RallyNorth.net

Manchester Essex Hornets Football '10

Sat, Nov 06, 2010 02:00 PM @ Whittier
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Manchester Essex 0 0 7 8 15
Whittier 6 0 0 0 6

Despite fast start, Whittier falls short

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Saturday, November, 06 By David Willis
Staff writer

HAVERHILL — The game could not have started any better for Whittier, scoring a touchdown just 50 seconds into play.

Unfortunately, the Wildcats found little offense after that, falling to Manchester Essex 15-6 yesterday afternoon.

“This was tough,” said Whittier football coach Kevin Bradley. “We were hurting, but we needed to step up. We needed to make plays.”

The Wildcats opened the game in perfect fashion.

Andrew McGrath took the opening kickoff and scampered 55 yards to the Manchester Essex 25-yard line. Two plays later, quarterback Shane Surette hit a hole and rushed 23 yards for a touchdown with 10:50 still left in the first quarter to give Whittier a 6-0 lead.

“We came out and scored right away and it was almost too easy,” said Bradley. “But they made us work hard the rest of the way to get anything.”

Manchester Essex was able to keep the ball out of Whittier’s hands the rest of the way, ending the first half with a 15-play drive, and opening the second half with an 11-play drive that resulted in a touchdown and the go-ahead extra point. Meanwhile, Whittier had the ball for just 18 plays, with two first downs, through the first three quarters.

“In the back of our minds we didn’t want to give Whittier one of those 10-minute drives plodding down the field that they want,” said Hornets coach Mike Athanas. “We wanted to run our offense, and we kept the ball a lot in the first half and the third.”

Missing top backs Jack Cressy and Paul Buccos, both out with injuries, Whittier managed just 114 yards of offense, led by Surette’s 54 yards on 12 carries.

The Wildcats managed one more significant drive, with a play to the Manchester Essex 20-yard line. But it was called back for holding, which squashed the rally.

“We had to complete the drives,” said Bradley. “We started a nice drive, then penalties hurt us.”

The Whittier defense did keep the game within reach, limiting Hornets quarterback Alex Carr (109 yards rushing, 73 passing) for much of the day.

Jay Desjardins and Ryan Shanahan were both all over the field for the Wildcats. Desjardins led the way with 12 tackles while Shanahan was right behind with 11. Jonathan Chhim added six tackles, an interception and a sack and Ryan Tragakis also had a sack.

“Our defense played well enough to win,” said Bradley. “In the first half the defense was phenomenal, and they only gave up the two scores. But we needed a few big plays. ”

Game Statistics:

First Quarter

W — Shane Surrette 23 run (run failed), 10:10

Third Quarter

ME — Alex Carr 1 run (Danny Oliver-Munn kick), 5:22

Fourth Quarter

ME — Calvin Cook 3 run (Carr run), 1:46

 


INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: W (24-92) — Shane Surrette 12-54, Andrew McGrath 5-20, Mike Melling 2-16, Jay Desjardins 2-6, Frank Boland 1-3, Cam Dubiel 2-(-7); ME (38-141) — Alex Carr 24-109, Calvin Cook 14-32

PASSING: W — Surrette 1-2-0, 16; Melling 2-3-0, 6; Andrew Wells 0-1-1, 0; ME — Carr 6-15-1, 73

RECEIVING: W— McGrath 2-16, Desjardins 1-6; ME — Cook 2-29, Joe Burgess 3-25, Mavrick MacEachern 1-19

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