H.S. football: Athol struggles through injury woes in loss to Murdock

WINCHENDON — The first road trip of the season wasn’t kind to the Athol football team on Friday night. Struggling for most of the game, the Bears lost to Murdock High School, 35-8, at Alumni Field.

Execution issues plagued the Bears in the independent matchup. There was a morsel of positivity toward the end of the game for Athol. On the final drive of the game, Athol marched 66-yard on 10 plays and finished the game with a touchdown.

A game littered with negativity finally had a bright spot. The body language morphed into something Athol can build on into next week.

“You could see how excited our guys were on the sideline,” Athol coach Josh Talbot said. “It’s no secret that you have to run the football to open some things up. We were able to run the football a little bit on the last drive.”

Cam Cox tossed his first touchdown as a starting quarterback for the Bears. On a boot, Cox found Liam Flynn for a 31-yard touchdown on a fourth and short. A pulling Jaelen Correa helped clear the way for the play. Correa is new to the offensive line.

“If Liam (Flynn) and Cam (Cox) are going to be a dynamic duo,” Talbot said, “we have to run the football first.”

After getting shut out against Frontier in their season opener, the Bears saw improvement against the Blue Devils. Athol didn’t give up many big plays against Murdock.

“We are closer than we were,” Talbot said. “Our goal was to not give up too many big play touchdowns…. the message is we are getting closer. We had some good stretches on both sides. Some really bad stretches on both sides but this is a super young football team.”

Injuries are mounting for the Bears, and the overall number of the team is certainly taking a hit. Athol came to Winchendon with 26 players and ended the game with 14 available for the field. Several players came off the field with injuries.

“In my experience guys get hurt more when you are getting beat up,” Talbot said. “When you are losing 30-0 a lot more guys are hurt than when you are winning 30-0. That’s part of it…I am obviously concerned. We are losing 10 guys a game.”

Gabriel Rodriguez scored on a 10-yard touchdown in the first quarter for the Blue Devils. Murdock had the ball down to the Athol 2-yard, but a punishing hit by Flynn from the cornerback forced a fumble. Kason Lyons made the recovery for Athol.

Isaiah Pimental rushed for a 12-yard touchdown with six minutes, 20 seconds left in the second quarter. The score gave the Blue Devils a 14-0 lead.

Cox had a 35-yard kickoff return in the second quarter. Athol’s drive sputtered at the Murdock 35-yard line.

Corey Peterson and Jonathan Kelly had rushing touchdowns in the third quarter for Murdock. There was a running clock in the fourth quarter due to the mercy rule. On Athol’s final drive, Logan Lashua rushed for 22 yards on four carries.

Flynn finished with two catches for 53 yards and a touchdown.