Mount Greylock Uses Diversified Rushing Attack to Go to 4-0
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. -- Mount Greylock sophomore quarterback Michael Wellspeak completed a pair of passes for 89 yards and a touchdown in the third quarter on Friday night.
But his biggest contributions may have come in the running attack, where he teamed with Devin Pelletier, Patrick Storie and Cal Messina to rush for 194 yards and three TDs in a 41-13 win over McCann Tech at Bill Laston Memorial Park.
“With the weather, we knew we weren’t going to pass that much,” said Pelletier, who rushed for a game-high 69 and a touchdown. “Our line has been doing great all year, and we had a chance to show off our running game.
“Michael has been amazing this year. You can’t cover him. He throws so well, and then he can just run it.”
Mount Greylock (4-0) just ran at will at times on Friday night against a McCann Tech team that entered the season banged up and has continued to lose players -- including in Friday’s second quarter.
The night got off to a rough start for the Hornets when the Mounties earned a three-and-out on McCann’s opening possession, and Storie returned the ensuing punt 56 yards to make it 6-0. Max Joy hit the first of three successful extra points to make it a seven-point cushion.
The first time Mount Greylock’s offense got on the field, it fumbled away the ball on its second play from scrimmage. The second time, it marched 85 yards in 10 plays, capped by Pelletier’s 9-yard scoring run. The kick failed, and the Mounties led 13-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Mount Greylock started its next possession in plus territory and went 39 yards in four plays. Wellspeak did the honors on a 9-yard keeper. He then hit Sean McCormack for the conversion to make it 21-0, which is where it stood at half-time.
In the third quarter, Storie scored on a 5-yard run, and Wellspeak hooked up with Storie on a 63-yard TD pass deep on the left side. Sophomore backup Taylor Cummings scored from 19 yards out on the first play of the fourth quarter to push the lead to 41-0.
McCann, which had two first downs through the first three quarters, saw a 33-yard drive stall in a punt at midfield to start the fourth. The Hornets then capitalized on a break when Lucas Jamros recovered a fumble in the end zone for McCann’s first score. Its second score came in the closing moments -- helped by two 15-yard penalties against the Mounties -- when backup QB Andrew Koch scored on a 3-yard plunge.
“We’ve had to make quite a few changes, and you can see what’s happening,” McCann coach Bob LeClair said. “We’re a M*A*S*H unit over here. It’s somebody going down every week.
“If you look, we’re playing a lot of young, inexperienced kids. They’re sophomores out there, and they’re being thrown into the breach. It’s sink or swim. … We’re just going to keep battling away.”
Friday night’s game was played under temporary lights on a youth football field in the hometown of many of the Mount Greylock players, including Pelletier.
“I think it was really special,” he said. “Everyone grew up playing for the Tigers on this field. I think it was great we could put it all together.”