September 9, 2024 – Story by Zachary Wong, photos by Joshua Ross
The Harbormen’s season opener was a fun game that ended in a blowout win, beating Merrimack 42-6. Hingham shot out of the gates fast, starting the game with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Junior Jake Varholak to Sophomore JT Reale. The offense was not the only aspect of the game Hingham quickly dominated. Late in the 1st, senior Fin O’Brien got an interception and returned it for a large gain of 31 yards. Hingham found the endzone once again, with a 27-yard reception by junior Chase Beighley, leading to a 2-yard rushing touchdown for Beighley the play after. The game was quickly becoming one-sided, but Hingham was far from done.
The Harbormen picked up right where they left off in the 2nd quarter. Senior Ryan St. Croix added to the score via a 9-yard rushing touchdown. The Harbormen went for two and successfully increased their lead to 20-0. In the same quarter, junior Cavan Nicholas found the endzone with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Varholak. Going into halftime 26-0, Hingham could feel the energy in the air.
To start off the third quarter, Merrimack received their only score of the night through a 5-yard rushing touchdown. Hingham returned the favor with a JT Reale 58-yard gain, leading to a Varholak QB scramble touchdown. Not only that, but Beighely was also able to rush into the endzone for an extra two points. To end the 3rd quarter, Senior Nole Ruccio intercepted Merrimack.
To put the cherry on top, senior Jack Stocks had a 7-yard rushing touchdown in the 4th. In addition to this, a successful two-point conversion. Overall, Hingham dominated this game, both offensively and defensively. Merrimack did not even see the goal line for most of the game. Though playing a brand new team, Hingham demonstrated their ability to still thrive. When asked about how they planned against this new opponent, coach TJ Byrne explained how, “We exchanged all our game film from last year…So we had a pretty good idea on what they ran and their concepts…everything I saw tonight did not surprise me as far as they played.”
Game film was a big component in their win, but that was not all. Coach Byrne expressed how the team deserves as much credit as possible. In coach Byrne’s eyes, the team did best in terms of their energy. “…I thought the energy and the attitude was great. You can go a long way with enthusiasm…Everyone in that uniform on this team is all in…” Along with that great energy, the amount of depth the team has was another component in the blowout win. “Where it showed was in the 3rd quarter, the 4th quarter, guys are cramping up….everybody that came in was prepared to come in and I’m proud of that…When adversity hit, we responded.”
An out-stellar game from the Habormen was also met with an out-stellar performance by QB Jake Varholak. Varholak went 12-19 with 260 yards and 3 touchdowns. When asked how he felt during the game, Varholak expressed how, “it felt good. It felt like we had a lot more confidence than last year and it showed tonight. Everything felt smoother, we executed and we had a bunch of guys go down and the guys that came in did a great job. Everyone filled their spots perfectly and I think that’s a great thing for us going forward.”
GAME PHOTOS
