Valley News – Jacks walk past young O

WINDSOR – Windsor High football took control early in Saturday’s game against Oxbow High, and the Yellowjackets claimed a 57-6 victory at MacLeay-Royce Field.

Windsor (2-0) established a comfortable lead in just five scrum games. In the middle of the first quarter, the officials switched to the stopwatch.

As the Yellowjackets opened the game, head coach Greg Balch told his side on the sidelines to keep pushing.

“(I said) don’t let go at all,” Balch said. “Make sure you continue to perform well and be ready to play the full 48 minutes.”

Senior Ben Gilbert opened the scoring with a 60-yard touchdown in the first game. In the first game for Oxbow (0-1), the Olympians missed a transfer to their own 5-yard line, and the Windsor junior, Vance Martin, recovered the ball and returned a touchdown.

After the kick-off, Windsor senior Kaleb Swett intercepted Oxbow junior quarterback Chase Lund. Yellowjackets quarterback Maison Fortin then threw to Swett for a 21-yard touchdown. On the first play of Oxbow’s next possession, a snap went over Lund’s head and a lineman fell over it in the end zone for Windsor safety.

It was 22-0 at Windsor with just 1:02 left, and the Yellowjackets added another touchdown just over a minute later.

Oxbow head coach Chad Wescott knew the tough start was dooming his team quickly.

“Turnover is killing you. I think we had five or six turnovers in the first eight possessions of the game, ”said Wescott. “You can’t win football games like that.”

Windsor led, 43-0, at the end of the first quarter, and Balch began to put reserves in the game. With so much time to turn the players around in the lineup – and given that Windsor didn’t throw a pass after half-time – a plethora of Yellowjackets were involved in the rushed game. Ten Windsor players recorded a postponement and five rushed for touchdowns.

Gilbert finished as Windsor’s top rusher, with 80 yards and two touchdowns in two carries as well as a two-point conversion. Senior Keegan Batchelder only needed one carry to finish second, with a 65-yard touchdown and a two-point conversion.

Balch had no specific expectations for the game. He was happy with the quick start but thought the overall execution could have been a bit better.

“We have tons that we need to work on,” Balch said. “We’ll see a lot of things on film that we don’t like and want to perform better with. Yes, you are obviously trying to win the game, but you have to make sure that you improve at the same time.

Oxbow’s only touchdown came in the opening play of the fourth quarter against a 41-yard Lund quarterback goaltender.

Wescott was not happy with the number of mistakes the Olympians made, but pointed out their inexperience. He said given last year’s seven-on-seven touch format and having a pass last week, Oxbow didn’t have much contact before Saturday’s game.

“There aren’t a lot of kids (on the list) who have played college football,” Wescott said. “It’s just a matter of finding that contact on the ground. It’s hard. This is the one you need to look back on on the movie and break down and correct any mistakes. ”

Windsor’s next game is Friday in Springfield. Oxbow will host Otter Valley on Saturday.

Seth Tow can be contacted at [email protected].