Thornton Academy put up plenty of points during its football season opener Saturday against Deering, and the Golden Trojans’ defense wasn’t too bad, either.
The Trojans held Deering to just 6 yards, and the only first downs they allowed were on penalties as they cruised to a 70-0 win at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
“Our D-line was just (dominating) the line all game long,” said senior defensive back Athan Gikas. “We had guys running to the ball. All 11 guys had that mentality to make a tackle every single play, so it was great.”
Gikas opened the scoring with a special-teams touchdown.
After Thornton forced a three-and-out on Deering’s first possession, Gikas fielded a short punt, waited for his blockers and raced 32 yards to the end zone. Brady Forbes kicked the first of eight extra points to make it 7-0.
“The kids did a great job setting the wall. It’s something that we work a lot on special teams,” said Thornton Coach Kevin Kezal. “We certainly have playmakers back deep, and we have kids up front that take pride in that stuff. It was a great way to get us going.”
“I saw the whole right side open up,” said Gikas. “Anthony Bracamonte did a great job lead blocking. We’ve been working that all week, so I was ready for it.”
Just three minutes later, sophomore Costa Gikas capped a five-play, 56-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run.
Thornton’s defense set up the next touchdown, as Dan Tarbox picked off a Deering pass and returned it 27 yards to the 1. Grant Dow scored from there to push the lead to 21-0 with five minutes left in the first quarter.
Athan Gikas secured an interception with 57 seconds left in the quarter, and Julien Bailey Cottle scored from 13 yards out on the first play of the second quarter to make it 28-0.
The Trojans added three more touchdowns before the first half was over. Ean Patry found the end zone from 3 yards out, Cottle got his second TD with another 13-yard run, and Athan Gikas broke loose for a 39-yard run.
Isaac Ofielu joined the touchdown parade early in the third quarter with an 8-yard run to make it 55-0.
Even with Thornton’s reserves playing in the second half, the Trojans kept scoring. Michael Jordan broke free for a 40-yard TD run later in the third quarter, and Quinn McCollum scored the final touchdown midway through the fourth.
“Our kids played hard and played with great energy,” said Kezal, who had a feeling his defense would have a big game. “We thought early on that our defense would probably be ahead of our offense, and they did a great job.”
Deering Coach Rob Susi challenged his team after the lopsided loss.
“It’s a character game,” said Susi. “It’s something where adversity has now hit us again and how are we going to respond to that? Are we going to hang our heads and be defeated for the season, or are we going to pick ourselves up and get ready for the next game?”
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