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Strong second half sends Whittier to victory

Saturday, October, 31 By Chuck Frye
Staff writer

HAVERHILL — A few Halloween scares for Whittier, but ultimately the gameplan came through.

A physical Chelsea squad started making its mark in the second quarter, forcing a turnover, slowing the Wildcat offense and changing field position. On David Cortez' 3-yard touchdown run with 1 1/2 minutes until halftime, the Red Devils drew within nine at 22-13.

"Chelsea was hitting us hard," Wildcat head coach Kevin Bradley said. "They brought it to us, we had a little lull and they took advantage."

But that would be all for the Commonwealth Conference Small's top squad as the hosts were quite unhospitable, grinding down the second half clock while shackling Chelsea to only 2 yards and 7 1/2 minutes of possession time. Sapping all of the tension out of the situation, Whittier easily prevailed yesterday in the battle of unbeatens, 34-13.

Adding a new wrinkle to its offense by feigning putting quarterback Dillon Ryan in motion and direct-snapping to one of three running backs, Whittier (8-0) still stayed traditional by riding its line to predictable production. Right-side linemen Jordan Britton, a junior, and sophomores Rudy Ortiz and Ryan Tragakis cleared a steady path whether Don Leighton (game-high 92 yards and a touchdown), Nick Ferreira (39 yards on nine carries), bruising fullback Nate Allen (32 yards and two TDs) or outside threat Paul Buccos (49 yards and a score) got the ball.

"They're hungry and they execute everything week-in and week-out," said Bradley. "They love it when we keep the ball on the ground and they want to pound people, they want to score."

"The linemen work hard, we're unbalanced (to the right) so we have an extra blocker, and it makes it easier to run that way," said Leighton.

Despite a 2-yard first-quarter reception by Steve Surette to open the scoring, the Wildcat passing game was hit-and-miss until early in the fourth quarter.

Five minutes into a game-changing drive, Whittier called on Ryan's arm to convert a fourth-and-10 from the Red Devil 27. Rifling the ball down the middle of the field, Surette came out of nowhere, diving to scoop in the low throw at the 7. After being initially ruled incomplete by the back judge, a conference of officials changed the call to the disdain of the Chelsea coaching staff, and Allen's second TD on the next play secured the victory.

"He caught the ball clean," Bradley said, "the two side referees had it. I was reaching for my (imaginary) red flag (to challenge the call) but the refs got together and got it right.

"Stevie is one of the leading touchdown catchers in the area and the state and he makes big-time plays. On fourth down, the best player (Ryan) went to the best player (Surette) and we were able to make it."

Whittier travels to Manchester-Essex (7-1, 3-0 in the league) Saturday night with the CAC Large lead at stake.

"This was a nice game leading up to Manchester," Bradley concluded. "(The Hornets) can spread it out, Brian Ciccone is one of the leading scorers around, Alex Carr's a good quarterback — they have the full package. (Yesterday's game) shows us how to play in pressure situations."