by Dakota Antelman
As snow fell in Marlboro, the district champion Marlboro Panthers kicked off to the 3-7 Hudson Hawks. Two hours later, the Panthers walked off their home field having beaten the Hawks 44-0.
Senior running back Owen Cappadona scored three touchdowns in the first half and even opened the scoring by throwing a touchdown pass to his teammate Kevin Short on the first Panther drive of the game. Luke Goulet added touchdowns for the Panthers in both the first half and the second half.
Hudson tried to counter Marlboro’s offensive assault but was marred by miscues throughout the first half. Early on, Stephen Miranda was flagged for intentional grounding in the end-zone for a safety. Later in the half, Hudson lost a fumble giving Marlboro possession deep in Hawk territory.
As the game progressed and the Panther lead increased, the Hawks regularly kept the ball on fourth down and tried to keep their drives alive. However, this was often to no avail as the Panthers racked up four turnovers on fourth down.
Marlboro’s win excited the home crowd who have now seen their home team shut out its rival Hawks in each of the past two Thanksgiving Day home games. For the Hudson fans who made the trip across town lines to Kelleher Field, the loss was a difficult continuation of years of losses to their rivals on Thanksgiving morning.
Before they next play Hudson, the Panthers will graduate a large senior class that includes Cappadona, Goulet and quarterback Evan Schmidlein. Likewise, the Hawks will hope that their large junior class will turn out strong results next fall as seniors.
