Woodstock
This time, Woodstock wasn’t going to let them get away.
Marsicovetere scored three touchdowns in a dominant first quarter, leading the Wasps to an eventual 48-0 win over rival Windsor on Friday at James T. McLaughlin Field.
The victory kept Woodstock perfect at 8-0; it is the only remaining team in the Green Mountain State with an unblemished record heading into the playoffs, which begin next week. The Wasps will have a first-round bye in the D-III tournament.
“Oh, it felt good,” Marsicovetere said. “We had a couple of the seniors from last year’s team come out. They beat us twice in overtime last year. It feel really good to come out and punch them in the teeth right in the beginning. Shut them out, shut them up. It was a really good feeling.”
It’s been two seasons since Woodstock has tasted victory against the Yellowjackets. But last year’s losses hurt more — the first, a 12-9 overtime defeat in the regular season that kept Windsor perfect before the postseason. The second was a 13-7 loss in overtime in the final. Both games, sixth-year head coach Ramsey Worrell said, could have gone in their favor.
One year later, Worrell said he gave his team subtle hints on last year’s results. As if his undefeated squad, which has outscored opponents 327-55, needed any more motivation.
“This was an important game for us,” Worrell said. “(The kids) were looking forward to it. I wanted to play into that.
“We have long memories. We remember stuff, so it was easy to keep them motivated.”
Marsicovetere was a man on a mission in the opening quarter, shaking off three tackles on a 30-yard touchdown run on Woodstock’s second play from scrimmage. He scored again on Woodstock’s next drive, when Wasps quarterback Trevor White found him on 42-yard catch-and-run.
Woodstock led, 15-0, with 3 minutes and 53 seconds remaining in the first stanza. Then the Wasps stepped on the gas pedal.
An onside kick after Marsicovetere’s second touchdown was recovered by the Wasps, giving Woodstock the ball back with another chance to score. Marsicovetere did just that six plays later, reaching for the right pylon after a 20-yard run for his 12th touchdown of the year.
“The first couple of games were more evenly matched,” said Marsicovetere, who sat out the second half with cramps in his left leg. “Then we just found our groove, found what worked for us. We’ve been running with it.”
Caden White added another score in the second quarter, which gave the Wasps a 28-0 lead at halftime. Woodstock scored on all three of its second-half drives — a White pass to Jed Astbury in the slot for 23 yards, a Daniel Lessard run up the middle for 14 yards and Corey White from a yard out.
Caden White led the Wasps with 136 rushing yards on 13 carries. Marsicovetere finished the game with 110 total yards, 68 on the ground, 42 in the air.
Windsor’s Robert Slocum led the Yellowjackets with 118 yards on the ground.
“I was pleased, maybe not with the score, but I thought we played hard the whole game,” Windsor head coach Greg Balch said. “We’re a young team; we’re growing. We haven’t anybody with this speed. It took a long time to even get a sense of the speed.”
The loss was Windsor’s second in a row, dropping the Jacks to 4-4.
Woodstock hasn’t won a state title since 2013, the second year of back-to-back undefeated campaigns and the last in a stretch of nine championships in 10 years. It also was Worrell’s first season at the helm.
“You could taste it (last year),” Worrell said. “They had their chances. Sometimes, when you’re not a smart football player, you don’t see those chances. I think we’re seeing those opportunities now, and we’re making the most of them.
“The result is fast scores, fast plays. We can play fast, and I’m pretty pleased.”
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.