RallyNorth.net

St. Onge, Astros cruise

Saturday, September, 19 By David Willis
Staff writer

DERRY, N.H. – After a failed first drive, Pinkerton looked for someone to set the rhythm for the day. And Eric Guinto was happy to oblige.

“The quarterback overthrew his receiver,” said Guinto. “I picked it off, and at first just tried to pick up a few yards for the offense. But then I made a few cuts and saw a few holes and got into the end zone. I think that set the tone, and we just kept producing from there.”

Guinto picked off a pass and scampered 41 yards for the game’s first touchdown with 7:02 left in the first quarter. After that point, it was all Astros as Pinkerton rolled to a 47-0 drubbing of winless Manchester West yesterday afternoon.

“We needed this,” said senior Jeff Guilherme. “We were stopped and missed the field goal on the first drive. Then we said to ourselves, ‘I hope it’s not one of those close ones.’ Then Eric had the interception and we took off from there.

“After the (Week 1) loss to Bishop Guertin everyone was getting down. You could tell because people were getting on each other in practice. Then, last week we started to feel a little better, and this week we came out and had a great day.”

The Astros flew out to a 34-0 lead after two quarters, and after halftime the starters did not return to the field, allowing the backups to finish off the victory. Pinkerton tallied 368 yards of total offense while limiting West to just 60 yards, none through the air.

 “We did what we were supposed to do,” said Astros coach Brian O’Reilly. “They (Manchester West) have lost a lot. We knew we were a better team. We needed to play our brand of football and not throw the ball away, not fumble and not get sloppy, which can happen when you feel like you’re going to win. But we played very well today.”

The starters left the game so early that Pinkerton’s leading rusher was not All-Division 1 selection Guinto, but freshman backup quarterback Chris St. Onge. Replacing starter Ryan Simpson after the half, St. Onge rushed for 63 yards on just three carries, including a 28-yard score.

“I didn’t expect that,” joked Guilherme. “He just took off down the sidelines, made one kid miss, made another kid miss and he was in the end zone. It was pretty good.”

The backups continued to dominate after the break. In addition to St. Onge, senior fullback Andrew MacMillan added a 39-yard touchdown run, and sophomore Tyler Calderone rushed for 27 yards on two carries.

The Astros also limited the West starters to just 44 yards in the second half. Jeremy Allen had a sack and fumble recovery and Cody Zappen had a sack for Pinkerton, which caused four fumbles after halftime.

“The performance of our younger guys was a really good sign,” said Guilherme. “The backups’ performance showed us we have a lot of depth. If someone is hurt, we aren’t afraid anymore.”

For the starters, Ben Proulx and had a pair of sacks and Aryn McCarthy had five tackles.

“I was very happy with the way we moved the ball and played defense,” said O’Reilly. “I am very pleased. The passing game worked the way it was supposed to, and we have a very talented sophomore team and some freshmen.”