NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The Drury football team was a little delayed in making its home debut.
But it was worth the wait.
Louis Guilotte ran for 78 yards from scrimmage and returned a punt 70 yards for a touchdown, and Anthony Pettengill threw two touchdowns to Jackson Powell as the Blue Devils beat crosstown rival McCann Tech, 18-6, to improve to 3-0 this fall.
It was the Tri-County League opener for both teams. The Hornets (0-4) came in with one more non-league game under their belts after Drury’s would-be Week 2 opponent canceled that contest.
For the second week in a row, McCann Tech came up on the short end despite a stellar performance from junior tailback David Delisle.
Delisle, who saw his first action of the season in a road loss at Lee in Week 3, ran for 242 yards on Saturday, including an 80-yard scamper for McCann Tech’s only score.
Despite those numbers, a big key for the Blue Devils was making sure Delisle did not do even more damage.
“People forget that we had David,” Drury coach Al Marceau said. “He played for us his eighth-grade year, and we knew exactly what he was. I mean, he’s a man. He runs hard. He’s strong. He’s fast. He’s got all the traits you want in a tailback.
“Our big emphasis was making sure we got all 11 hats to the ball because he breaks a lot of tackles. I thought we did that really nicely from about midway through the first quarter … to the start of the third quarter. I thought we did an excellent job of that, getting to the ball, wrapping up, making them earn everything.”
Drury’s offense earned the game’s first score with a 72-yard drive.
Guilotte and Jayshawn Moore combined to run for 59 yards on six carries to get the ball to the plus-23. From there, Pettengill found Powell deep down the left side for the touchdown.
After the first of the game’s four missed two-point conversions, McCann Tech got the ball at its 20 on the ensuing kickoff.
On second and 10, Delisle broke through the left side of the line and raced the defense and to the end zone to tie the game.
Drury answered, making it three touchdowns on three straight possessions.
A 51-yard kickoff return by Powell got the ball to the plus-33.
Guilotte converted a fourth-and-6 at the 31 to keep the drive alive, and three plays later, Pettengill hit Powell in the end zone to give Drury the lead for good, 12-6.
On its next possession, McCann Tech was forced to punt from its 34, and Guilotte ran it back 70 yards for the game’s final score with 5 minutes, 17 seconds left in the first half.
The Hornets ate up most of the third quarter on offense, going from to the Drury 11 after recovering a fumble on the Blue Devils’ opening possession of the half.
McCann Tech’s drive was helped by a 6-yard run by Delisle after a fumbled snap on a punt attempt on fourth-and-3.
That was the first of five McCann Tech first downs on a drive that consumed 11:24 and ended early in the fourth with a failed fourth-and-9 conversion attempt at the plus-11.
After a Drury punt, the Hornets got the ball back at their own 38 and took it to the Drury 34. But an 8-yard Delisle run on fourth-and-10 came up short with 3:13 left to play.
Again, McCann Tech’s defense held, but the offense did not get the ball back until there was only 1:40 left, and the Hornets were out of timeouts. A pass on third-and-2 was broken up by Amont David, and a fourth-down pass was intercepted by Moore to end the game.
Saturday’s victory continues a successful partnership between Drury and Mount Greylock, which planned to return to competition on its own this season but was forced to get an emergency cooperative team approved when preseason numbers fell below expectations.
“We added [Jackson] Powell from Greylock, and he’s a really good key for our team,” Guilotte said. “We can use him.
“We’ve had a co-op before, but it’s different this year. We’re closer, we’re all working together, and we work hard in practice.”
Marceau remembers the last iteration of the Drury-Mount Greylock co-op as being more cohesive by the end of the season, but he agreed that this year they’ve been able to jell faster.
“They’re football players,” Marceau said of the Mount Greylock students who committed to the squad. “They want to play football. If you are willing to catch a van every day, and come over and play for another school, you’re a football player. And that’s who they are.
“That’s why it’s pretty seamless because they just want to have a successful football season. I have a great group of kids, and they’ve been wonderful, and the Greylock kids have just added to it.”
Drury enjoys a scheduled bye week this week before going to Pathfinder on Oct. 15. McCann Tech hosts Pathfinder next Saturday.
