By Keith Harrington
Greenwich scored early and often as they rolled over Granville-Whitehall 54-8 in a Section II crossover game Thursday evening at Jordy Jackson Field. It was the season finale for both squads.
Greenwich came up short in their bid for a Class D playoff spot, but they didn’t look like a team on the outside looking in as they fashioned a 32-0 lead after a quarter and extended it to 40-0 at halftime.
“It’s been one of those years where the kids just couldn’t catch a break,” Granville-Whitehall coach Kevin Gebo said. “Even this game, we were supposed to play Hudson Falls, and that was changed last minute.”
The Tigers are 1-8 and fell to Greenwich 68-14 and likely would have been a competitive matchup for Gebo’s team.
The Witches needed just four plays to get on the scoreboard. Matt Conliin rambled in from 19 yards out to give Greenwich an 8-0 lead after Ryan Ingber’s conversion run less than three minutes into the contest.
On their second possession, the Witches got a 26-yard scoring strike from Ingber to Will Weber to increase their lead to 16-0 after Ingber ran in the conversion again with 5:21 to play in the stanza.
Granville-Whitehall fumbled the ball on their next drive and the Witches pounced on it. Greenwich cashed in on the opportunity in just one play as Joe Radovich found the end zone on a 29-yard scamper. Conlin ran in the conversion to make it 24-0.
The Witches got another break when Granville-Whitehall neglected to cover the ensuing kickoff and Greenwich recovered. Conlin took advantage of the blunder as he scored on a 13-yard run to increase the lead to 32-0 after the Radovich conversion run with six seconds left in the opening quarter.
Greenwich rounded out the first half scoring in the second quarter on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Ingber to Jack Saunders. Another Radovich conversion run gave the Witches a 40-0 lead at the half.
The highlight of the night for Granville-Whitehall came in the third quarter when quarterback RJ Monger tossed a 45-yard touchdown pass to Jaxon Torres who made a gorgeous over-the-shoulder grab in traffic to make the score 40-8 after the conversion pass.
Conlin and Weber closed the scoring with touchdown runs in the fourth quarter.
“We’ll have to start over again next year. We’ve got some tough, tough kids,” Gebo concluded.
Greenwich finishes the season 6-4. Granville ends their campaign 3-7.
