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"Tornado" blows Whittier to win

HAVERHILL — Same unbalanced line, same positioning, but Whittier Tech is showcasing another new offense this season.

Always an effective running team, the Wildcats unveiled the strong arm of senior quarterback Dillon Ryan as part of a pseudo-shotgun, "Tornado" attack. On a cool and drizzly Saturday morning against non-league opponent Southeastern, Ryan threw like it was 75-degrees and sunny as his three-touchdown effort highlighted an easy 42-16 season-opening victory.

The 6-2 gunslinger hit classmate Steve Surette for a 19-yard connection to open the game's scoring and again in the second quarter on a 13-yard toss. After a fake Southeastern punt ended up as a 20-yard sack for Matt Asemota, Ryan rocketed a missile between two defenders to senior Ralph Hancock for a 36-yard touchdown, a 30-0 Wildcat lead, and the end of the work day for the starters with 6:57 left in the first half.

The quad-captain finished with 5 completions on 10 attempts for 81 yards with one carry for 16 more yards.

"Oh my God, you have no idea," Ryan said when asked if he was pleased with the increased passing presence in the playbook. "There's so much more than last year.

"Now we're in the shotgun so we'll throw a lot more, which I'm happy about. We have all our great receivers back and we're going to run the ball, too. The line did a great job blocking and we're going to just get better and better. By the third or fourth game, we'll be all set. We'll know the offense inside and out."

"We've always been a team that changed according to our personnel," said Whittier head coach Kevin Bradley. "If we have the talent at certain positions, we're going to utilize that and not hold our athletes back. We've always been leaders in total points in the (Commonwealth Conference) with every offense we use. We're going to utilize our athletes in the best way we can."

Whittier's historically punishing ground game yielded 189 yards highlighted by 78 yards from Donald Leighton on seven carries and a 15-yard scoring romp from junior Paul Buccos (33 yards on three attempts).
And not only was the Wildcat defense oppressive, shackling Southeastern to only 74 total yards, but they also found the end zone. Senior Jeremy Bell stepped in front of a Hawks receiver and returned the interception 37 yards for a touchdown with 5:45 left in the half. Then with the second-string defense installed against Southeastern's starters, junior linebacker Jay Desjardins (four tackles) showed some surprising speed on a 77-yard pick-6 early in the fourth quarter.

"The key is the players' attitudes," Bradley said. "They come to work, they're very positive and fun to coach, very coachable. With their attitude and desire, we know anything we put in is going to work."