East Varsity football lost to Eastern today 16-3 at East’s new stadium.  Going into the game, both the players and the fans had high hopes for a good game and hopefully a victory.  While the goal of winning their first game on the season was not met, the game was even closer than the score makes it seem.

With East down 10-0 minutes into the fourth quarter, the offense turned on the jets.  East quarterback Melleby (’11) led a long drive which included two passes of over 20 yards to Robert Taylor (’12) and a 30 yard run by the quarterback. Although the drive stalled at the 10 yard line, Alex Reber (’12) capped off the drive with a field goal to put East on the scoreboard.

Despite Eastern’s touchdown on the ensuing possession to make the score 16-3 and the game appearing to be over, Andrew Pursell (’10) ran back the kickoff for an electrifying run of 75 yards to the Eastern 10 yard line.  While no points resulted from the play on the drive, all of the East fans in attendance were on their feet and cheering for their Cougars.

East’s defense also had several standout players on the day.  Melleby, playing in the secondary had various tackles to prevent long gains.  Steve Trombetta (’12), David Friedman (’12) and Nick Guinta (’10) were all over the place in the Eastern backfield the whole game and were constantly making tackles for losses.

Although the result was a Cougars loss, there was no lack of excitement in this game.