Guillotte, Drury Dominant on Opening Day
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Louis Guillotte ran for 183 yards and scored five touchdowns Saturday as the Drury High School football team opened the season with a 50-20 win over Athol.
The Blue Devils dominated on both sides of the ball, allowing just a first-half touchdown on fourth and inches when they already had a 30-point lead and a pair of second-half touchdowns on long pass plays against the second unit.
Jayshawn Moore ran for 65 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and the Drury defense allowed 25 yards rushing.
Guillotte said there is still room for improvement with the Blue Devils.
“We’re only playing at like 70 percent,” he said. “We’ve still got a lot of work today, but we definitely played a good game today for what we worked on.”
After Hunter Marceau picked off a fourth-down pass at the 33 on Athol’s opening possession, Drury needed just five plays to get into the end zone on a 17-yard run by Moore.
The next time it touched the ball, Drury needed just four play to go 23 yards, ending on a 14-yard Guillotte run.
It was Moore’s turn to score on the Blue Devils’ next possession, going in from the 10 on a fourth-and-1 play. Another quick possession – just three plays – led to Drury’s fourth TD on Guillotte’s 34-yard run on the second play of the second quarter.
A Drury fumble at midfield led to Athol’s only score, which came on a 10-play march that featured stops on first-and-goal from the 5, second-and-goal from the 2 and third-and-goal from the 3 before Athol’s Aiden Melanson was able to squeeze in from less than a foot away.
“In the first half, our first ‘D’ played extremely well,” Drury coach Al Marceau said. “I was more frustrated that they played so disciplined and in the first half when we gave up points … they were overpursuing. They had ‘em behind the line of scrimmage, and they actually ran into one another and let them spurt out.”
Overall, though, Drury’s swarming defense was a big reason it held the Bears to one score until late in the third quarter, when the game already was in running time.
“That’s a credit to our assistant coach,” Marceau said. “Coach [Rob] Jutras … every play, every scout team play, all 11 to the ball. He won’ blow the whistle until all 11 get to the ball. I have to say, we rallied really well. So I was happy.”
The smiles broadened when Drury answered Athol’s first TD with a 60-yard drive that started with a short pass from Ben McDonogugh (2-for-5, 47 yards) and ended with Guilotte’s third touchdown of the half on a 14-yard run.
Guillotte went 65 yards on the first play of the second half and returned a punt 50 yards to account for the rest of Drury’s offense.
Drury fans are used to seeing big days from the senior tailback, but there was plenty of credit to spread around on Saturday, starting with the Blue Devils’ offensive line.
“We actually called some audibles today, and they got them right,” Marceau said. “For the first game of the season, that’s a big deal. They’re thinking. They’re seeing a defense and saying, ‘OK, if we see this, we’re supposed to go to that,’ and they did.
“So I was happy about that.”
Drury will look to to go to 2-0 on Friday night at Mahar.