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Windham falls short in homecoming

Saturday, September, 18 By Jeff Hamrick

WINDHAM — It’s not often that a school without a senior class let alone any alumni celebrates homecoming, but that’s exactly what the Jaguars did yesterday afternoon at Windham.

Unfortunately, the players on the school’s first-year varsity football team didn’t head to last night’s dance in a celebratory mood.

Windham, which opened its doors two years ago, dropped its homecoming encounter with previously winless Fall Mountain 26-13 before about 300.

The Jaguars (1-2 overall and in Division 5) lost for the second consecutive week following a 43-23 victory over Sanborn in its debut.

“Coming into this year with only sophomores, juniors and freshmen, not much was expected of us,” said Windham junior Scott Priestley, who rushed for a team-high 57 yards and a touchdown. “But after winning that first game, the bar was (raised). Now, we expect to win every single game. Opponents might not expect us to win, but no matter what, we’re going to play for that win.”

After watching Fall Mountain drive 57 yards in 10 plays on the game’s first possession to take a 7-0 lead, the Jaguars helped the Wildcats after failing to convert a 4th-and-1 on their own 38. Four plays later, Fall Mountain grabbed a 13-0 advantage on a 5-yard quarterback sneak by Kaian Wilkes, who earlier had thrown a scoring pass to Zach Fetzer.

The Jaguars, however, responded with a convincing drive of their own. Despite three false start penalties, Windham went 72 yards on 14 plays that consumed 6:50 to cut its deficit. All 14 plays were rushes, including James Beaulieu’s 3-yarder for a score that capped off the possession. On the drive, Beaulieu, Priestley and Kevin Cooney each ran for at least 26 yards, with Cooney’s 17-yard jaunt on a 3rd-and-4 being the longest.

Windham though had trouble containing Fall Mountain’s Kevin Plummer, who finished with 185 yards on 30 carries and scored the clinching touchdown on a 7-yard run that provided Fall Mountain with a 20-7 lead with 6:06 left in the opening half.

Priestley did bring the Jaguars back to within a touchdown with a 1-yard run midway through the third, wrapping up an impressive 10-play, 74-yard drive that was enhanced by a roughing the punter penalty.

The Jaguars stumbled on each of their next three possessions as bad snaps and dropped passes limited their success.

“There’s a lot of things we can build on,” Windham coach Bill Raycraft said. “We’ve got a good foundation, but there are some leaks in it that we have to shore up. And I think we can.”