WINTHROP — The Wing-T offense and plenty of speed did it for Winthrop, which cruised by Saugus, 42-12, Friday night. Led by Will Murphy’s three touchdowns, the Vikings moved to 3-2, while Saugus dipped to 1-3.
The Vikings’ first two possessions ended with a 57-yard run from Murphy and a 55-yard run from Seth Sacco. In the blink of an eye, it was 14-0 in favor of the hosts.
“We’re a Wing-T offense, so we always feel we need to get our three backs going. Obviously, the big plays tonight start with our offensive line,” said Winthrop coach Jon Cadigan. “We’re pretty potent if we can get all three guys going. Everyone knows about Nick Cappuccio and he’s a great back and talented, but if we get our other two going, we feel we’re pretty tough to stop.”
Tough to stop, indeed. Murphy scored three of Winthrop’s first four touchdowns. The Vikings enjoyed a 28-0 lead with 8:48 remaining in the first half.
Cadigan praised Murphy’s performance over the last two games, while Saugus coach Steve Cummings said he knew Friday would be a challenge.
“A lot of teams, and rightfully so, tend to focus on Nick (Cappuccio) and if they focus on Nick, we need our other backs to step up,” Cadigan said. “The last two weeks, Will has been terrific. Last week, I think it was his breakout and this week, he made some big plays.”
“We came into tonight short-handed,” Cummings said. “We were missing some of our big guns, so we knew tonight was going to be a hard game. We had some guys playing out of position… This is a really tough team to go against. They’re so sound and run everything so well.”
With key players such as running back Cody Munafo on the sideline, Cummings talked about other players stepping up.
“We wanted to find those guys on our team who would battle through anything,” he said. “I think we found some of those guys tonight, which will only help us down the road.”
Sophomore running Pablo DeJesus was one of those guys. He scored on the last drive of the game, but his hard-nosed running caught the attention of his head coach.
“Last year, at the end of his freshman year, he would run tailback for us on our scout team against Braden Faiella and Tommy DeSimone and he never backed down,” Cummings said. “He spent the whole year in the weight room. He’s a kid who is dedicated to getting better… When holes weren’t there, he would put his head down and gain some yards. There’s something there with this kid and we’re going to find it and increase his role.”
Saugus’ first touchdown came in the fourth quarter as running back Anthony DeAngelis found the endzone on a 7-yard burst.
The Sachems return Thursday when they host Salem at 6:30 p.m. Winthrop enters its bye week before welcoming Swampscott on Oct. 14 for a 6:30 p.m. showdown.
“Swampscott is one of the best teams each year. It’s going to be a good game. The bye couldn’t have come at a better time,” Cadigan said. “We’ll be ready and they’ll be ready. It’ll be a classic Winthrop-Swampscott game.”
