Whippets answer wake-up call in victory over Whalers

Mike Sypher, The Chronicle, Willimantic, Conn.
·4 min read

Oct. 24—NEW LONDON — The Windham High football squad has been so good thus far this Fall when it comes to keeping their helmets strapped on straight and their eyes laser- focused on their goals for what is quickly becoming a magical season, bus ride after bus ride after win upon win.

But all of that magic was in danger of going Poof! in the first half of Windham's latest road test at New London on Friday night.

Oh sure, the Whippets seemed to have their collective mojo flowing after needing just five plays to cover 62 yards in 124 seconds to take a 7- 0 lead over New London, but the Whalers shrugged off the early deficit and served notice that Windham's victory a week ago Friday over defending state champion Killingly didn't impress them all that much.

New London quarterback Christian Irizarry hooked up with wideout Zuri Craig on a 66- yard catch- and- run TD late in the first quarter to make it a 7- 6 game.

And the Whalers answered twice more in the first half after the Whips took a 21- 6 lead into the second quarter, Irizarry finding Tyree Barnes for a 70- yard flip- and- fly TD after running back Johnny Burns III leaned over the goal line from one yard out earlier in the quarter.

All of the positives that the Whips had banked following the big 41-26 victory over Killingly the week before were distant memories as the Whalers closed within 21-20 with 5:26 to go in the first half.

" We were flat coming out tonight and we weren't taking care of business that way we needed to early on," said Whippet coach Randall Prose. " We had to put last week behind us and that's what we were working hard on all week to get the kids focused on the task at hand.

"These kids have aspirations of big things for the season. The kids were coming off such a high and they needed to be reminded of what they had to do to take care of their business."

And the Whips were back in business before the halftime break once Travis Mangual Jr., after giving his squad the early lead with a 4-yard TD run on the opening drive, finished off a 6- play, 65- yard march with a 10-yard scamper to the end zone for a 28- 20 advantage with 2: 51 left in the half.

Windham's defense pitched a shutout in the second half while Prose's usual standouts on offense — senior fullback Victor Mejia and senior quarterback Zachary Robinson-Smey — each scored their second touchdowns of the game in the third and fourth quarters, respectively, as the Whips ( 6- 0) eventually settled for a 42- 20 victory over the Whalers (2-4).

" Hats off to New London," said Prose. " They have some athletes and they went to them, just throwing it up there and letting them run under it against our young guys.

" It was a good game plan on their part but we had to change our approach, getting a little more help back there, we made the adjustments we needed to make. We'll have to play better, that's for sure, but this might help us get their attention."

R o b i n s o n — S m e y ' s 48- yard toss to senior Montique Custodio helped set up Mangual Jr.'s opening TD run.

Robinson- Smey ( 8 carries, 152 yards) then followed a nice lead block by Custodio into the end zone from 13 yards out for a 14- 6 lead moments after Irizarry's first TD toss before Mejia ( 21 carries, 171 yards) pin-balled his way out to the left sideline and raced 39 yards for his first score late in the first quarter.

The Whips then weathered the squirmy second quarter before completing bottling up Irizarry, who completed 3- of- 5 pass attempts for 149 yards in the first half before hitting just 3-of-6 for 18 yards after the break with Mangual Jr. adding an interception to his 6-carry, 47-yard night of offense.

Mejia scored from 16 yards out in the third quarter and Robinson- Smey added a 10- yard TD in the fourth to punctuate Windham's 41-carry, 390yard rushing night.

The Whips limited New London to just 65 rushing yards on 24 attempts and eight first downs while moving the chains 24 times themselves.