Keaton McAuliffe
Sports Editor
Tomorrow, Friday, November 1st, Rams’ football will go head on with their biggest challenge yet, taking on the St. Joseph’s Cadets on Dunning Field at 7 p.m. The Cadets, along with the Rams, are undefeated, with a 7-0 record this season. But tomorrow night, one of these teams’ winning streaks will be broken.
“This game has been hyped up as one of the most important games of our season because of how good we both are,” senior Jack Gilio said. “This game could possibly decide who goes to the FCIAC championship.”
Senior Alex Dobbin also added that this game could even determine which team is the best in the state. “This game’s important because whoever wins is most likely the best team in the state,” he said. “This game is the battle of the best.”
Yet, with so much riding on a win tomorrow, the team isn’t doing anything out of the ordinary to prepare. “As a team we see this as just another game,” senior Quarterback Nick Cascione said. “We’re going to go out Friday to execute to the best of our abilities.”
Alex added that while the general strategy hasn’t changed, attention to detail is essential in big games like Friday’s. “It’s all about knowing our opponent,” he said. “We realize that we have to be mentally focused, strong, and pay attention to detail at all times, especially with such a great team. But this week is no different from any other. That’s a work ethic we live by on a daily and weekly basis.”
Because the Cadets are such a strong team, maintaining a strong offensive performance will be key to a victory. “We have got a lot of magic to our playbook, especially offensively,” Jack said.
“We want to convert on all 3rd downs and try to avoid turnovers,” Nick added. “We plan on running our offense like we have all year and having it moving as fast as we can.”
Defensively, the Rams’ are looking to keep up their successful blockage, as they haven’t allowed any scores for their opponents in the past two weeks. “Our starting defense had not been scored on prior to the Staples game last week,” Alex said. “And we still only let up 7 points. That’s got us excited.”
The excitement has spread around school as well, with the Bomb Squad making an early announcement Thursday morning. “Just so you all have very early warning and no excuse not to attend there is our biggest game of the year this Friday at home. We are playing St Joes and as always they are a good team, just not as good as us,” Bussey’s Bomb Squad senior co-leader Mike Palladino wrote in the Facebook group.
With the whole school pumped up and the team ready to do all they can to win, Friday’s game should live up to the hype. “The main focus is to win,” Jack said. “It’s going to be a battle, there are going to be kids who go down, but it’s how you respond after a disaster strikes that truly defines a person and team.”
Alex added that at the end of the day, the team just loves to play the game. “No matter how great the challenge, our team always loves a great game,” he said. “We love the challenge, we love the game.”
