WINTHROP – In a matchup that saw St. Mary’s Head Coach Sean Driscoll return to his old stomping grounds, his Spartans stomped the Winthrop Vikings 37-14 at Winthrop High School Friday.
Not only was Driscoll returning to the place where he used to play and coach, but he was also going head to head with Winthrop’s Head Coach Jon Cadigan, whom he used to coach with. If these storylines were not enough, David Brown Jr., St. Mary’s stud offensive weapon, also returned to Winthrop, where his father, David Brown Sr., coached the basketball team to a state title.
“This place [Winthrop] is a special place. I still work in the town, I know a lot of these kids from my programs over the years, so it is a special place. This is coming back to obviously a different field than I am used to,” said Driscoll.
“I will tell you what, they [Winthrop] have a good program, they have a great coach, and you saw how they came out against us in the first quarter; they gave us all we could handle,” he said.
While the final score may not reflect it, the Vikings came out and shocked the Spartans from the opening whistle. After the Spartans punted on their first possession, Winthrop started pounding the rock on offense.
The Vikings methodically worked their way down the field with the help of some great running from sophomore Nicholas Cappuccio and senior Welvis Acosta. Acosta capped off Winthrop’s nine-play drive with a one-yard touchdown to give his team a 6-0 lead.
Unfortunately for St. Mary’s, they jumped offsides on the extra point, and Winthrop elected to go for two and converted on senior quarterback Robert Noonan’s first pass of the game to sophomore Demetri Koutsouflakis to go up 8-0.
“I do not think we did a good job of getting off the bus. I am a little disappointed in how we started, but I think once we settled into the game, we played pretty well,” said Driscoll.
Winthrop’s drive to take an early lead served as a wake-up call for the Spartans as they came out their next drive and responded. St. Mary’s went on a 12-play drive, converting two fourth downs, and senior Derick Coulanges rushed for a five-yard touchdown. After the extra point, the Spartans only trailed 8-7.
Following St. Mary’s first touchdown, the Vikings seemed to fall apart. St. Mary’s forced Winthrop to turn the ball over on downs, and the Spartans drove again for a touchdown, this time on an eight-yard rush by Brown Jr.
When Winthrop got the ball back, things went from bad to worse as they were forced to punt and, on the punt, got a safety to fall behind 16-8 going into halftime.
Coming out of halftime St. Mary’s poured it on with another Coulanges’ rushing touchdown that he took 70 yards to the house and a 45-yard Brown Jr. passing touchdown to senior Jack Marks. The two scores and subsequent extra points gave St. Mary’s a 30-8 lead.
Towards the end of the game, Winthrop scored another touchdown from Acosta; but Brown Jr. shut the door on the Vikings with another rushing touchdown in the final minutes to seal the 37-14 victory.
Driscoll said his team left last year with a sour taste in their mouths and, now sitting at (2-0), will hope to correct some things as their 2022 campaign progresses.
“We want to try and win every quarter, every game, and get us rolling in the right direction. We cannot come out slow like that and be consistent … so we have to make sure we work on that, and that is on the coaching staff,” said Driscoll.
