Heart and soul
Offensive Player of the Year John Barnes and Defensive Player of the Year Nate Hatalsky were both instrumental to their teams’ success.
Barnes was a force for Greenwich’s offense
GREENWICH — Before the high school football season started, Greenwich coach Brandon Linnett pulled John Barnes aside and talked about setting goals for the running back’s junior season.
The coach needed Barnes, who was to be the focal point of Greenwich’s offense, to pick up at least 1,500 yards on the ground and score at least 20 touchdowns. He based those figures off a 10game schedule, hoping 150 yards and two scores per night from Barnes, when coupled with additional offense from his supporting cast, would be enough to send the Witches deep into the postseason.
The playoff run never materialized. Greenwich, the victim of an absurd Class D rule, didn’t clinch a playoff spot despite finishing the season 6- 2 and defeating two of the class’ four playoff teams.
That didn’t stop Barnes from coming within 60 feet of achieving both of his coach’s goals.
In fact, there was not much that did stop the 6-foot-2, 190-pounder this season. He finished the year with 1,481 yards on the ground, an average of 185 per game, and 23 total touchdowns.
He reached the end zone in some form – rushing, receiving, or returning kicks – in every game he played this season and his runs represented 70 percent of Greenwich’s total rushing offense.
For his efforts, Barnes has been named The Saratogian’s Offensive Player of the Year.
He was at his finest when the Witches needed him to be, carrying the ball 46 times for 377 yards and three scores in a Week 6 overtime thriller against archrival Cambridge. He scored on runs of 2, 34 and 69 yards as Greenwich turned an early 12-0 deficit into a 34-28 lead. The Witches later fell, but not before Barnes
showcased the combination of size, strength and speed that makes him difficult to stop.
“He just ran around us,” Cambridge coach Doug Luke recalled. “He ran through us. He had a fantastic game. … Second, third, fourth hits. He was still running over us.”
That game won’t be soon forgotten, but one Friday night does not make or break a MVP season. Barnes eclipsed the 150- yard mark five other times, despite being used sparingly — if at all — in most second halves. He also led the Witches with 222 receiving yards, about a third of the team’s passing offense.
“That almost made us a dual threat,” Barnes said. “You couldn’t just play the run, we could beat you with the pass when you weren’t expecting it.”
Statistics aside, the one thing that set Barnes aside from other candidates was an intangible.
“What he really brought was the ability to score every single time he touched the football,” Linnett said.
That aura, the coach continued, was contagious. It made the rest of Greenwich’s team, including All- Star linemen Will McFee and Hunter Periard, do a little bit extra on the field, knowing their downfield blocks could make the difference between a defensive stop and a Witches touchdown.
“It gives the kids a feeling they’re never out of the game when you have that kind of an offensive weapon,” Linnett added.