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Bishop Guertin humbles Timberlane

Friday, September, 25 By Chuck Frye
Staff writer

PLAISTOW, N.H. — In an early season of statement games, Bishop Guertin traveled to Timberlane last night and issued yet another.

Controlling both sides of the line of scrimmage, the Cardinals ran the ball at will and locked down Owl standout running back Derek Furey. Even their second and third-stringers couldn't be kept from the end zone. The 47-6 trouncing likely clears the last major hurdle from the Cardinals' unbeaten path in Division 2 until their regular season finale against Exeter.

Six different players found the paydirt for the victors as they ground out 367 rushing yards on 61 attempts. Junior quarterback Steve Cuipa was the only Cardinal to reach double figures in carries (10 for 60 yards), and, ironically, was shut out of the scoring. Senior halfback Adam Hall (game-high 109 yards) had two TDs including a 51-yard, third-quarter sprint that finally earned the starters the rest of the night off.

Surrendering 34 points, 18 first downs and 250 yards over almost 17 minutes of possession time in the opening 24 minutes didn't leave the Owls (2-2, 2-1 in Division 2) much of a chance to run its offense. When they did have the ball, Furey (nine carries for 26 yards) was a marked man and the Owls' efforts to throw Bishop Guertin off his scent didn't succeed. 

"Derek's going to get the football," said Owl head coach Kevin Fitzgerald, "but we tried to run some other things. We tried to get people on the perimeter, run some play-action ... (Guertin's) speed was a problem for us on offense. They were fast to the ball.

Although Furey provided the Timberlane faithful its only chance to cheer with an electrifying 79-yard cross-field kickoff return for a touchdown early in the second quarter, the score only cut Guertin's lead to 27-6. A telling stat: the return itself was almost twice as much as Timberlane's total offense (42 yards) for the night.

"I don't think we helped ourselves particularly well," Fitzgerald continued. "We played kind of sloppy (two turnovers, one coming one play after a BG fumble), took some bad penalties (eight for 67 yards), and missed some tackles at inopportune times.

"But we've still got a bunch of league games and we're still in a good position to make a bid for the playoffs. Whether we win or lose, we show up (to practice on) Monday looking to get better."