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Whittier takes another step toward playoffs

Saturday, November, 01 By Tim Donovan
Staff writer

TYNGSBORO — After a rocky first half, Whittier buckled down and played textbook football to blow past Greater Lowell 26-0.

The ‘Cats struggled early, turning the ball over four times in the first half, including a fumbled punt that led to a drive deep into Whittier territory.

“The beginning of this game was absolute chaos,” commented Whittier head coach Kevin Bradley, whose club seems destined to wrap up the Commonwealth Conference Large title and a playoff berth. “We were completely out of sync.”

Some of the Wildcats’ difficulties on the field may have been caused by stress off of it.

“We came off a big game last week,” continued Bradley, “and 12 of our seniors took the SATs this morning. We had kids driving in to the game from all over the Merrimack Valley.”

The catalyst for Whittier’s second-half transformation was Carlos Candelario, who rushed for 118 yards and found the end zone twice over the course of the game.

“Carlos definitely stepped up in a big way for us tonight. He had a great game,” Bradley said, grinning broadly.

Encouraged by Candelario’s performance, the entire offense picked up the game and ran away with it. The field came alive with the sounds of grunts and both backs and blockers shouting, “Go! Go! Go!” to one another.

Though Candelario’s game paced the team, running back Bryan Trickett (15-69) was an absolute battering ram.

The coach went on to show his pride at the way his team picked itself up after a slow start.

“I’m really proud of our defense, and our offense for that matter — we came out of that tough first half and really showed what we could do.”

The second-half of the Jekyll-and-Hyde Wildcats defensive display opened with a stripped handoff by perennial backfield presence Nate Allen, a play so clean that the Gryphon ball-carrier made two more steps before he realized what happened.

A pair of interceptions from defensive backs Don Leighton and Shawn Mahoney left Greater Lowell reluctant to throw. Mahoney’s pick came on a laser beam fired into the end zone that seemed like it was going to be a certain six points.

Both Leighton and defensive linemen Ryan Tragakis had monster hits for the Wildcats.

Leighton made his presence known on a botched kickoff that skidded across the ground into the hands of Greater Lowell’s unlucky Jose Ayala. After decimating Ayala’s blocker, Leighton leveled Ayala with a crushing blow that left even the Gryphon fans on the sideline in awe.

“Here at Whittier,” Bradley told his boys proudly after the win, “our goal is and always has been to be playing after Thanksgiving.”

Whittier will host the winless Minuteman Regional in a morning contest next Saturday. If on Nov. 15 the Cats beat Lynn Tech, which got leveled 28-8 by Greater Lawrence yesterday, they’ll clinch the Commonwealth Conference Large title.