit the PAT for a 7–0 lead. On the ensuing kick-off, NMH's T.J. Strunk returned it 80 yards inside the 20. Several plays later, the Hogger's pushed it in, but missed the PAT and the score stood at 7-6. Jon Stidd continued the ground attack as he and Bunker shared the carries behind the excellent lead blocking of fullback Eric Eberhart. During this drive, Matt Rawson made two spectacular catches setting up a 4 yard TD scamper by Stidd. The extra point was good by Alex King and the lead now stood at 14-6.

Another drive by Exeter ended with a fantastic catch by Malcolm McClain for a 27 yard touchdown reception. With the PAT by King good, the score now read Exeter 21 NMH 6. Bunker followed the offensive line blocking well and hit a 24 yard run up the middle. It was the touchdown-making block of Jon Squires springing Bunker the final ten yards to pay-dirt. King again hit the PAT as the lead expanded to 22 points, with the score 28-6 in favor of the home team. Jon Squires continued his torrid pace of catching passes as he snared a perfect pass from King for a 38 yard touchdown catch. Again the PAT was successful and Exeter's lead was now 35-6.
The final score was set up with an NMH turnover. The Hogger's quarterback threw a backward lateral that fell to the ground and was alertly picked up by Grant DeRoo and "Whoa Nellie" he was "rumbling and stumbling" his way down the sideline to the 9 yard line before being caught and dragged down. After two hard runs by Eric Eberhart to bring the ball to the one yard line, tailback Dan Maddox scored his first career touchdown in an Exeter uniform. Congratulations to Danny and he's "only a soph-a-more!" Followed by the PAT from Shalin Thomas for his first career point for the Big Red. That would be the final tally for the day as well as the final score of 42-6.

(My apologies to the great sports commentator Keith Jackson for my use of his famous "Whoa Nellie", "rumbling and stumbling", and "He's only a soph-a-more" but it seemed appropriate.)
The Big Red defense played well all day long with another interception by Bunker and several good tackles by Eberhart, Ed Williams, Matt Kendrick and McClain. Sam Gardiner played strong on the outside as did Nick Mancini from his Linebacker spot. The offensive line with Sam Johnson, Gregg Vaughan, Julien Dumont, Matt Harrison, Dennis Gallagher and Gardiner turned in an excellent second half performance. The Big Red is getting closer to their A Game, but we still have to improve to get there. We will need it this week as we head to Deerfield Academy for a great match up of two excellent teams on Saturday.
Friday Night Lights this week was a great reception for all the players and a great turnout by many parents during "Parents Weekend" which is always a great get together. Thanks to all the parents who again put together quite an array of foods.
Submitted by Coach Glennon