Matt Sherry and the Durfee High football team played with a heavy heart on Thursday, Sept. 24 against Somerset Berkley.

 

The Hilltoppers wore the emblem 'MA4' on their helmets in memory of former teammate Marvins Antoine, who was killed in a stabbing last weekend.

 

For 48 minutes, the Durfee team and Sherry played hard for Antoine.

 

"Mentally the whole team was in a rough place, especially coming after that news in the morning" Sherry said after the Hilltoppers defeated the Raiders 28-7. "I feel like it defintely brought us together this week. Everything we do moving forward is for Marvins."

 

Sherry threw two touchdowns and ran for another to account for most of the Hilltoppers offense. Sophomore running back Ahliy Cantave rushed for his third straight 100-yard game. He finished with a game-high 134 yards on 18 carries and scored a 47-yard touchdown.

 

"It has been a tough week for the program," Durfee head coach Taylor Brown said. "We went through real life situations this week. I'm happy for the kids with they way they responded all week. We were only able to practice two days this week. We knew it wasn't going to be easy because Somerset plays until the end. I told the kids to play for Marvins because he was always super competitive when he was out there."

 

The Raiders (0-3) responded after the Hilltoppers drove the field for a touchdown — a Sherry keeper from 2 yards out — on their first possession. Senior Gavin Gooch took it in from 16 yards out to tie the game at 7-7 with a 1:50 remaining in the first quarter.

 

The only problem, SBR went scoreless for the last three quarters.

 

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