Woodland football answers offseason doubters with rout of GNH in coach Jeremy Clark’s debut

WINSTED – New head coach, new starters, but not the same firepower as last year.

That’s what the Woodland football team had been hearing during the offseason. The Hawks graduated a ton of seniors from a team that went 11-1 and reached the Class SS semifinals. Head coach Joe Lato resigned after the season, and Woodland alum Jeremy Clark was brought in.

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Van Why Field, Woodland got to show what it had and did so in a big way in a 56-7 season-opening win over GNH.

“All they wanted to prove was – hey, last year’s team was great, now they just talk about how many guys we lost. They talk about this and that,” Clark said. “Why don’t we just go be ourselves and play for each other? That’s how we’ve been playing ever since, so it’s great.”

Woodland ran for 324 yards and five touchdowns on 24 attempts, led by a game-high 128 yards and a touchdown from senior tight end-turned-quarterback Evan Mastropietro.

Senior guard-turned-fullback Colby Marsan ran six times for 46 yards and two scores, while senior wide receiver Justin Pringle carried three times for 33 yards and a score. Senior running back Daniel Keogh ran 73 yards for the game’s final score in the fourth quarter and totaled 117 yards on six attempts.

Mastropietro was 6-of-11 passing for 96 yards and two touchdowns, one to senior Ryan Kenney (40 yards) and the other to Pringle (12 yards).

Senior kicker Hunter Cronk made all eight of his extra-point attempts.

“My coaches were telling me I’m going to be running a lot,” said Mastropietro, who has always thought of himself as a defensive player. He is a linebacker on the Hawk defense.

“A lot of new starters out there, a lot of people probably weren’t expecting us to come out as strong on offense as we did, and we didn’t punt the ball one time,” Pringle said. “We picked up where we left off on offense, keeping a good pace, and on defense, we made stops, so everything went pretty good.”

Pringle added two interceptions on defense, including one he took back 63 yards for a touchdown.

Clark loved seeing Marsan live out every big man’s dream to run the football. Mastropietro shifted from being “an unbelievable tight end” to quarterback. Pringle went from cornerback to safety.

“It’s something they’ve embraced, and they’ve become leaders in that position,” Clark said.

Junior Airyn Berube went 57 yards on an option pitch for the lone GNH touchdown, and Daniel Nolan made the extra point.

The touchdown got the Yellowjackets to within 28-7, but the Hawks immediately answered with their own touchdown and ran away with the game.

GNH has 30 players on its roster, and many were learning how to be varsity players on the fly during the preseason.

“A pick-six right off in the second series, that hurt. Then a botched kickoff where we gave the ball right to them,” GNH coach Scott Salius said. “You can’t do that against teams like Woodland. You can’t give them opportunities like this.

“Especially if we’re going to have to scrap for wins, to give them six points and then give a kickoff right back to them? The underdog can’t really come back from those mistakes too well.”

Player of the Game

Evan Mastropietro, Woodland:The senior quarterback ran nine times for 128 yards, threw for 96 yards, and was part of three touchdowns in his team’s victory.

Quotable

“When you get a lot of texts in the morning talking to people in the community, and living in the community, you feel the pressure right away,” Clark said. “We had a pep rally the other week, full of the town, and I was like ‘Oh boy, it’s real now.’ It’s been a cool environment, but also the pressure’s great. I love it and I embrace it. Coming from here, it’s great.” – Woodland coach Jeremy Clark on the run-up to his first game

Woodland 56, GNH 7

WOODLAND 35 14 0 7 – 56
GNH 7 0 0 0  – 7
W-Justin Pringle 11 run (Hunter Cronk kick)                        
W-Pringle 63 interception return (Cronk kick)                        
W-Colby Marsan 15 run (Cronk kick)                        
W-Ryan Kenney 40 pass from Evan Mastropietro (Cronk kick)        
G-Airyn Berube 57 run (Daniel Nolan kick)                        
W-Mastropietro 56 run (Cronk kick)                        
W-Marsan 2 run (Cronk kick)                        
W-Pringle 12 pass from Mastropietro (Cronk kick)                        
W-Daniel Keogh (Cronk kick)                        
Records:Woodland 1-0; GNH 0-1.

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This article originally published at Woodland football answers offseason doubters with rout of GNH in coach Jeremy Clark’s debut.