Sports
York Wildcats win scrum, 20-14
By Stan Ross
Alex Blomquist is pictured here on his way to a big day in last Friday's York Wildcats scrimmage against St. Thomas of Dover, N.H.Photo by Kate Rasche
YORK - Last Friday, Aug. 25, in a 5 p.m. controlled scrimmage, the York High Wildcats hosted St. Thomas Academy of Dover, N.H.
For both teams it was their final chance to bang heads before the regular season starts this weekend.
Venerable coach Rod Wotten from St. Thomas summed things up by saying, "We both had a good scrimmage and I think both teams should have a good year."
York coach Randy Small added, "I hope he has a great year, but we have a lot of work to do!"
The actual scrimmage was controlled by having coaches on the field for both teams, eliminating kickoffs and restricting punts by eliminating the rush and not allowing any returns.
York opened the action when Co-Captain Zach Pruger picked up six yards off the right side behind a solid block from Co-Captain Ryan Vokey. Then sophomore quarterback Evan Wallace picked up a first down on a sweep to the right. Then Jake Moran opened a huge hole for Sal Sala for a seven yard gain.
Pruger blocked for Alex Quinn, who picked up another first down at the St. Thomas 48 yard line.
QB Wallace opened the scoring when he completed a short pass to Tony Romano, who ran through the St. Thomas defense for the first touchdown of the scrimmage. There was no line rush on the extra point try, and York was able to split the uprights to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead at the 6:04 mark.
St. Thomas gained one first down, but a solid stick by Alex Blomquist and a sack by Gene Jones forced St. Thomas to punt on a fourth and 15. After a fair catch by Dan Moran, the Wildcats put the ball in play on their own 11 yard line. Wallace picked up six yards on a QB keeper but after another six-yard gain by Pruger was negated by a holding penalty.
York was faced with a third and 13 from their own 15 yard line. No problem. Wallace hit Romano on a crossing pattern and he sprinted 85 yards for their second TD. The extra point was good and York led 14-0 with 24 seconds left in the first quarter.
Jon Jiminez made a solid stick for York and Blomquist returned an intercepted pass to the St. Thomas 43 yard line.
Both teams were substituting freely and "Big Dan" Sheehan hauled in a pass for another Wildcat first down. Then St. Thomas fought back and completed one pass to the York 25 yard line. After a rush up the middle, and a York offside penalty, St. Thomas had a first and goal on the York four yard line.
A fullback plunge over left tackle gave St. Thomas their first TD with 5:49 left in the half. They boomed their extra point kick and the score was York 14, St. Thomas 7. Scott Langenheim had two short gains for York but the Wildcats were forced to punt.
St. Thomas took over after the York kick went out of bounds on the Wildcat 40 yard line with three minutes to play in the half. After a nine yard gain on a pitch play, and a 10 yard gain off tackle, Jiminez stepped up and made a solid stick for York. But with just 54 seconds left in the half, St. Thomas completed a pass to their right end for their second TD. Another booming kick gave them the point after and the score was all even at 14-14 at half time.
There were numerous subs in action in the second half, but some York highlights included a sack by Buddy Gauthier, and a 53-yard TD run by Greg Lipton that gave York a 20-14 lead at the 6:07 mark.
Other key plays for York included Cam Rodrigues bouncing outside for a 15 yard gain and also shooting the gap on defense to create a six yard loss. Dan Petrozelli made a good catch in the flat, Ryan MacGlashing and Pat Graham got some minutes on defense and Gauthier was still making solid hits until the game ended with the final score of York 20, St. Thomas 14.
The Wildcat regular season begins on the road with games at Poland Regional on Saturday afternoon, Sept.2, at 1:30 p.m. and on Friday night, Sept. 8, at Gray-New Gloucester at 7 p.m.
