They came, they saw, they conquered!
Mahopac made the trek north to Union College for the second annual Upstate-Downstate Classic, where the Wolf Pac made the most of its 13-0 Week Zero win over host Queensbury, winning their fourth consecutive season-opening game on the strength of their stingy defense.
“Our defense is going to be stellar like usual,” senior linebacker Michael Trinchatella said. “Our offense needs more energy right out of the gate. We can’t wait until the second half to get going. We also need to fix the little things like the penalties on offense. Those are drive killers and we need to fix that sooner than later.”
After a scoreless first half, senior DB Alex Girau took a 49-yard pick-six to the house for the game’s first score with 4:15 left in the third quarter. Bruising Mahopac RB Nate Mascoll (88 yards, 21 carries) provided some insurance, taking a 23-yard jaunt to paydirt with 7:11 left in the game. Mahopac QB Ethan Dedvukaj hit on 6 of 9 passes for 81 yards, connecting with senior WR Lorenzo Echandy for four passes and 56 yards.
Most defenses are usually ahead of the offense at this early point in the football season, and Mascoll knows the Wolf Pac will need to make some adjustments to be running at peak efficiency in the weeks ahead if they expect to challenge in a competitive Class A field.
“We made some mental errors that were drive killers throughout the game,” Mascoll admitted. “But it’s nothing we can’t fix. Queensbury came out very strong, but we found our feet later on in the game and started to push the ball. Just going to take a great week of practice to keep us rolling. I have no doubt we’ll make our corrections and get going. Just have to do the simple things right and own our personal assignments.”
Junior DB/WR Ryan LaRue and LB Mascoll both added interceptions. LaRue added a 20-yard catch. Senior OL/DL Matt Bentivenga (two tackles) won the war in the trenches, notching a career-high three sacks, part of a six-sack effort by the Wolf Pac (one each for Matt Dugan, Matt Aquilino and Matt Reilly), who were able to stop Queensbury on three third-down attempts and one fourth-down try.
“Defense was the story of the day,” Wolf Pac coach Dominick DeMatteo said. “We held Queensbury to 16 carries and 47 rushing yards. We also defended their pass game very well. They ended up 7-for-20 passing and we had three picks. They also had three or four ridiculous catches. They definitely have some athletic skill players. I’ll be curious to see what kind of season they have.”
“Our offense was hindered by penalties and some typical Week Zero mistakes,” DeMatteo added.
Mahopac was scheduled to host its home opener in a Week One clash with Clarkstown North on Friday, Sept. 12, when the Mahopac Touchdown Club was sure to put on a crowd-pleasing show.
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