Fall was in full glory as the Big Red traveled southwest across the beautiful countryside of southern NH and northern MA to Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, MA.  A battle with the Penguins is always a competitive affair and add the energy of this being Cushing Family Weekend, the Big Red knew they had to be at their best.  The weather was perfect, and the turf field was fast.  Both teams wanted to play smart football and did just that for the first forty-five minutes.  The Big Red moved the ball crisply and found more space in the middle of the park than they have had in recent games.  Bright Tweneboah, Theo Quan and Augustus Kang kept play moving quickly.  In the back, Pat Ricca, AJ Zoltowski and Matt Baptiste and more time and space with the ball at their feet and were able to play beautiful balls in behind the Cushing defense to the likes of Blake Truchon, Nikita Duncan and Will Iller.  A free kick by Zoltowski to the head of Iller was SPS's best chance of the half which would end 0 – 0.

The second half saw much of the same energy.  Solid defense by the Big Red kept the talented Cushing away from goal and keeper Hunter Morton dealt well with the long shots and dangerous crosses that came his way. Seven minutes into the half Truchon received a ball from Iller and his quality strike forced the Cushing keeper to make a good save.  Iller put a chance just over the bar.  It felt like with each chance the Big Red was getting closer.  With 21:16 to play in the contest it would take both skill and good fortune for SPS to get on the scoreboard.  Will Iller, showing dogged determination all afternoon, pushed hard to carry the ball to the baseline and struck a hard cross across the goal mouth.  The Penguin defender, in an effort to clear the dangerous ball, deflected the ball off his teammate.  The ball fell to Hank Hayne who was in exactly the right spot.  Hank calmly and clinically knocked the ball into the far-left corner beyond the outstretched fingers of the CA keeper.   SPS kept pushing.  Bouncing balls in the CA box gave chances to Kang, Iller and Evers Saleeby, but the visitors could not increase their lead.  The Penguins did not believe the games was over and put forth a massive effort over the final two minutes of play.  Morton was strong in the net, and Zoltowski and Baptiste cleared many balls with their heads. Cushing earned five corners in a row to keep the pressure on.  Off one of the corners a clearance did not go as far as SPS would have liked and a second header was labeled for the upper left corner. Nikita Duncan rose above the crowd and cleared the shot to preserve the 1 – 0 victory for the Big Red.  A great team effort by all.
 
SPS hosts the New Hampton School this Wednesday and travel to the Other Big Red of Phillips Exeter on Saturday.  Keep up the hard work.

Go Big Red!