Slow start, strong finish
Witches get rolling in 2nd quarter; Kuzmich part of five touchdowns
Jesse Kuzmich needed just three words to summarize the conclusion of the Greenwich football team’s first two drives.
He then expanded on what the Witches did over the last 36 minutes in producing a 34-0 victory over Voorheesville in Class D action Sunday from Stillwater High School.
“It was ugly,” said Kuzmich, a junior quarterback who also stars in basketball and baseball for Greenwich. “We cleaned it up in the second quarter, third quarter and fourth quarter. We cleaned up what we needed to clean up, and we can still get a lot better.”
Greenwich suffered turnovers on its first two possessions, but did little wrong after that in opening its seven-week Fall Season II campaign in impressive fashion. The Witches were led by the all-around exploits from Kuzmich, a superlative showing from the team’s offensive line and stellar outing by a defense that generated five sacks, two interceptions and one fumble recovery.
“We have not done a lot of contact, and we’re not very deep,” Greenwich coach Brandon Linnett said. “Nobody is (in Class D). This was a good chance for us to build character, and I know (Voorheesville)
is well-coached. They have had just as few practices as we’ve had. I will take that win. It was closer than the score showed.”
“We are obviously disappointed,” Voorheesville coach Joe Sapienza said. “We basically told the kids that this was our scrimmage. We are going to break the film down and fix all the little mistakes we made. We are disappointed, but I think we just played the best team (in Class D).”
Greenwich and Voorheesville both competed in Class C in 2019. The Witches finished 7-2 and dropped a 35-21 semifinal decision to eventual champion Stillwater.
The Witches drove down the field with their first possession Sunday but fumbled it away. Voorheesville had the ball only two plays and fumbled it right back. Greenwich coughed it again three plays later, but the defense quickly stopped the Blackbirds, and Kuzmich capped a six-play, 44-yard drive with the first of his four rushing touchdowns to establish a 6-0 lead.
Voorheesville answered by driving to the Greenwich 20. A motion penalty hindered the Blackbirds and Kuzmich ended the march with a tackle for a four-yard loss on a pass to senior receiver Alex Sapienza.
“We really take pride in our defense,” Kuzmich said. “Greenwich is a defensive team.”
Kuzmich extended the lead to 12-0 with 6:03 left in the second quarter when he culminated a 68-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown run. Greenwich sophomore safety Kadyn Macneil later made a diving interception, setting up the Witches with a short field. Kuzmich faked a pass and found the end zone for a twoyard touchdown run on fourth down to help Greenwich establish a 20-0 halftime advantage.
Voorheesville’s best drive of the day opened the third quarter, and it consumed nine minutes and 22 seconds. The Blackbirds reached the Greenwich 5 and faced a fourthand-2 situation. Greenwich senior tackle Bryce Lynch recorded his third sack of the game against Voorheesville junior quarterback Ryan Conley to end the threat.
“Bryce is an absolute animal,” Kuzmich said. “He helps make everyone around him better.”
“Bryce is scary and he played well today,” Linnett said. “I think they tested him. Sometimes, they doubled him. A few times, they tripled him.”
“He is every bit as good as they said he was,” Sapienza said of Lynch.
The Witches responded to the defensive stop by driving 90 yards over eight plays — a combination of passes from Kuzmich (11-for-14, 159 yards) to Alex Curtis to go along with runs from Kuzmich and senior running back Max Maguire (155 yards on 14 carries). Kuzmich finished off the series with a 3-yard touchdown run and later connected with Curtis on a swing pass the senior turned into a 46-yard touchdown reception.
Greenwich, which next takes on Stillwater, outgained Voorheesville 437-156 and denied the Blackbirds on all three trips to the red zone.
“I think we can win against any team, even if we could play Class C teams,” Kuzmich said.
“Greenwich is really good,” Sapienza said. “Our kids showed some grit and I am proud of them.”
“We are blessed to even be playing right now,” Linnett said. “We’ll take that win. Plenty still to work on.”