While sizing up the competition on arrival at Northeastern’s Parsons Field Saturday afternoon, it was unlikely that the sight of the Brookline football team, laboring through their stretching drills, cast much trepidation in the minds of the Walpole Rebels.
The Warriors were, after all, seriously undermanned. In fact, the twenty-eight member Walpole cheerleading squad actually outnumbered Brookline’s football team.
But looks, as the Rebels players would soon find out, can be deceiving.
Walpole prevailed, shutting out Brookline 27-0 to remain undefeated and atop the Bay State Herget. But through much of the first half, most observers, including Walpole coach Danny Villa, agreed that the win certainly wasn’t the start-to-finish cakewalk that many prognosticators felt it might be.
“We were talking about that earlier,” said Villa, whose team is now 5-0 on the season. “If they had some depth, that would be one dangerous football team. That’s a dangerous team as it is now, but I think they just wear down over time because of the lack of numbers.”
Speaking of numbers, Walpole’s Ryan Izzo added a trio of touchdowns to build his season count to 13. Much of the junior tailback’s success came on repeated use of the draw play, including his first score with 7:29 remaining in the opening quarter. On the touchdown play, Izzo accepted the handoff from quarterback Sonny Mastromatteo, and quickly dashed through a narrow fissure in the line, zigzagging 13 yards to daylight. Izzo also added the PAT to make it 7-0.
Brookline had a chance for an equalizer early in the second, partially due to a gutsy special teams call that caught the Rebels flatfooted. On a fourth-and-long near midfield, Warriors QB Arthur Azatyants faked a punt, throwing instead to an uncovered Jeremy Miller for 30 yards and a fresh set of downs. But to the chagrin of Brookline head coach Laz Mitjans, a pair of penalties and a QB sack pushed his team back and forced an actual punt.
“We keep stepping on our own feet every time we get an opportunity,” said Mitjans, who remains winless at 0-5. “We get that faked punt, move the ball to the 15, but then we can’t do anything with it. When you have just 27 kids, you can’t make any mistakes. We’re making too many mistakes to win football games.”
With 2:12 left in the half, the Rebels pushed their lead to 14-0 on an Izzo 6-yard touchdown rush. Mastromatteo completed 4-of-5 throws in the series. But the key play was a 24-yard run on fourth down to the Brookline 6 by the Rebels signal caller, who had spread the field with a four-wideout set, creating a huge hole in the middle.
Mastromatteo added another score moments later, powering behind the offensive line from the 1, several plays after teammate Adam Riegel recovered a fumble on the Warrior 18 for a 20-0 halftime advantage as the PAT was missed.
Izzo uncorked a big run early in the second half, scampering upfield for 72 yards, only to be ankle-tackled inches shy of his third score. But Izzo, who compiled 203 yards on 22 carries, would not denied on the next play, wrapping up the Walpole scoring on a sweep to his left.
Villa admits that his staff needs to address a few issues with a showdown at 4-1 Norwood looming after the bye week.
“We’re going to refocus on the fundamentals,” said Villa. “In that kind of game, the team that is most fundamentally sound will usually win that game. It will take five or six plays from one side or the other to win. That will be our focus and hopefully the kids will figure it out.”
