It’s onto Whittier for St. Mary’s football

St. Mary’s coach Matt Durgin isn’t inclined to spend much time dwelling on the past.When the Spartans saw their chance at a Catholic Central League title slip away, it was on to the next goal and that was to get into the tournament. They’re in the tournament and the win over Arlington Catholic that put them over the top was nice, but now the task at hand is to find a way to beat Whittier in the first round of the Division 5 playoffs.”We wanted to compete for a league championship, but once that was gone it was gone. Our goals change week to week,” Durgin said. “We were fighting to make the playoffs, the kids came through and all that has done is earn us the opportunity to play.”St. Mary’s (4-3) and Whittier (5-2) meet Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at Whittier Tech and neither coach, Durgin nor Whittier’s Kevin Bradley, is providing the opposition with anything to hang on the lockerroom wall to light a fire.”Saturday is going to be a huge challenge for us,” Durgin said. ‘We’re definitely going to need to be at our best.”Durgin said Whittier has an outstanding running back (Jesus Sanchez) and an experienced quarterback in senior Connor Bradley (coach Bradley’s son).The Wildcats got off to a slow start with a win followed by non-league losses to Bellingham and Weston in the second and third games.””We’re an overachieving type of team,” Bradley said. “We start out slow and really come on. I can’t ask more of my players … after two losses and four straight wins, I like the way the team competes.”Bradley said Sanchez has rushed for over 1,000 yards, but Sidney Taylor and Robbie Gramstorff have also been very effective. Bradley has coached the Wildcats since 2000 and during that time, the team has only had one losing season. Whittier won the Commonwealth Conference Large this year after taking second last year.”We always compete,” Bradley said. “We’re always in the hunt.”Although St. Mary’s is the No. 6 seed in Division 5, Bradley said the Spartans are as good as a No. 1 or No. 2.”I expect them to come out and play physical right from the start,” he said. “They’re a very physical, dominating team. All their losses were close games. They’re never blown out of a game. They come at you and come at you.”The two teams do have some history. They played each other after they were both knocked out in the first game of the playoffs last year. St. Mary’s lost to Bishop Fenwick and Whittier to Austin Prep. St. Mary’s won the game.Durgin is expecting a battle.”They’re very big and they’re tough kids. They have very good speed in the backfield and they very capable of throwing the ball,” Durgin said. “Defensively they’re very good. They get after you.”The Spartans will come at the Wildcats with the very effective running back tandem of Abraham Toe and Connor Sackowich, but Durgin said those are the guys you read about. he said players like tight end/defensive lineman Brent Lozzi, offensive tackle/defensive tackle Liam Reddy and some of the youngers players who have stepped up when needed are integral to the team’s success.