Articles
Toppers Trounce Crimson Tide
- Details
- Created on Saturday, 17 September 2011 20:33
- Written by Eric Berry
Early and often. That's about how one would describe the score changes at Fairbanks Field today, as the St. Johnsbury Academy Hilltoppers defeated the Spaulding Crimson Tide, 46-6.
The Hilltoppers won the toss, and subsequently elected to receive, it took just a couple of plays to get the light bulbs turned on, on the left side of the scoreboard. Lincoln Lemieux(7-11, 161, 1TD pass, 1TD run) found a streaking Griffin Comerci, down the center of the field, for a 58-yard TD strike just 3:49 into the contest. The PAT by Lemieux was good at St. J was out to the early, 7-0 lead.
After a quick three and out by Spaulding, the Toppers would quickly march right back down the field, using the deft passing of Lemieux. Matt Corcoran scampered in from 3 yards out and, the PAT was again good, and St. J was up 14-0 at the 7:32 mark of the 1st quarter.
Things would only get worse for the Crimson Tide. A third consecutive time on offense resulted in 3 quick plays and a punt-giving the Toppers good field position to work with again. Lemieux hit Lucas Robillard over the middle on a short pass and run, as Robillard carried defenders to the 1 yard line. From there, Corcoran scampered in again and the PAT was good as the Hilltoppers went up 21-0 with 2:28 still to play in the first.
Less than 3 minutes later(getting the picture yet?) Lemieux, for good measure, ran one around the end from 13 yards out to add to the already insurmountable lead. The only thing that went wrong for #3 was a miss of two extra point attempts in the first half, that's it.
Before you could blink, the Academy got the ball back and Sam Hutchins(8-70 yards) took it to the house on a nice 28-yard TD run of his own. Three minutes after that Comerci ran in on a highlight reel play, reversing the field, and getting great blocks out front to run in from 30 yards out. After a half in which there may have been more fireworks than the 4th of July, St. Johnsbury led 40-0.
Much credit had to go both to the offensive and defensive lines as the guys in the trenches were opening gaping holes for the running backs, and giving time for their quarterback to throw. Meantime, defensively the front four of the Toppers, Kevin Santura, Steven Linowes, Richard Emery, and Isaiah Preston were pressuring Spaulding quarterback Jon Kilian all day long.
In the 2nd half Spaulding would get on the board on a 4 yard TD by Kilian to make the score 40-6. To that, St. Johnsbury would again answer, as Joe McCabe closed out the scoring with a 16-yard TD run with 1:47 left. The PAT would fail making the final score 46-6.
Kilian finished 5-14 for 72 yards, while rushing for 42 yards as well. Lemieux was given the XIP MVP of the game for his performance-though he only played about 1 and a 1/2 quarters! The Toppers improve to 2 and 1, while Spaulding drops to 0 and 3. Comerci finished with 5 catches for 94 yards. Next week St. Johnsbury Academy takes on the CVU Redhawks in what will be a big game for the Toppers!
