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Hornets dispose of Mystic Valley, look toward showdown with Georgetown

Monday, November, 12 By Nick Curcuru
Correspondent

With a Thanksgiving day showdown against Georgetown coming up, one might think that Saturday's game against Mystic Valley could have been a trap, with Manchester Essex looking ahead to the Royals.

The Hornets, however, were right on their game with a dominating 31-0 win at Malden Catholic's Brother Gilbert Stadium.

With the win, the Hornets (8-2) will now travel to Georgetown on Thanksgiving morning (10 a.m.) to take on the Royals (8-1) in a game where the winner will move on to the playoffs as the Commonwealth Small conference champion, and the loser is done for the season.

"We did a good job staying focused and not looking ahead," Hornets captain Sam Cohen said. "We put points on the board early and played our type of football."

It did not take very long for the Hornets to get on the board. After returning the opening kickoff into Eagles territory, Brian Ciccone raced 42 yards to the end zone on the first play of the game from scrimmage to give Manchester Essex a 6-0 lead.

The Hornets would score on their next drive as well, this time it was an eight-play, 76-yard drive that commenced on Jack Bishop's 1-yard run giving the Hornets a 13-0 lead after the first quarter. The Hornets would get a 38-yard touchdown run late in the first half to go up 19-0 at the break.

The second half was a lot like the first. Colin Lyne's interception on Mystic Valley's first second half drive helped set up a 10-yard Ciccone touchdown run. Freshman Calvin Cook would add a fourth quarter touchdown to make it 31-0.

For the second week in a row, the Manchester Essex offense was led by its running attack, collectively putting up 258 rushing yards. Ciccone led all rushers with 101 yards and two touchdowns, while quarterback Pat Orlando added 60. The Hornets defense was equally as good as the offense, holding Mystic Valley to just 112 yards of total offense.

"We did some good things tonight," Hornets head coach Mike Athanas said. "We ran the ball well and our young kids got some good playing time; and they played well too."

The Hornets will now turn all their attention to Georgetown. "This is what we have been waiting for," Athanas said. "We are working really hard to defend our title. We made it so this is a meaningful game and we have to play our game."

The game will pit a battle of two high-powered offenses, with different philosophies. The Royals like to run the triple option led by quarterback Joe Esposito and Brandon Wade, whereas the Hornets like to run a balanced spread out attack.

"We are going to have to set up a game plan to stop their triple threat offense," Athanas said. "We will be preparing hard all week. We are going to do what we do, there aren't going to be any surprises."

The Hornets do not want their season to end on Thanksgiving day, they want to play as long as they can and Georgetown is their final hurdle.

"This is huge," Cohen said. "It's do or die, win or go home. Our goal at the beginning of the season was to get to the playoffs and Georgetown is standing in our way. I definitely don't want my senior year to end on Thanksgiving."