RallyNorth.net

Sat, Oct 13, 2007 05:30 PM @ Whittier

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Manchester Essex	0	8	14	13	35
Whittier	0	14	0	14	28

Whittier falls to Manchester Essex

Sunday, October, 14 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

The scoreboard read a depressing 35-28 defeat, but how could Whittier Tech coach Kevin Bradley gripe?

He had just watched his young Wildcats come up with big play after big play, only to be answered by Manchester Essex magic man Pat Orlando.

With the heart of the Commonwealth Conference large division schedule ahead, Bradley could only be enthused.

"That kid (Orlando) is a heck of a player, and we showed a lot a heart and kept coming back all night," said Bradley, whose Wildcats fall to 2-4 on the year but just 0-1 in the CAC large. "This team nearly beat Shawsheen. Who knows now? We're getting better every week. Anything can happen."

Whittier looked on its way to a win, thanks to one of the weirdest plays you'll ever encounter.

A shanked Wildcat punt flopped to the turf behind the line of scrimmage. The Hornets, with the scored tied at 22-22, celebrated, thinking they'd take over deep in Cat country. Instead, an alert Cam Taylor of Whittier scooped up the ball, free to anyone because it did not go over the line of scrimmage and raced 39 yards for a first down and much more at the Manchester 31.

Bradley then gave the ball to Bryan Trickett (26 carries, 119 yards) and no one else. The seventh carry was the charm, with Trickett sweeping in over right end for the go-ahead score.

The two-point try failed, though, and Whittier's advantage was just six (28-22) with 2:46 left.

Orlando (7-for-20, 168 yards, 3 TDs) answered in seconds with a 52-yard TD bomb to Brian Ciccone and Matt Burke's PAT boot was true.

Up 29-28, Manchester caught a huge break when the Cats couldn't handle the dribble kick, recovered by Jake Brown. A Ben Kekeisen TD with 30 seconds left padded the margin at 35-28.

Taylor again made a giant play in the kicking game, plucking a line bullet out of the air and giving Whittier one last shot at midfield.

But two incompletions and a sack at the final gun ended the shootout.

"They have a real high-powered offense, and I'm just proud of our guys," said Bradley.

Wildcat senior Craig Eaton ran 7 times for 68 yards and caught 3 balls for 31 more, scoring on a 46-yard run and a nice 4-yard hookup from Dillon Ryan.