Quick Start Propels Drury Past McCann Tech
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Drury football team’s first half performance was enough to take down city rival McCann Tech, under the lights, 27-2, on Thursday.
You couldn’t ask for a better start if you were a Drury fan as the Blue Devils’ Louis Guilotte went 60 yards for a score on the opening play.
That play really set the tone for the game early on as Drury rolled in the first half.
After a quick three and out for McCann, Drury went right back at them but this time through the air. Ben McDonough found Amont David on a nice 19-yard touchdown pass to make the score 13-0. McDonough finished with 66 yards and three touchdowns through the air in the game.
Amont David caught a 10-yard touchdown pass on the next series en route to a 29-yard, two-TD night. Drury relied on the passing game early in the game to try and balance the typical ground and pound from previous weeks. It was an emphasis for coach Al Marceau going into the game.
“When you have Louis and Jayshawn [Moore] there are a lot of opportunities, we set them up in the first couple games but you get ahead and you can’t run the play action,” Marceau said. “I said to them we are going to throw early so we can work on it. if we want to get where we want to go we are going to have to throw the ball, I really liked how we performed early.”
The third touchdown through the air came later in the first half to Donte Dillard for 29 yards. It was a successful attack in the air and something Drury will use going forward as the season progresses. They closed the first half up 27-0.
McCann would show some grit in the second half getting one of their best possessions right out the gate driving the ball deep into Drury’s territory. The Hornets had to settle for a field goal that went just wide, but carried a little of that momentum throughout the half.
McCann Tech got on the board shortly after but not on the offensive side of the ball. The Hornets forced Drury to punt and got a safety on the muffed snap. This would be the only score in the second half by both teams as Drury struggled to get going with costly penalties.
“Second half was sloppy, they are high school kids and they start to get flags and get emotional and they don’t think clearly when they get emotional,” Marceau said. “It’s a city rival game. We had some bad penalties with over aggression, but they all know each other and it's nothing personal, they were all shaking hands and hugging after the game.”
Drury had a couple big runs and one for a touchdown called back due to those penalties. It didn’t impact the game too much as they were already comfortably in the lead, but it's definitely something they will need to keep an eye on going forward if they hope to make postseason play. Drury will take a couple weeks off before they host Pathfinder on Oct. 17.
McCann Tech will look to get its first win of the season against Pathfinder on Oct. 7.
Video: Ben McDonough finds Amont David in the end zone. Drury went on to win the game 27-2 over McCann.