CM Life in Photos: Retake Day

Brian Martone '14 readies himself for a photo on retakes day.

CM Life in Photos: A captain's life

Josh Rudy as Capt. Daniel Malcolm poses with Middle School Program students after his talk about the Revolutionary War on 10/13. Photo: Ellen Eberly.

CM Life in Photos: Open House

Brendan Hughes (Right) and Ryan Curley (Left) represent the National Honor Society at CM's Open House.

Michael Gallagher '11

Longmeadow hands CM its first loss

A loss on a field goal with nine seconds left gives the Knights a bad taste in their mouth heading into the bye week.

The game was delayed about an hour because Longmeadow was late coming to CM; understandable, since it's about a 3-hour drive.

The delay without a doubt made the Knights sluggish as they came out and went down 14-0 in the first half. In the second quarter they seemed to wake up, with Armani Reeves '12 and John Gorman '11 both crossing the goal line and putting CM back in the game. However, a field goal at the end of the half gave them a 3 point deficit heading into the break.

Coming out of the gates for the second half was much easier for the Knights than it was to start the game. A 35-yard pass from AJ Doyle '12 to Reeves set up an 11-yard touchdown run to give CM its first lead of the night, with 9:34 to go in the third.

There weren't many defensive highlights on the night other than a hit by Josh Charles '12 that rocked a Longmeadow player's bones. The player broke a few tackles across the middle of the field before Josh came from the side and sent him down. There is a one-hundred percent chance that this hit will be in Charles' highlight video for colleges next year.

Running back Will Earl '12 took over during one phase of the game when he danced his way for huge gains on several plays. One of those runs was started off by a beautiful juke and ended with Earl in the endzone. That run ended the third quarter and pushed the Knights' lead to 26-17.

The wheels began to fall off the wagon early in the fourth. First, Longmeadow scored a touchdown with 8:51 left and closed the gap to 26-24.

After the ball changed hands a few times Paul Fahey '12 recovered a huge fumble for CM and gave the Knights the ball on their own 40 yard line, up two, with 2:52 left in the game.

Earl once again broke free, this time for a 35-yard gain and gave the Knights great field position. After being stopped three straight plays, the Knights went for it on fourth down. Doyle appeared to have connected with Armani Reeves in the end zone for a game clinching touchdown, but Armani was ruled out of bounds.

Longmeadow marched to ball down, deep in CM territory and after being stuffed on the goal line three times, they hit the game-winning field goal with nine seconds left.

Losing is horrible in general, but losing heading into a bye week is worse because the team is forced to think about it for two long weeks before taking the field again. It's important for the Knights to get refocused, and get ready for the Catholic Conference games which will start against Malden Catholic. Winning the Catholic Conference is what will get them into the playoffs, and that's still a very legitimate possibility.

Mike Slonina '11

CM Life in Photos: College Fair

Ethan Madden '11 weighs his options during Tuesday morning's college fair for the junior and senior classes. The fair was one of three that CM's Guidance Department hosts for representatives from colleges across the country.

Karma for Guertin and a win for the Knights

The CM Knights played the role of dragon-slayer on Saturday night as they handed Bishop Guertin their first loss in 20 games.

Last season, the Knights traveled up to Nashua, New Hampshire and were one of the many teams that Bishop Guertin beat on their mammoth win streak. In that game, Guertin scored high. They were going for first downs on 4th & 1 situations at midfield.

I know from talking to the CM players this week that they were so hungry for this win that they weren't going to the leave that field without one. That's something that senior captain John Gorman alluded to in his postgame comments: "The talk about this game began immediately after last week's game. We knew we were a good team but we knew this would be the test to show how good we are. In the locker room before the game, it was probably the most focused I've ever seen a CM football team."

The Knights jumped out in front when AJ Doyle hit John Gorman for a 10 yard pass that Gorman turned into a 50+ yard touchdown. There was a bad snap on the extra point so the Knights only came away with six points.

Bishop Guertin took back the lead with a touchdown and the Knights faced a one point deficit. A big kickoff return from Armani Reeves gave them good field position. Armani would get in the end zone before the end of the half on a pass from Doyle. The Knights went for two but it was unsuccessful. They retook the lead, 12-7, and never looked back.

CM came into the second half as hungry and energized as they started the game. You could tell they knew the win was in their sights. Armani Reeves once again got on the scoreboard when he returned a punt for a touchdown and ran over some Guertin players in the process.

Just when it seemed that the Knights were going to run away with it, Bishop Guertin got back into the game on a touchdown run to make the score 19-14.

With the fourth quarter starting and with the ball deep in their own territory, the Knights showed tremendous poise in marching the ball up the field. A pass to Armani Reeves on third down really gave the offense life, and in my opinion that may have been the biggest play of the game. Had they not completed that pass, Guertin would have got the ball back with decent field position and a chance to retake the lead.

Later in the drive, Doyle connected with Nolan Powers for a massive gain and put the Knights in striking range. Doyle came through again when he found Reeves near the sideline for a touchdown to give them an insurmountable 26-14 lead.

The Knights' defense, which had been great all night, forced a turnover on downs. When they got the ball back, running back William Earl broke free for a 42 yard run and that put the game away.

The defense was fantastic, holding a team that was averaging 32 points per game to just 14.

When the final horn sounded, the red sideline was going insane. As they gathered at center field to shake hands, quarterback Doyle was yelling so loud that you could hear him from the crowd.

As one of the very few CM supporters who were at the game in New Hampshire last season, it brings me a ton of joy to see the Knights take this team out.

After the game, I asked Armani Reeves to try and explain the emotion. His answer was short and sweet: "It was crazy, we had a hell of a game. I am so proud of my team."

Next week, the Knights will play against Longmeadow whom they beat on the road last season. CM clearly had a lot of energy going into this game, it's going to be important that they maintain that energy rather than letting it drop off.

Mike Slonina '11