Turnovers, Poor Offense Lead to Indians 14-0 Loss

MAHOPAC – The Mahopac High football team got off to a slow start to the 2009 season last Friday night, dropping a 14-0 decision to Arlington in a AA-North game played in Dutchess County.

Arlington got on the board in the first quarter, taking advantage of a Mahopac fumble near the Indians’ 25-yard line. Derek Hunter scored on a seven-yard run moments later to put the Admirals up 7-0 after the PAT.

After a scoreless second, the Admirals got some insurance in the third quarter, when Sam Loussedes broke off a 60-yard touchdown run, making it a two-score game.

Mahopac’s offense was unable to sustain or finish drives, and the Indians turned the ball over three times – once on a fumble and twice on interceptions.

No Mahopac statistics were available as of press time.

Indians coach Tom Donahoe said he saw some good things from his team, but added that much work needs to be done.

“We got good effort,” Donahoe said. “The effort was there from beginning to end. We ran the option fairly well, and Dillon Addonizio (Mahopac’s leading rusher in the game) ran well for the first game. But of course I wasn’t happy with no points… but it does take time for the offense to mesh. We moved the ball well at times, but we couldn’t sustain drives.”

Mahopac got inside the Arlington red zone just once in the game, and was stopped on downs.

But Donahoe said the Indians won’t change anything. They just need to execute better.

“There’s not a lot we’ll change,” he said. “We just need to get some experience. Arlington moved the ball well, and we played well on defense – we stopped them four times in our own territory – I was happy with that. But our defense was on the field more than we would have liked.”

The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Indians this week, as Mahopac travels to take on John Jay EF, a 26-10 winner over John Jay Cross River last week. Kickoff is scheduled for 6pm today (Thursday).