Last Saturday, Varsity Football faced off against its rival Deerfield Academy during the 97th annual Deerfield Day. Down by six points, Choate wasn’t able to score on the team’s last drive and lost to Deerfield 20-14.
On the opening play of the game, Deerfield made a bold statement by successfully attempting an onside kick, though they were later stopped from scoring by Choate’s defense. However, when Choate fumbled on the five-yard line on the punt return, Deerfield took advantage of the opportunity and scored a touchdown. The quarterbacks from both teams threw interceptions in the first quarter, two from Choate and one from Deerfield, but neither team was able to capitalize off of them. The first quarter ended on a touchdown pass from Deerfield’s quarterback with the boars down 14-0.
The teams played a defensive second quarter with multiple blocked punts and fumbles. Choate took some of the momentum away from Deerfield during the quarter. The defense shut out Deerfield’s offense in the second quarter, and the Choate offense was able to find a rhythm through postgraduate running backs Brody Grebe ’20 and Jake Tuttle ’20. With a minute left in the half, Choate scored its first points with a run from Tuttle. The score was 14-7 heading into halftime.
Three minutes into the third quarter, Choate capitalized on its momentum from a 50-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Shane Baldwin ’21 to Moody. However, Deerfield quickly responded when Deerfield’s running back ran the ball in for a touchdown. Choate blocked the extra point after the touchdown, leaving the score 20-14 at the end of the third quarter.
Neither of the teams was able to put points on the board in the fourth, but Choate had multiple opportunities to score. On a punt return, Moody ran the ball back into the endzone but it was called back by a holding penalty.
The boars still had plenty of time left to move down the field and win the game. For most of the final drive, the Choate coaching staff swapped Baldwin for Grebe at quarterback. Grebe took direct snaps from the center and ran the ball for multiple first downs. Deerfield’s defense couldn’t stop Grebe, and Choate reached inside the ten-yard line. With four minutes left on the clock, Choate ran the ball on all four downs inside the ten, but could not score a touchdown, turning the ball over on downs.
Deerfield maintained its composure and kneeled the ball to run out the clock, resulting in its win.
The loss was a disappointing blow to the Choate team, which, for the first time in five years, will not be heading to the New England Championship game.
