Bishop Guertin football puts it together in win over Timberlane (video)

NASHUA - Anthony Nalen had a vision of what the offense would look like when he took over the Bishop Guertin High School football team.

On Saturday, that vision came into focus.

The Cardinals slung the ball over the field against Timberlane, putting up over five hundred yards on offense while rolling to a 58-14 win over the Owls in a Division I game at Stellos Stadium.

Quarterback Mike MacDonough led the way, completing 24 of 29 passes for 357 yards and five touchdowns. The senior also had 30 yards on the ground and a 1-yard rushing touchdown to help Bishop Guertin (2-2 in D1, 3-2 overall) put up 519 yards.

Cody Syzmansky and Connor Lennon were on the other end of most of those throws, as Syzmansky caught nine passes for 148 yards and a touchdown and Lennon had eight catches for 98 yards and three touchdowns.

Syzmansky also had one of three Cardinals' interceptions on defense and Lennon hit a 29-yard field on the final play of the first half.

"This is what you envision when you take the job over and you see the guys that you have," Nalen said. "You never know how long it’s going to take a group. You’d like for it to be right away, but it’s slowly progressing and we’re getting better."

AJ Holmes also had 81 yards rushing and a touchdown and Ronan Balistreri had two catches for 27 yards and a touchdown. Hunter Schmitt finished out the scoring with a 35-yard pick-6 in the fourth quarter.

Timberlane (1-3, 2-3), which was without running back Eddie DiGiulio, got a big game from Liam Corman, who ran for 103 yards and caught two passes for 52 yards and a touchdown. Jeremy Mlocek added a rushing touchdown, but threw two interceptions and the Owls had four turnovers overall.

"We had some plays offensively there and not enough consistency," Timberlane coach Kevin Fitzgerald said. "We had a couple of drives where we didn’t finish with points. We got ourselves behind the chains a couple of times. Against good opponents, you’ve got to play a clean game and we didn’t do that all the time. We made some good plays, but just not enough."

The Owls went three-and-out on the opening drive and the Cardinals wasted little time going down field. On the fourth play on offense, MacDonough connected with Syzmansky for a 42-yard gain, and on the next play, they hooked up for a 1-yard scoring pass.

Timberlane answered right back, getting a couple of big plays in the passing game. Mlocek hit Tyler Chiccino for 17 yards, and three plays later, found Corman for a 32-yard touchdown to tie it at 7.

That was still the score at the end of the first quarter, but on the first play of the second, MacDonough hit Lennon for a 24-yard touchdown and a 14-7 lead.

Mlocek was strip sacked on Timberlane's first offensive play after the score and Jaiden Bosquet recovered for Bishop Guertin. On the next play, MacDonough found Sam Franco and the senior made a one-handed catch for a 33-yard gain.

Four plays later, MacDonough plowed into the end zone from a yard out to make it 21-7.

"The kid was on the money all night," Fitzgerald said. "It wasn’t like they were wide open all over the place. They made contested catches because we didn’t get our head around and our hands up. Our guys weren’t in bad positions, but their kids made plays."

The Cardinals extended the lead to 37-14 going into halftime, and after getting the kickoff to open the second half, MacDonough found Balistreri for an 18-yard score and a 44-14 lead.

"That’s a 48-minute football team," Nalen said of Timberlane. "If you watch them play Exeter and Pinkerton, until the last whistle, they’re finishing tackles, they’re finishing runs. I was trying to preach that at halftime, this is not close to over."

Bishop Guertin didn't let up, as Franco picked off Mlocek in the end zone on Timberlane's first drive of the second half. The Cardinals put the game into running drive as Holmes capped an 11-play, 80-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown.