After Return From Injury, Senior Quarterback Jumpstarts Nauset Offense

FALMOUTH – It was up in the air when — and if — Brendan Peno would be able to play football for Nauset during his senior year. 

Peno, son of head coach Jesse Peno, ruptured his kidney playing lacrosse over the summer. Sophomore Oliver Accettullo took over at starting quarterback going into the season. A specific target date for Peno to get back on the field wasn’t known. 

“It could be October,” Jesse Peno had said in August. “We don’t know.”

It turned out that he had the right idea. Doctors cleared the senior quarterback to start playing football again around Nauset’s bye week ahead of an Oct. 10 matchup against Nantucket, during which he officially returned. A week later against Martha’s Vineyard, Peno truly made his mark, as the Warriors erupted for 48 points — by far their highest one-game total on the season — and picked up their first win of the year. 

His return has jumpstarted Nauset’s offense, but — more importantly — Peno now just gets to play football for a few weeks this year with his fellow senior teammates. 

“As a coach, you've got to, you know, next man up, but as a father, I'm like, I really want him to have that experience, so that’s been great,” Jesse Peno said.

After not getting any sort of preseason, Peno was, and still is, getting into football shape. Against Nantucket, things were rusty, the timing not quite there, but even so, he’s still capable of running around and making plays, Jesse Peno said. 

That much was clear against Falmouth last Friday. The Warriors fell 34-26, but what they could do with Peno taking the snaps stood out. The quarterback (who also lines up on defense) is the Warriors’ best ball carrier, Jesse Peno said, and he makes throws and plays off-platform.

“That's his biggest attribute right now, is the play is never really dead when he's in there, so we always feel like we have a chance,” he said.

Sophomore Max Furman said Peno brings a lot of energy, too.

“He hypes us all up,” Furman said.

Twice against Falmouth, Peno extended a play to get a throw off to the end zone. On a third down in the second quarter, Peno scrambled from pressure, only to fire back across the middle to junior William O’Loughlin. On a fourth and 15 at Falmouth’s 36-yard line in the third quarter, Peno found senior Seamus Mahoney for his second touchdown pass of the night.

On the following two-point attempt to bring the Warriors within one possession of Falmouth, Peno moved to his right and threw a strike to sophomore Jack Peno running the same direction just past the goal line. That actually would end up being the first of two times — neither of them touchdown passes — Peno connected with his brother through the air for points. On a kickoff after Falmouth scored to go up 34-20 with under two minutes remaining, Brendan took the return and proceeded to lateral it cross-field to Jack, who darted freely all the way up the left sideline.

The play was something Nauset had been practicing, a design that’s “always in the back pocket,” Jesse Peno said.

“It's something we work on,” he said. “The kids have worked hard on it, you can tell.”

The Warriors, in fact, had another special teams score just a couple minutes earlier that final quarter after Nauset forced Falmouth to punt from their own goal line with a little more than four minutes to go. The snap went overhead of the Falmouth punter, who ran back to grab the loose ball. But Furman met him with force, before he could finish snapping off a quick kick. The Warriors jumped on the football for the touchdown to make the score 26-20. 

Furman, who also took carries on offense, impacted the game all night. He strip-sacked Falmouth’s quarterback early on and also recorded consecutive tackles for loss on a pair of runs, firing from the line of scrimmage like a missile. 

“I’m just trying to keep the edge here and keep them from running outside,” he said.

Jesse Peno called Furman an “explosive athlete, tough kid.”

“He's got a burst other guys don't have,” he said. “He's hard nosed. He's tough. He's explosive. Seems like every game he's making a big play, a sack or big hit on special teams or a long run, so just a dynamic guy. Pleasure to have him, pleasure to coach him.”