By Keith Harrington

It may have taken longer than expected, five days to be exact, but the Granville-Whitehall football earned their first win of the season Monday evening, finishing off Rensselaer 34-6 in a Section II Class C matchup. The win marks the initial win of the Kevin Gebo era as the head coach of the merged program.

The game was suspended Thursday night due to lightning from a line of severe thunderstorms that passed through the area. Granville-Whitehall was leading 20-6 at the time.

The Rams struck first on a blocked punt returned for a score to lead 6-0 after the first quarter.

In the second CJ Monty got Granville-Whitehall on the board with a 12-yard scoring run. The conversion pass failed, leaving the game tied at 6-6.

Granville-Whitehall took their first lead of the night on a safety after a Rensselaer snap attempt sailed out of the end zone. On the ensuing free kick Trey Mason scampered 60 yards for a touchdown. The conversion pass failed giving Granville-Whitehall a 14-6 lead.

Nick Powers closed out the first half scoring by hauling in a 30-yard touchdown strike from RJ Monger to extend the Granville-Whitehall advantage to 20-6 at the break.

On Monday Granville-Whitehall came out and put the game away. Allen Beaulieu returned a punt 54 yards to extend the margin to 26-6. The conversion pass from Monger to Tommy Barber made it 28-6.

Monty wrapped up the scoring with an 8-yard run.

Monty believes there is more success to come for Granville-Whitehall.
“We played with heart, and trust me you will hear more about Granville-Whitehall more often now,” said Monty. “The line played an amazing game. I absolutely love our energy and the way we can handle the pressure coming our way.”

Granville-Whitehall is now 1-1 on the season and travels to Coxsackie-Athens on Friday night.