Elijah Etienne also contributed to this article. All photos by Shuyi Chen.
Amongst the busy preparations of stuffing the turkey and mashing potatoes, Malden High was preparing for their 136th Thanksgiving Day matchup against the Medford Mustangs at Hormel Stadium.
Since their game during the spring of 2021 in the pandemic-shortened season where the Golden Tornados lost 24-21 on a missed, last-second field goal, Malden had won two in a row— including a convincing score of 34-15 at Fenway Park last year. Going into the game, Malden was riding a seven-game win streak against the Mustangs dating back to 2015 for Thanksgiving day games.
For the first time since 2019, the game returned to Medford due to schedule changes from the pandemic and the aforementioned game at Fenway Park, so fans from both teams made sure to pack into the stands even 20 minutes before kickoff.
Left to Right: Malden fans of all ages filled with excitement during the game; Malden High Principal Christopher Mastrangelo and former House Principal Marta Cabral pose for a photo.
After the initial kickoff by Malden sailed out of bounds, the rekick was bobbled by the Medford returner and recovered on their 13 yard line. This looked to be another dominating start for the Golden Tornados, but those feelings were soon unraveled by the Mustangs with their powerful run game which opened the opportunity for deep passes. The opening drive that lasted nearly eight minutes was capped off by a rushing touchdown by Luiz Barbosa. An unsuccessful two-point conversion would keep the score at 6-0 for Medford.
With little time remaining in the first quarter, Malden finally got their opportunity on offense, which was stifled by Medford’s strong front seven. With no luck upfront, the Golden Tornados fumbled and lost the ball just outside of the Mustang’s territory which would soon become a common trend in the game.
Fueled by his strong desire to get Malden back into the game, senior captain Karl Lange sped his way off of his blocker and stripped the ball right out of quarterback Jack Lombardo’s hands, but the ball was recovered by the offense. Still, the play was just what Malden needed as the Mustang’s offense came to a halt and they punted the ball back to Malden.
Malden’s defensive unit halts a Medford drive and forces a punt.
In need to kickstart their offense, junior quarterback Aidan Brett dialed up a 47-yard strike to wide receiver Nathan Sullivan, which got the offense running. After marching all the way down to Medford’s goal line, a missed pass on fourth down crushed all hope for Malden to get their first touchdown of the game.
The first half ended unceremoniously with an unnecessary roughness and a personal foul both being called on Malden during the next drive; even after Malden got the ball back with seconds remaining, Brett was picked off with a short return by Medford.
Although the offense had not possessed much luck, the defense had kept the Golden Tornados in the game being only down one possession, so when Malden came out of their locker room, they looked fired up. Back to back running plays of 15+ yards each had Malden in the driver’s seat, but the engine to their offense ran out of gas after penalties pushed them back to their side of the field. Yet again, the defense proved to hold strong by generating another three and out to give the offense excellent field positioning.
Senior Davien Mcguffie and junior Marcus Pierre kept exposing the now weakened Medford front seven and kept fighting for every single yard. One play after extending their drive on fourth down, Brett found Sullivan on a beautiful post route and caught a 33-yard touchdown over two defenders. As the extra point sailed through the uprights, the Malden crowd exploded as they now led 7-6 over their bitter rival.
The Golden Tornado offense pieces together drive which ends in score.
Just as quickly Malden clawed their way back into the game, they slipped far off after all momentum was halted by senior Stevens Exateur as he took an 88 yard kickoff to the house to make the score 12-7 and the Medford fans exploded in excitement. As the end of the play wrapped up, all eyes were on the sidelines as Brett was injured during special teams coverage and would not see the field for the rest of the day. This would mean backup freshman quarterback Ryan Bowdridge had to step up during the most crucial part of the game.
Bowdridge’s fumbled a handoff that was recovered by the Mustangs and Exateur would capitalize on a rushing touchdown from 24 yards out. On the next possession while scrambling for an open receiver, Bowdridge lost the ball and was picked off by one of the defensive lineman. Barbosa slammed the door shut by sneaking into the endzone on a designed quarterback run, leaving the score at 24-7.
Malden produces scoring drive in the late minutes of the game.
Even with the game out of reach, Malden would not quit as Bowdridge hit his tight end Earl Fevrier on an out route and would break through his defender to score a 65 yard touchdown. Junior Robert Fernandes’s extra point would make the score 24-14, but even after a fumble that would give Malden the ball back around mid field, Bowdridge’s pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage to a Medford defensive back which would be taken all the way back for a touchdown, ending the game with a final score of 30-14.
Head coach Witche Exilhomme spoke on the week leading up to the game and mentioned how, “preparation was good going in, until about the day before the game. We found out that we wouldn’t be having at least 10 players, six of them being starters, due to grades. That forced us to reshuffle the deck in practice that we had been preparing for about two weeks.
“I believe with the time we had, we did a great job. Even in the game you can tell. It was 7-6 late in the third quarter,” explained Exilhomme.
Reflecting on their season, Exilhomme noted how, “we did not have a good year this year due to various adversities that this team had to face with injuries, players falling off, and losing track of our goals. One thing after another for this year, but with 25 seniors coming back, we’re looking forward to the next season, and we’re gonna hit the ground running doing what we do.”
Ask anyone about what they believed the biggest downfall of the team had been this season and the answer most likely heard would be the injuries: “[The injuries] definitely did hurt the most. Now you have to put other players in there who are not familiar playing those positions. There’s a lot of communication that has to be ‘downloaded’ within that amount of time and the team were planning to adjust to the staff based on information and players that we had in place.” Exilhomme continued, expounding, “We couldn’t predict what defense or looks that the defense would give us based on how we lined up because there’s new players, new personnel in place really messed us up.”
With a long offseason now ahead of the team, there is now added motivation to come back with a vengeance to prove that this was just a down year. Losing starters like Lange and Mcguffie who have been staples of the team over the years will hurt, but new faces will step up to the moment and help direct Malden football back to their winning ways.
