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Coombs ignites Pinkerton season

Friday, September, 05 By Jeff Hamrick

DERRY — It's not often that a coach who has won ten state titles and 269 of his 374 games over 37 years sees something new. But Pinkerton's Nick Coombs provided Brian O'Reilly a new experience last night.

The Astro sophomore ignited the 2014 campaign, taking the opening kickoff 94 yards to provide the defending Division 1 state runners-up a lead they would never relinquish en route to a 63-20 pasting in front of more than 2,000.

"I've had scores like this before over the years, but I don't think so," O'Reilly said when asked if he'd ever started a season with one of his players taking the opening kick for a score. "Probably not. I don't think we've ever opened up a season with a kickoff return, no."

Coombs then set up Pinkerton's next possession with a 51-yard punt return that led to a T.J. Urbanik 27-yard a mere 2 minutes later.

"We had a wall set up (on the kickoff)," said Coombs, who tightroped down the sideline for about 10 yards on the touchdown. "We practiced it all week, and it worked pretty well as you can tell from that first play."

Before the first quarter was up, two other Astros — quarterback Jack Hanaway (38 yards) and Jason Hansen (25) — added a couple more scores as Pinkerton opened a 24-0 lead while gaining 161 yards total offense on 12 plays.

"I knew nothing about (Alvirne)," O'Reilly said. "I was concerned about this game ... and what we practiced against was not what we saw (the Broncos execute), so this was an unknown because (Tim Walsh) is a first-year coach. So the anticipation of this game was big for us."

Backup quarterback Brett Dattillo capped Pinkerton's first-half scoring with a 4-yard run before Alvirne got on the board with 45 seconds remaining in the second.

Urbanik, who finished with a game-high 118 yards on six rushes, scored on a 30-yard interception return on Alvirne's first play of the second half before adding a 41-yard TD run on his last carry of the night. Sophomore Nico Buccieri (48-yard run) and freshman Matt Newman (60-yard run) capped Pinkerton's scoring. The Astros finished with 404 yards rushing on 32 attempts.

"We're looking real good right now and the team's excited," Coombs said. "We're ready for next week against (Nashua) South. That will be a big game, but we'll be ready to go out and play."