Stoneham runs over Wilmington
STONEHAM — In what was built up as two unbeaten Middlesex League Freedom Division teams matching up against one another, quickly turned into a one-sided affair.
The Stoneham Spartans put up 300 offensive yards in the first half, led by four touchdowns before cruising the rest of the way to defeat Wilmington, 48-13. Stoneham perfected the doublewing offensive scheme all night, led by two-way tackle Peter Godfrey, who absolutely dominated on both sides of the ball.
The Spartans (7-0) finished the game with 368 yards of offense led by backs Jake Bruno (10 carries for 147 yards, 2 TDs) and Patrick McNamara (11 carries for 130 yards, 2 TDs).
“I felt like we were the more physical team watching them in person and on film, but they are so explosive,” said Stoneham head coach Bob Almeida, who previously coached Wilmington for 12 years. “They hit a couple of those plays and who knows? They didn’t stop us at all (defensively), but offensively they are scary with (Gavin) Erickson, quarterback Pedro Germano and his brother John, who are both very good players. They are an explosive offensive team and they can score some points.”
Stoneham led 14-0 just 3:07 into the game as McNamara and Bruno scored on TD runs on 42 and 40 yards, respectively. Wilmington answered, scoring late in the first as Marcello Misuraca ran the ball in from the 1, making it 14-7 after the first.
It was all Stoneham in the second with McNamara and Bruno scoring again, before Colin Farren caught a 29yard pass from QB Jason Nutting on the final play of the half.
“I’m real happy with the way we played tonight,” said Almeida. “I felt like we were really stopping ourselves offensively the last few weeks and not going to our potential. We played a real clean game tonight.”
Wilmington got a second half TD by sophomore Michael Lawler.
“We played terrible,” said Wildcats’ head coach Craig Turner. “I have to see the film, defensively I would imagine that we did everything we weren’t asked to do. They are a pretty good team but we made it pretty easy for them. We didn’t do anything well. They absolutely smothered us in every aspect of the game.”