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On a day when offense was held for ransom, defense and special teams took over for victory in Game #134
Let it be written that the only item on the 2021 Thanksgiving Day football checklist more perfect than the weather was the home team’s ingenuity when it was most needed. On a day when its offense was being held for ransom, Malden High’s Golden Tornados squad and first-year Head Coach Witche Exilhomme went “All-MacGyver” on Medford, refashioning its game plan on the fly, and rode a different horse to victory with defense and special teams leading the charge.
“We had to work for this win and our team was up for the challenge, especially our seniors; they really stepped up,” Coach Exilhomme said.
Malden made it a bookend victory, from the first play of the day, an electrifying, 85-yard kickoff return touchdown by sophomore back Davian McGuffie, to senior quarterback Jordan Rodriguez taking a knee in “victory formation” as the clock ran out on the last play of a 12-10 Malden win.
With the win at sun-drenched Macdonald Stadium before the biggest Thanksgiving crowd in years, Malden won its sixth straight Turkey Day game, 13 out of 14, go ahead, 68-56 in the ancient series, which began in 1889. Malden finished the season at 2-8 overall (2-4 Greater Boston League) with the win; Medford closed it out at 2-9 overall, 1-5 GBL.
It was quite fitting – on a day when the longest continuous high school football rivalry was being decided by some blue-collar, hardhat action on defense and special teams – that newly elected national Teamsters President Sean O’Brien performed the official coin toss. Malden took that tone and ran with it, using some remarkable individual performances, most notably by McGuffie, senior placekicker Ronald Juarez and senior defensive end Lyden Lewis.
Malden came into the game as an underdog, but that forecast probably changed in a lot of minds quickly when McGuffie broke through a trio of Mustangs at about the Malden 35 on the right sideline and then saw all green for an 85-yard kickoff return touchdown on the game’s very first play. Juarez booted PAT for a 7-0 lead before a lot of the late-arriving crowd filing in even got a chance to take their seats. That would be all the scoring from Malden for a long time in this game, as Medford’s defense zeroed in on the Golden Tornados’ offensive game and locked it up for most of the day. Medford held Malden to one first down and less than 40 yards total offense in the first quarter and no offensive points.
The Golden Tornados football historians are researching to find out if this year’s game was the first one Malden High won in the 134-game history of the series where the Golden Tornados did not score an offensive touchdown.
Malden led 7-0 after the first quarter as both defenses held the fort for their respective teams. Medford cut into Malden’s lead early in the second quarter when penalties and two tackles for losses by Mustang defenders backed the Golden Tornados all the way back to their own end zone. Malden freshman QB starter Aidan Brett was looking for an open man when he threw a pass to no one on the left sideline. The referees tossed a penalty flag for intentional grounding on the play, and Medford was on the board with a two-point safety and a 7-2 Malden lead with 9:21 to go in the first half.
Penalties ended up playing a major role in this game, particularly hurting Medford’s chances, as the Mustangs were flagged a whopping 13 times for about 150 yards in penalties, including a brutal four 15-yard personal foul/unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on the day. Malden also got six penalties in the first half, but cleaned it up with only one penalty flag in the second half.
Malden’s absent offense continued in the second quarter with no first downs, but the Golden Tornados defense was front and center, continuing to stalemate with Medford’s attack. The Mustangs finally broke through and got on the board again with a drive that started on its own 45 with less than two minutes to go. This time it was a costly Malden penalty which kept the Medford drive alive when a Golden Tornados defender hit the QB Terranova when he was sliding after going down.
The Mustangs then were handed a first-and-goal from the Malden 7 and under a minute to play. With only 9 seconds to play on the next to the last play of the first half, Medford scored a dagger touchdown when quarterback Terranova kept the ball for an 8-yard touchdown run. Nazaire scored the 2-point conversion running in behind right tackle for the 10-7 Medford lead at halftime.
Malden shed no tears at halftime, put on the hardhat and went right to work in the second half, as Davian McGuffie came up huge for the second time in the game, recovering an onside kick by Juarez with the whole team running out of the “muddle huddle” formation.
Nine plays later, the game was tied when Juarez (on his second try after an inopportune penalty by Medford) nailed a 23-yard field goal to tie the game at 10-10. Juarez, who hit a 27-yarder in Malden’s 29-0 win in 2019, is believed to be the only player in Malden High history to kick field goals in two Malden Thanksgiving wins.
Malden’s defense was huge in the second half, giving Medford next to nothing and holding the Mustangs to just two first downs and a paltry 36 yards total offense in the entire second half. Malden came up with two interceptions of Terranova passes, one in the second quarter and one in the third, which stopped Medford drives. On Medford’s last drive of the second half, Lewis tackled Terranova in the end zone for a two-point safety and a 12-10 lead after three quarters, the eventual final score.
There was not scoring by either team in the fourth quarter as the two defenses ruled. When Lewis made his second huge defensive play of the game, a blocked Medford punt and a recovery at the Mustang 45 with 5:35 left to play, the Golden Tornados looked to play ball control and eat the clock.
Up stepped Makhial Coulanges-Blaise, a strong runner and yard grinder. He had fumbled a ball away in the first half, but this time around he produced. Coulanges-Blaise carried the ball 8 out of 10 plays on handoffs from senior quarterback Jordan Rodriguez, who had replaced Brett late in the second quarter.
Rodriguez also played a key role in the final, clock-eating drive, with three carries himself, including a huge three-yard gain on a keeper on the left which gave Malden a veritable game-clinching first down.
Malden ran out the rest of the clock and then celebrated with the championship trophy, racing around the field en masse with fans roaring from the stands.
BOXSCORE
Medford 0 10 0 0 – 10
Malden 7 0 5 0 – 12
First quarter
Malden: Davian McGuffie 85-yard kickoff return (Ronald Juarez kick)
Second quarter
Medford: Safety, Malden QB called for intentionally grounding in the end zone
Medford: Dominick Terranova 6-yard run (Samuel Nazaire run)
Third quarter
Malden: Ronald Juarez 23-yard field goal
Malden: Safety, Medford QB tackled in the end zone by Malden’s Lyden Lewis
Fourth quarter
No scoring
