Academy pg 1 part 1 10-5-17
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Academy wins
homecoming
football game
Woodstock Academy football coach Sean Saucier joked Sept. 28 following the field hockey win over Norwich Free Academy that the pressure was on his team.
He wanted the Academy to finish with a perfect record in Homecoming games under the lights last week. But that was easier said than done. The Centaurs had never won a Homecoming football game.
That was until Sept. 29.
Woodstock put up 41 unanswered points and rolled to a 54-28 win over Ludlow, Mass., in the first-ever football game played under the lights.
“Makes it 10 times better,” senior running back Kameron Janice said of the program making a little history for itself. “My teammates worked their butts off. I can’t tell you how much they worked, I can’t put it into words, but it shows on the field. They opened holes for me.”
Saucier knew Janice had to have a big day for the Centaurs to succeed. The big guy delivered. He finished with 344 yards in 21 carries and scored six touchdowns.
“He stepped up and came through for us,” Saucier said. “I told him for two weeks what we needed from him, hitting holes straight ahead and get through the second level and then make your move. He did that pretty well (Friday). I’m happy with the way he ran. He took the coaching.”
The Lions (0-4) were pesky early with the combination of quarterback Justin Debarge (15-for-31 passing, 240 yards) to Tod Holloway Jr. (12 catches, 208 yards) making it difficult on the Centaurs.
Debarge hit Holloway for a 49-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter and a 17-yarder in the second.
It allowed Ludlow to stay with the Centaurs who countered with a pair of touchdowns by Janice on runs of 4 and 24 yards.
Still, the Lions were up 20-13 with 4 minutes, 10 seconds left in the second quarter.
“We had ups-and-downs in practice (Thursday), it wasn’t that great. If practice isn’t great the day before (a game), we’re going to start out slow. We came back from it,” Janice said.
The Centaurs took the lead for good, 21-20, on a 23-yard touchdown by Janice with 3:33 left in the first half and went up by eight with 1:15 to play on a 50-yard ramble.
But it was a defensive stop that allowed the Centaurs to go into the locker room with their heads held high.
Seth Benoit intercepted a Debarge pass in the end zone on the final play of the half.
“We got some momentum going into halftime and had the ball coming out. I told them in the locker room, ‘Now is your chance to put it away,’” Saucier said.
The Centaurs (2-1) did just that.
Janice scored on a 5-yard run on the first possession and after the Lions went three-and-out, Janice scored on an 11-yard carry to put the game out of reach.
Derek Thompson completed 7-of-10 passes for Woodstock. Five of those went to Caleb Feen (78 yards) and Dan Suitum had a 27-yard touchdown reception. Jaden Dennett had the other touchdown for the Centaurs.
A nice crowd was on hand on the South campus for the game. It was the last home game for the Centaurs until Nov. 11.
“We’re road warriors. We have five (games) in a row coming up and we’re looking forward to going to Amherst (Mass.) (Friday). It should be a great game. I guess we will be back in November,” Saucier said.
Boys' Soccer
Amherst Regional 1
Woodstock Academy 0
WOODSTOCK - Coach Paul Rearden wasn’t all that disappointed with his team’s loss to Amherst Regional Sept. 30.
“The boys played their best game of the season in a great game against a top-quality team, the best we have faced this season,” Rearden said.
Amherst scored with 14 minutes left in regulation for the only goal of the match.
The Centaurs fell to 6-3 with the loss.