Wildcat football rebounds from opening loss

LEE – Wildcat football coach Keith Thomson knew he would have a young and inexperienced team returning from last year’s Super Bowl runner-up squad. What he didn’t know was how his team would respond to adversity, as prominent offensive forces Cam Collins and Matty Kelly went down with season-ending injuries.

Thomson got his answer last Friday night at Consolati Field, as his Wildcats scored early and often in cruising to a 19-0 victory over Mahar.

“We’ve had some tough breaks with season-ending injuries,” said Thomson. “We have had some adversity and we have a real young team – and they grew up tonight.”

The star of the game, on both sides of the ball, was junior quarterback Deaglan Giarolo, who led the passing attack with 97 yards and a touchdown, while on defense he had an interception and a key fumble recovery in the first half, leading to a score.

“Giarolo grew tremendously as a football player tonight,” Thomson said. “As a two-way starter he was lights out tonight; he was all over the field both on offense and defense, he threw the ball and he was hitting like a train on defense – and I couldn’t be prouder of him.”

While the offense was clicking right out of the gate, the Wildcats running backs, led by Ryan Hurley and Dan Griffen, accumulated over 150 yards on the ground, including two touchdowns.

“We were gong to rely on Collins and Kelly to carry a bulk of the load, and Hurly and Griffen were going to be a part of that,” said Thomson. “Tonight we had a huge contribution from [Hurley and Griffen]; they ran hard, they hit the holes hard, and they were both tremendous.”

Hurley opened the scoring in the first quarter, after Giarolo found Paul Boutiette on a 35-yard pass play down to the Mahar 25-yard line. Giarolo then converted on a third down pass to Jared Kirchner for 15 yards to the five-yard line where Hurley punched it in after a run off the left tackle.

“The thing I am most proud of,” said Thomson. “We watched film on [Mahar] last week and they gave us a different look [defensively] than what we practiced.

“Coming in I was a little nervous when I saw them shift to a 4-4 defense, because we didn’t practice it – but the kids handled it,” Thomson added.

Griffen also capped a scoring drive after Giarolo’s recovered fumble at the Mahar 25-yard line, with a one-yard scamper to put the Wildcats up 13-0 with eight minutes left in the second quarter.

Mahar, who is known for their extensive use of multiple offensive sets, came out in the first quarter moving the ball effectively by using a no-huddle offense.

“It created a lot of challenges,” said Thomson. “Last week they had 14 different formations – I thought Collin Abderhalden did a great job at middle linebacker of getting the guys lined up where they needed to go.”

Other players noted on the defense by Thomson were Kirchner at defensive lineman and Zach DeSantis at linebacker.

“Kirchner was great inside, while DeSantis was a stud last week and he was a stud tonight,” Thomson said.

Despite losing in a lopsided affair to Hoosac in the opener, the Wildcats were poised throughout the home opener as he carried a 19-0 lead at halftime.

Giarolo closed out the scoring with a seven-yard touchdown pass to Kirchner with 2:22 left in the second quarter.

Next up for the Wildcats will be an improved Pittsfield team, which almost squeaked one out against Wahconah, who beat the Generals, 40-36.

“Pittsfield is a battle every year, every team in Berkshire County is tough, and it’s going to be a meat grinder,” Thomson said.

Posted by Tim Davis on September 20, 2012. Filed under High School Sports,Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry