Seniors Shine in McCann Tech's Fourth Straight Win
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The McCann Tech football team Saturday scored the first two times it touched the ball and led by 27 points at half-time before finishing with a 35-0 win in the regular season finale against Pathfinder.
Darius Tovani ran for 135 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and Josh Brazeau ran for 132 yards and a score as the Hornets (4-3) won their fourth straight game.
McCann Tech coach Tony Skiffington said his team did what it set out to do against a Pathfinder team that the Hornets did what they set out to do against an opponent that started the day with six losses and just four players on the bench.
“That’s a young team over there,” Skiffington said. “We got our scores in early and tried to get everyone in the game. And we did. Everyone played a lot of football.
“The seniors played awesome. It was about them. All the senior backs scored. … Hats off to all five [seniors]. They’re all great kids.”
Senior Darius Tovani capped McCann’s four-play, 41-yard drive to open the game with a 38-yard run.
The Hornets needed just four plays on their second possession to go 65 yards. Tovani broke a run for 19 yards, and Brazeau had a 34-yard carry before Darian Tovani scored on a 21-yard run to the right side. Darian threw to Darius for the two-point conversion, and it was 14-0.
McCann Tech scored twice more in the second quarter.
The first came on a fourth-and-12 at its own 36. Darius Tovani lined up as the short man in the punt formation, took the snap and ran 64 yards for his second score of the day.
Just before half-time, Darius threw to Darian on a trick play that went for 44 yards and a score.
McCann Tech took the opening kickoff of the second half and went 59 yards -- the last nine by Brazeau to provide the final margin before the offensive regulars became spectators with 9:26 left in the third.
Pathfinder’s best chance to get on the scoreboard came in the fourth quarter, when it took over on downs at its own 30 and went all the way to the McCann Tech 7 against the Hornets’ second unit.
But on second-and-goal from the 7, Blake Todd recovered a fumble for the Hornets.
Pathfinder mounted another challenge late in the fourth, but after getting a first-and-10 at the McCann Tech 18 and with a running clock in effect for the entire fourth quarter, the visitors ran out of time.
The Hornets learn on Sunday its opponent for the first of two weeks of non-qualifier play. Skiffington said McCann’s focus will not change much in the final two weeks of the season. It’s too early to start thinking about 2020, he indicated.
“Come to practice, play hard and get ready to win,” he said. “It’s about playing football. The kids who have been playing are going to play.”