Looking back at last year, the football team was not the team they are now. The team after what some might consider a down year, had the task of trying to beat one of their toughest opponents for the past years.
The team this season got a heavy overhaul in talent. More specifically, the backfield for their offense recruiting two running backs in Bryce Twohey, ‘20, and Tyler Bartholomew, ‘20. Bryce has been described as more of the elusive and speedy back while Tyler was more of the head down, power back but by no means slow.
Even while Tyler was being recruited he said he was told about how this was a big game on the season this was.
“I’ve been hearing about Berkshire ever since I got recruited,” said Tyler, “I heard that they smacked us previous years so I wanted to come out and punch them in their mouth.”
Both Bryce and Tyler shared touches this game and definitely loved making defenders miss. Bryce on the opening drive blew by the Berkshire defense for 42 yards to open the game up for the opening touchdown after the Saints defense forced a quick four and out from the Berkshire offense. Then after getting the ball back again, Tyler broke 4 tackles to cap off the second drive of the game that started back at their own 6 yard line to put them up 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.
However, the game started to slow down as Berkshire gained the ball back and pushed a drive for about 6 total minutes. But their drive would stop short after trying to convert a 4th and short. Not only did they fail to convert, their first pass attempt the whole game ended up being picked off by safety Eric Diaz, ‘22. Automatically turning the tide of the game and ramping up the energy after a drive that seemed to slow the Saints down. The defense was stellar and an absolute wall the whole game.
The offense was doing their job as well as they ran the score up but did hit a wall at one point. With less than a minute left in the first half, the Saints wanted to keep up the scoring. However, they were facing a 3rd and very long. This wall was easily climbed over by the quarterback Joey Ciotti, ‘20, with a beautiful dart to Nick DeMatteis, ‘20, for 17 yards. Joey capped off this drive with a floater to the back of the endzone to Tyler for Tyler’s third touchdown on the day.
Joey Ciotti finished the day 5 of 7 for 64 yards, a touchdown, and a QBR of 139.3. After the game, he spoke on how important Tyler has been to the team.
Joey said, “6’2”, 230, that’s a big dude and [Tyler] runs fast and hard. He knows what he’s doing. He’s a big part of our offense and it shows on the field.”
“Coach Stone recruited me to do that,” said Tyler speaking on being one of the integral parts of the team, “It feels great to put the team on my back.”
Tyler Bartholomew finished the day on 18 carries with 129 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground. As well as one reception for 18 yards and a touchdown. While Tyler averaged 7.2 yards per carry, the other vital part of the offense averaged just around 25 yards per carry.
Bryce Twohey showed up big and some might argue bigger than Tyler. In the first half alone, he rushed for over 100 yards and a touchdown. While he didn’t get as many touches as Tyler, he certainly did everything and anything he could when given the ball. Bryce finished the day on 9 carries for 225 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Both running backs putting the team on their backs.
With this huge shutout victory, the Saints push to a 4-1 record and are now keeping a close eye towards the playoffs.
“That was the goal since day one,” said Tyler, “We took an early loss to Proctor but we vowed to finish this season and win out.”
“This was a big game for us,” said Head Coach, Jim Stone, “We really needed to play well here. It’s the best effort we’ve had here in three years without a doubt. We’ve got three games left and the only one that counts is against St. Luke’s next week.”
When asked about the coming weeks, Joey said, “St. Luke’s beat Berkshire 21-20. They’re very big upfront and they got a lot of athletes. We just have to take it one game at a time and see what happens from there.”
The team is getting ready for another great battle against St. Luke’s. If they do win out and make the playoffs, this will be the first playoff appearance for the Saints since Coach Stone took the control of this team.
Final Score: Saints 41 – Berkshire 0
Player of the Game: Bryce Twohey
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