RallyNorth.net

Timberlane routs Manchester West

Friday, September, 16 By Jeff Hamrick
Staff writer

PLAISTOW – Timberlane took advantage of a couple early Manchester West turnovers then ran away from the Blue Knights after intermission as the Owls cruised to an easy 48-14 victory last night.

“In this league, any win is a good win, and we’ll take it,” Timberlane coach Kevin Fitzgerald said after his team’s Division 1 opener. “We talked about winning all three phases of the game and (last night) I think we did that. We put up some points. We kept them out of the end zone for the most part, and I thought our special teams play was OK.”

On the game’s second play from scrimmage, the Owls (1-0 Division 2, 2-1 overall) forced a fumble recovered by Cam Gargano at the Manchester 28. Six plays later, quarterback Evan Bidgood scored the night’s first touchdown on a 1-yard sneak. Timberlane was forced to punt on its next possession, but a muffed return pounced on by Efrain Rolon set the Owls up at the Blue Knights’ 45. It took two plays before Bidgood hooked up with Josh David on a 45-yard scoring pass.

“We’d like to think we’re a pretty good football team, and good football teams take advantage of the other team’s miscues,” Fitzgerald said. “And that’s what we did.”

A 36-yard run by David provided a 21-6 lead at halftime even though the Owls ran only 19 plays from scrimmage – 21 fewer than the Blue Knights (0-1, 1-2) the first two quarters.

Timberlane dominated the third quarter as David, who finished with 123 yards on 15 carries, scored from 51 and 4 yards and Anthony Gillis added a 43-yard jaunt. Harry Denoncourt capped the Owls’ scoring on a 27-yard run early in the fourth.

Manchester West ran 29 more plays (66-37) than the Owls, but a Timberlane front four led by sophomore end Shaun Grenier, who had one sack, and junior tackle Billy Joyce harassed Aaron Martin all night. The Blue Knight quarterback completed 15 of his 31 attempts for 117 yards. Despite the difference in offensive plays, Manchester West managed only 24 more yards of total offense (301-277).

“Shaun Grenier played a great game,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s funny because (last night) we had to start him at (right) tackle because we had some guys out on offense, and he played the best defensive game he’s played. It was the first time he went both ways.

“He was very good, but our whole defense was very good. (Defensive back) Connor Sproul made some plays. The Martin kid is a good athlete and he hurt us a bit last year, but we tried to contain him and we did that for the most part.”

Like Fitzgerald said, the Timberlane special teams units also did its part, limiting Manchester West to 69 yards on eight kickoffs – an average of only 8.6 yards per return.