The first 24 minutes of the Pinkerton Academy football team’s Saturday, Oct. 4 road game in Nashua against the host Bishop Guertin Cardinals were all the unbeaten Astros required to put together the blowout that everybody and their Aunt Fannie expected to come out of that contest at Stellos Stadium.
Veteran coach Brian O’Reilly’s academy crew upped its season record to a glittering 5-0 by tallying 35 unanswered points in the first half en route to a 35-12 drubbing of the struggling Gate City opponent, which slid to a lowly 1-4 with the loss.
The Guertin group, that only managed 52 yards worth of offense – and a paltry three through its running game – in the first half of play, enjoyed some success against Pinkerton’s second-line defenders in the second half. But a full comeback was clearly out of the question during the third and fourth periods as drizzly weather continued.
For its part, the Pinkerton offense tallied some 260 total yards in the first and second quarters on the way to the 35 unanswered points.
With senior co-captain and running back/linebacker Jason Hansen having been lost to a knee injury during the Astros’ Mack Plaque defeat of Londonderry a week earlier, Pinkerton junior Mike Curley moved up on the team’s depth chart and showed plenty on both sides of the football.
During that wildly-productive first half, the bullish back ran for 69 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries, and he also caught a short touchdown pass from quarterback Jack Hanaway.
Defensively, Curley intercepted a pass which led to that touchdown reception.
The Astros began the scoring with their first offensive possession of the day, which consisted of eight plays and culminated with a 1-yard scoring push by Curley.
And just before that opening period ended, Pinkerton put together an 11-play drive which ended when Curley scored from two yards out.
The BG fans finally got a chance to cheer about something early in the second quarter when their contingent stifled another Pinkerton drive on a fourth down play at the Guertin 13. But the visitors weren’t held up for long as they managed more points on a 72-yard sprint down the right sideline by Hanaway and five-yard runs by both Nico Buccieri and Curley.
Thanks to the 35-point Pinkerton lead at halftime, the clock was set on running time for the second half and the lopsided contest reached its conclusion quickly.
Pinkerton will try to keep their perfect season going next Friday night by hosting the Nashua North Titans whose current record is 2-3.
