NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- Two goalline stands and one big run were the difference between a close game and a Mount Greylock rout on John J. DelNegro Field Saturday.
Taylor Cummings ran for 211 yards, including an 89-yard score late, and Michael Wellspeak threw for 131 yards and three scores as the Mounties evened their record at 1-1 with a 40-14 win over Drury.
The Blue Devils (1-1) had a couple of golden opportunities to put more points on the board. But in the second quarter, Malcolm Waynick picked off a pass at the goalline on second-and-goal from the 10. And in on the first play of the fourth quarter, with Mount Greylock enjoying a 28-6 lead, Sean Malloy recovered a Drury fumble at the 2.
“It’s exciting when you see a goalline stand because you’re back’s up against the wall,” Mount Greylock coach Andrew Agostini said. “We forced two turnovers, and it was awesome.”
Mount Greylock’s defense, which held perennial power Hoosac Valley to 14 points in Week 1, was once again pretty awesome on Saturday afternoon.
“We talked a lot this preseason about playing team defense,” Agostini said. “It really is player just doing what their responsibility is. One of the big things is we have our two big guys down low just trying to eat up blockers. We have athletic linebackers like Sean Malloy, Michael [Wellspeak], Taylor [Cummings] and Seth Schultheis. If you give them room to run, they can run and hit.
“They had trouble running it, and it put them behind the sticks. [Drury’s] Obilio [Rodriguez] is a really good quarterback, but it’s tough to move the ball when it’s third-and-10, and you have to complete long passes. Defense is clearly our strength this year after offense the last couple of years. We’ve just got to roll and keep getting better.”
The Mounties’ offense got off to a quick start on Saturday, scoring the first two times it touched the ball.
After taking over at its 14 following a Drury punt, Mount Greylock needed just four plays to get down the field. Cummings ran for 38 on two carries and Zeke Locklear had an 8-yard gain before Wellspeak hooked up with Jason Betti for a 40-yard score.
The next time the Mounties got the ball, they were on their 18 and again scored in four plays. Cummings broke off a 40-yarder to get his team into plus territory, and Malloy (56 yards) took it in from 16. Wellspeak’s 2-pointer made it 14-0.
Drury pulled within a score late in the second quarter when Rodriguez took advantage of a short field after a blocked punt by taking the Devils 26 yards and capping the drive with a 4-yard keeper on fourth-and-goal.
But Drury’s failed onside try on the ensuing kickoff gave Mount Greylock the ball at midfield with 1 minute, 35 seconds on the clock. That was enough time for Wellspeak and Cummings to get to the 17, where Wellspeak hit Brennan McGowan for a score. Cummings’ conversion made it 22-6 at half-time.
The teams traded drives in the third quarter. Mount Greylock’s went 48 yards and ended in an 18-yard keeper by Wellspeak to make it 28-6.
Drury’s went from its 39 to the Mount Greylock 3 before the fumble dashed all hopes for a Blue Devils comeback. On the Mounties’ first snap after the turnover, Cummings broke through for the 89-yard TD run.
Rodriguez finished with 60 yards through they air, including a late 23-yard scoring strike to Tim Koloc, and Robert Monsees rushed for 71 yards.
Drury coach Al Marceau said that his team’s inexperience combined with a short bench have made it a particularly challenging early going as the Blue Devils don’t have the bodies to hold up in 80-degree heat or the time in practice to do adequate conditioning to prepare players to go a full 44 minutes on the field.
“We’ve got to work them a little harder, and they’ve got to work a little harder,” Marceau said. “There’s only so much time at a practice when you have to do a lot of teaching. So, the conditioning stuff we do, as an athlete, you’ve got to push yourself to the max so that on Saturday is not so hard.
“But some of that is maybe us as coaches, we’ve got to push them a little more, get them a little better conditioned. … When you’re short guys, and they don’t know football, you do a lot of teaching, and the conditioning suffers. If we got them in great shape, would we be able to perform offensively the way we do?”
Drury has a short week of practice this week to get ready for Friday night’s game at Lee. Mount Greylock goes to Belchertown on Friday.
