By Conor Hanlon, Currier Times Staff////

Effort.

That’s what can summarize the Curry Football team’s opening night performance against the visiting Massachusetts Institute of Technology Engineers on Friday evening, September 2nd. Never giving up on the play, always holding your ground, and battling through adversity. That’s what made their performance on one of the first brisk fall nights so admirable.

Despite dropping the contest 35-20, the Colonels never felt out of the game. Each play was treated like they were only down by a singular touchdown rather than the two or three that the scoreboard showed.

It certainly did not go unnoticed.

“There’s a lot we can take from this game. I was proud that the effort was there until the clock ran out,” said Curry Head Coach Todd Parsons. “We need to be able to keep playing through times when things don’t go our way.”

After getting the first score of the game mid-way through the first quarter when graduate student quarterback, Justin Mullaney, connected with senior wide-out, Gabe DeSouza, for a five-yard pass that landed DeSouza in the endzone, the Colonels had a tough time shutting down the Engineers offense. Scoring three straight times, the score sat at 21-6, as the Colonels had their extra point attempt blocked. Parsons knew what they were up against before ever stepping foot on the field, however.

“We knew MIT is a great program and it would be a very good measuring stick for us.”

The Colonels kept fighting, with Mullaney and DeSouza connecting again in the endzone for a 31-yard completion to cut the lead to 21-13 with 1:23 to go until the end of the first half.

 “Our approach was to have us playing confidently. There were some things exposed that we need to work,” Parsons explained.

MIT scored twice more throughout the game, once in each of the last two quarters, but the effort from Curry never left, even when the score was 35-13 in favor of MIT. A blocked punt— for the second time in the game— led to an 87-yard fumble recovery, leaving the Colonels right on the edge of the endzone. Mullaney connected for his third touchdown of the night with senior Maxx Bell with 0:15 seconds left on the clock, pushing the score to 35-20, which would ultimately be the final score.

Mullaney finished his night with 132 yards while completing 14 of his 29 passes, three of them going for touchdowns. DeSouza finished with five catches for 76 yards while Bell also finished with 5 catches.

Junior Michael Sims and senior Tahg Coakley led the charge defensively, collecting 15 and 11 tackles respectively. 

The Colonels look to continue to improve offensively as the season moves forward, with options like Zach Sanderson and Griffin Malone looking to make an impact on the field. It certainly seems like they will.

“We certainly want to try to spread the ball around more. We have strong depth at running back and a good core of wide receivers,” Parsons said,” I’m excited to watch this film with the team and be able to show them how close we are rather than just telling them.”

Curry heads to New London, Connecticut, next Saturday, September 10th, to square off against Coast Guard in another non-league game for their first away game of the year. Kickoff is schedule for 1:30 pm.