DARTMOUTH — Losing the final two games of 2023 fueled the Dartmouth High football team throughout the offseason.
“It sucked, but honestly, I think it was the best for us because we want it more than ever,” said Dartmouth senior wide receiver Markus Andrews. “Losing those two games we haven’t heard the end of it. I think it’s fired us up more than ever to come out there this year.
“We're ready. We've been waiting for a while to come out and play. We want to have a better season than we did last year. That's the goal.”
After going 9-0, Dartmouth suffered back-to-back losses to Milton in the Div. 3 Elite 8 and Fairhaven on Thanksgiving to finish the year 9-2.
“We had two great opponents with Milton and Fairhaven,” said Dartmouth head coach Rick White. “There is no shame in the game. They both won the state championships in their own divisions.
“We had a good season, but we didn’t finish it the way we wanted to. It was a key in the offseason focusing on that.”
A determined Dartmouth team will look to make an even deeper run in the playoffs this year with the return of its top three offensive players from a year ago in senior quarterback Jackson Hart, senior running back Ray Gramlich and Andrews.
The trio combined for 37 touchdowns in 2023 as juniors and were all named to The Standard-Times Super Team .
Gramlich scored a team-high 14 TDs while Andrews found the end zone 12 times. Hart, a dual threat quarterback, ran for 10 touchdowns and threw for another 16 scores, which led all SouthCoast QBs.
“It’s nice to have guys who know what they’re doing to start the year,” White said. “You can hit the ground running.”
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A year ago, Hart carried the ball 101 times for 737 yards and completed 71 of 113 pass attempts for 942 yards. Gramlich had 165 rushes for 986 yards while Andrews had 36 catches for 396 yards and carried the ball 52 times for 463 yards.
Hart said that he, Gramlich and Andrews have been looking forward to senior year since they were sophomores.
“It’s great,” he said. “Sophomore year we were just fooling around, trying to get on the field. Once we got there, we took it seriously. It was a fun experience. Now we’ve grown as football players and as guys we know how to play. We play well together, and we know where each other is going to be.
“We can always pick each other up when we are down. It's a great connection we all have.”
Andrews added, “We're all best friends. The chemistry is there. We all like each other. We all want the same thing and we all want it just as bad as each other. Everyone puts the team first. We all want to see each other do good and we all want to win together.”
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Even after last year’s success, Dartmouth’s veterans want to show what they can do, especially in their final season.
“There is nothing that has been proven yet. We haven’t played a game,” Hart said. “The expectations are high, but we’ve got to beat those expectations and go higher.”
Gramlich added, “We can’t take any opponent for granted. Even with having so many starters back, we have a lot to prove.”
HOLES TO FILL ON THE LINE
Dartmouth has some experience on the offensive line with the return of seniors Tom Quinn (tackle), Lucas Botelho (center) and Ayden Carreiro (tackle), but will need others like seniors Jayden Claudio and Dalla Costa and junior Owen Shurtleff to step in and contribute.
“We lost a few guys up front,” White said. “Those three guys (Quinn, Botelho and Carreiro) have enough experience. We've got some new guys, trying to get a spot. They're all going to play at some point with injuries and everything else.”
KICKOFF TO 2024
Dartmouth opens the regular season at rival Bishop Stang on Sept. 6 for a 7 p.m. start. The team added Braintree in Week 2 and Barnstable in Week 7.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: 'We want it more than ever': Dartmouth's high-scoring trio looking for strong finish
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