Wahconah's Clayton, Mount Greylock's Smith Earn Weekly Honors

This week's iBerkshires.com/Adams Community Bank Athletes of the Week helped establish their teams as the best in the Berkshires … at least so far this fall.

 

The Wahconah football team has just one date against a Berkshire County foe, and it made the most of it, shutting out Taconic, 43-0, one week after Taconic posted a 74-0 win in its opener.

 

Senior QB Tim Clayton directed Wahconah’s offense to its second 40-point performance to open the season, throwing for 169 yards and three touchdowns in his team’s home opener.

 

Clayton took full advantage of a talented receiving corps that offers size and speed, starting with Tom Burris, who made several acrobatic catches on Friday night.

 

“Tommy O’Connor is 6-foot-5,” Wahconah coach Gary Campbell said. “Griffin Salvini is 6-2. Luke Hescock. We have kids. Gabe Verdi is fast. We have guys.

 

“You’ve got to put it up and go get it. I know it’s kind of ‘backyard-ish,’ but, so what, we’re going to work on it. … We can be very dangerous.”

 

So can the Mount Greylock girls cross country team, which this week scored two big wins.

 

On Wednesday, the Mounties earned a 16-point win over their top county rival, Lenox, in their dual meet at Monument Mountain. On Saturday, Mount Greylock crossed over into New York State and won their division at the Queensbury Invitational, a competition that draws some the top teams from throughout New York’s Capital District.

 

Freshman Josie Smith was front and center at both events.

 

On Wednesday, she was just a little under eight seconds ahead of teammate Jacqueline Wells for first place. And on Saturday, she was four seconds out of first place and .4 seconds ahead of Wells for second.

 

Smith and Wells traded places in first and second at the first two county events of the fall, helping to set the pace for a deep Mount Greylock roster that routinely dominates the top 10.

 

The iBerkshires.com Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Adams Community Bank.