Massena Central's varsity football and soccer teams all suffered early season losses over Labor Day weekend

Boys Varsity Football

The varsity football squadron dropped a 36-12 contest to Gouverneur, in a matchup of two teams that went undefeated during last year's regular season. Montana Pierce rushed 27 times for 146 yards and scored one touchdown.

Gouverneur's Connor Fenlong returned the opening kickoff 34 yards to the Massena 49 yard line. Fencing was sacked after several plays on the Massena 4 yard line. Gouverneur's first touchdown came when Peyton Schmitt ran 46 yards to the Massena 4, and then Fenlong ran into the end zone from one yard away. Schmitt went on to rush 115 yards on 12 carries.

Massena came close to getting on the board late in the second half while on the Gouverneur 17. Alex Fuller sacked Pierce on a fourth down. Gouverneur got the ball back on their 12 with less than a minute left in the first half. With less than 30 seconds on the clock, Fenlong ran the ball to the Massena 22 and scored three plays later from 11 yards out, leaving the score at 16-0 going into the third quarter.

The next kickoff saw Gouverneur attempt an onside kick. Massena mishandled the kickoff and Gouverneur took over on their opponents' 34-yard line. Five plays later, Fuller ran in a 19-yard touchdown, putting Massena down 22-0.

Later in the third stanza, Massena forced a punt, which they blocked. Ben Chilton then took a pass and ran five yards into the end zone.

On Gouverneur's first play afterward, Fenlong ran 31 yards and was tackled at the Massena 29 yard line. Two plays later, he ran 22 yards for a touchdown. Schmitt later ran 22 yards for their final points of the game. The two touchdowns were interrupted by a one-yard scamper into the end zone from Pierce.

Massena will host Potsdam on Sept. 8 at 7 p.m. at Mike Nichols Field.

Girls Varsity Soccer

The girls varsity soccer team lost 5-1 to South Jefferson in a non-league game on Sept. 2 at Mike Nichols Field in Massena. Lindsey Montroy made nine saves. For South Jeff, Macy Schultz scored two goals and an assist and Mia Buckingham scored twice.

The boys soccer team lost 4-1 to Watertown in a tournament hosted there. Ed Brown scored Massena's goal.

Varsity football coach Nick Zappia was the only Massena Central fall sports coach who answered multiple requests from Indian Time for season preview comments.

Zappia, in his 38th year with Massena football, is their new head coach. The team went undefeated in regular season play last year and were eliminated in the first round of states.

Their 28-person roster is about half newcomers and half veterans, Zappia said.

"We have a lot of talent, but numbers are low," he said.

He says players to watch this year include Akwesasne's Montana Pierce (quarterback/safety), along with Mike Gardner (fullback/inside linebacker), Gage Fiacco (running back/outside linebacker) and David Hutchison (guard/defensive end).

"We are an option running team who relies on team speed and precision blocking," Zappia said. "We are a one day at a time team who wants to get better each day. We strive for excellence and pay attention to detail."

On the sidelines, his assistant coaches and support staff include Taylor Zappia, Bob Todd, Dave Peets, Ike Bogosian, Sean Faucher, Mike Bressard and Mark Plante.