There’s the age old question of what would happen if an immovable object met an unstoppable force. This question was put to the test on Friday, Sept. 12 when Staples hosted Xavier for the opening game of the football season, but lost 3-0 in the final seconds.

For the majority of the game, both defenses were immovable objects. However, in the last few minutes of the game, Xavier’s offense was able to find a small chink in Staples’ armor, and broke away.

The real turning point in the game was a 35-yard scramble by Xavier’s quarterback, Mike Scherer ’15 on a 3rd down from Xavier’s own 22 yard line. As Scherer stepped out of bounds at the end of the play he was hit by a Staples player which drew a questionable 15-yard penalty, moving Xavier to the Wreckers’ 30 yard line.

A few plays later, with 14.5 seconds left in the game, Xavier’s kicker put a 19-yard field goal through the uprights, making the score 3-0 in favor of Xavier, with 1.3 seconds on the clock.

After the kickoff Staples managed to get a pass in, but were unable to keep the play alive after the clock ran down.

“It’s a shame. You play that hard against a program like that and lose the game with 1.3 [seconds left] on a field goal,” Coach Marce Petroccio said. “It’s gut-wrenching for the kids. It’s heartbreaking.”

Staples’ offense was not “in sync” as Petroccio put it. “You can’t make that many mental mistakes and expect to win the game,” Petroccio said. “Too many turnovers, two first downs taken away on penalties. It’s unacceptable.”

The takeaway from the game was not all negative though. Running back and cornerback Owen Burke ’15 was disappointed in the loss, yet proud of the effort.

“Xavier is one of the best programs in the state, and we fought hard,” Burke said. “That’s really all we can say, we fought hard.”

Staples’ next game is at Wilton High School on Sept. 19th.