HIGH-SCHOOL

Despite Saturday's loss, D-Y football feels like it's moving in right direction

Courtney Jacobs
Cape Cod Times

YARMOUTH -- Chris Marsh once stood on the sidelines for the Dennis-Yarmouth High football team as a linebacker and right guard. Before the Fall II season in 2021, he was named the Dolphins football head coach. 

When Marsh first took over three seasons ago, he said he expected the Dolphins to compete for a state title. 

Despite Saturday's 46-12 loss to Stoneham, Marsh feels like the Dolphions are on the right track. 

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"I think we are heading the right direction," Marsh said. "COVID was a tough season because our numbers were really low. They've been increasing each year. We were really young my first year, young my second year and still young this year, but we're starting to turn the corner. We have a lot of sophomores on the field and they're improving." 

The Dolphins finished 3-4 during Marshfield's first season. Last year, D-Y went 5-6 but closed the year on a three-game winning streak.

SOUTH YARMOUTH 9/24/22  D-Y's Alex Sheffield-White takes the hand off from quarterback Jayden Barber as Dennis-Yarmouth  High School played host to Stoneham High in  Saturday afternoon football action.

Previous to being at the helm, Marsh was the varsity offensive line coach for five years. During that time, D-Y was one of the best teams on Cape, which included an unbeaten season and a Div. 5 state title in 2017. Marsh knows the recipe for success. 

"I think the guys that have came and played for this program are proud of the things we have accomplished," Marsh said. "Ultimately, it falls on me to make sure that continues by building character, respect, hard work and discipline into these guys. Hopefully that makes them successful in life when they graduate here and the things they learn here, they can take it out into the world."  

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This season, D-Y is off to a 1-2 start with a win over English (Boston) and losses to powerhouses Mashpee and Stoneham. It is still early in the season but Marsh is optimistic and likes what he is seeing out of his young team.

"I really think the sophomore class can do some special things," Marsh said. "It's their first taste of varsity football and young guys are really stepping up and more will continue to as the season goes on. As they get experience and get some more playing time, they are going to get better and better moving forward." 

SOUTH YARMOUTH 9/24/22 D-Y quarterback Jayden Barber looks for an open receiver upfield as Dennis-Yarmouth  High School played host to Stoneham High in  Saturday afternoon football action.

Spartans Take Charge

When the Dolphins took the field at home against Stoneham, they were underdogs. Last season, Stoneham knocked off D-Y, 42-13, during an undefeated regular season. The Spartans left Saturday's game with a still spotless record following the win over D-Y.

"I think there's a lot of little things that we just have to execute better like some reads we can make a little quicker and techniques like reading our keys on defense," said Marsh. "The offensive line played alright today, but we had some drops in the passing game."

Despite some issues catching the football, quarterback Jayden Barber threw a pair of touchdown passes for the Dolphins.

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"The running game needs to get better and all-around we just need to keep our heads up and keep playing harder," said Barber. "I think we need to be tougher next time. We have to stay in it and can't keep our heads down. We need to execute better." 

One player that Barber counted on all game was senior wide receiver Wyatt Stevens. He caught both of Barber's TD passes.

"I think we have to be more physical up front in controlling the line of scrimmage," Stevens said. "That's where every game is going to start and finish. We didn't get a hold of that so it kind of got away from us. We have to go hard in practice, be locked in from the jump and have everybody on the field ready to go." 

SOUTH YARMOUTH 9/24/22  D-Y's Alex Sheffield-White takes the hand off from quarterback Jayden Barber as Dennis-Yarmouth High School played host to Stoneham High in  Saturday afternoon football action.

Early in the second quarter D-Y scored their first TD of the game and trailed 16-6. That was the closest the score was as Stoneham scored a last-second TD in the first half and took a 38-12 lead into halftime. 

"We talked at halftime about playing together as a team and coming out, we made some adjustments," Marsh said. "We wanted to use that second half as a way to improve and keep playing hard and set the tone for the rest of the year."

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The Dolphins halftime talk and changes worked. Although D-Y did not score again, they held Stoneham's offense to just eight points in the second half. 

"I thought we did some better things in the second half with a couple stops on defense out of the gate. So hopefully we can build on that and keep improving." 

SOUTH YARMOUTH 9/24/22  D-Y's Walter Mayo looks up field for an opening as Stoneham's Sean Kilty moves in as Dennis-Yarmouth  High School played host to Stoneham High in  Saturday afternoon football action.

Dolphins in Deep Water?

Despite the loss, D-Y only had one turnover and did hold Stoneham to a scoreless fourth quarter. It is still early in the season and D-Y is not pressing the panic button.

"A lot of things that are fixable, that if we have a good week at practice, we can rebuild on the second half and have some more success next week," said Marsh.

D-Y will be back at home next week against Nantucket (0-3) as the Dolphins look to get back on track and get back to .500.

Contact Courtney Jacobs at cjacobs@capecodonline.com. Follow him on Twitter: CJ_Journalist.