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Goal-line stands clinches win for Pinkerton

Saturday, October, 09 By David Willis
Staff writer

DERRY — Prior to the decisive play, Pinkerton co-captain Luke Somers had a message for his squad.

“Mike (Mazzola) and I looked at the guys,” said Somers, “And we told them, ‘We can do this. We have done this before.’”

On fourth-and-inches with 1:59 left in the contest at their 8-yard line, a wall of Astro defenders halted Exeter quarterback Jamieson Tymann for no gain on a QB keep to the right for their second goal-line stand of the game to give Pinkerton a 21-14 victory over upset-minded Exeter yesterday afternoon.

“We’re a team that takes pride in making goal-line stands,” said fellow co-captain Mazzola. “We tend to have times when teams drive down, then we stop them in the red zone. The defense got together and talked and said, ‘We have to stop them here and finish it.’”

Pinkerton (5-1) had taken the lead with 8:52 to play when Mazzola finished off a 13-play, 89-yard drive when he plunged in from a yard out.

But Exeter (1-5) responded with a 13-play, 69-yard drive that ate up nearly seven minutes and put them at third-and-1 at the Pinkerton 8.

But the Astros were up to the task. With Mazzola and Kevin Davies leading a host of tackles, they stuffed Exeter on runs on the final two downs.

“We needed one more good football play,” said Somers. “They guys responded, and it felt so good to finish it off.”

It was Pinkerton’s second red-zone stand of the second half. On the Blue Hawks’ only other possession after halftime, they drove 13 plays to the Astros 7-yard line. But on fourth-and-2, 265-pound Pinkerton lineman Jesse Trottier stopped Exeter fullback John Abizaid for 1-yard gain.

Exeter held a 14-6 advantage at halftime, thanks to a kickoff return for a touchdown and one long scoring drive.

But on the Astros’ seventh play of the second half, running back Emmitt Smith broke off a 61-yard touchdown run that, after Chris St. Onge ran in the two-point conversion, tied the game 14-14.

“We needed a big play to get going because we were flat in the first half,” said Somers. “Emmitt is always good for a play like that.”

After the first key defensive stop, the Astros then responded with their drive for the winning advantage.

Smith finished the day with a game-high 180 yards on 16 carries and two scores. Mazzola added 60 yards on eight carries and St. Onge had 48 yards on five rushes, including the 9-yard carry that iced the victory.

Davies paced the Astros with 15 tackles while Mazzola and Branden Rodgers each had seven stops and Somers had six tackles.

“We didn’t play as well as I would have liked,” said Pinkerton coach Brian O’Reilly. “But the positive is, when things were not looking good, I like the way the guys responded after halftime and on the goal line. I saw a lot of positives, even though it wasn’t how it should have happened.”