Cardinals get back on track with blowout of Knights

NASHUA – Get in, get it done and get out.

That was the game plan for the Bishop Guertin High School football team against Manchester West.

The Cardinals got it done, scoring four touchdowns in the first quarter on the way to a 55-0 rout of the Blue Knights in Division II action Saturday night at Stellos Stadium.

Steve Cuipa threw for two touchdown passes and ran for another score in the opening quarter as Bishop Guertin took advantage of two West fumbles and moved the ball with relative ease in snapping a two-game skid. The Cardinals also got 69 yards rushing and two touchdowns from freshman CJ Boykin to improve to 4-1 in the division (5-2 overall).

“We needed to come out and just start playing our brand of football, and for two weeks, we didn’t do that,” Cardinals coach Tony Johnson said. “We finally did that and now we have a huge task next Friday night (at Winnacunnet). That’s why it was so important to get off the mark quickly and end this game quickly, and we did. We ended this game midway through the first.”

In back-to-back losses to Catholic Memorial and Dover, Johnson thought his Cardinals didn’t show up to play mentally, and because of that, they were outplayed physically in both games.

Bishop Guertin got both parts of the game back against West.

“We’ve been so good for so long, that some of the kids just thought, well … I don’t know how to explain it other than, I don’t think mentally, everyone on our team was ready to play in the last two weeks,” Johnson said. “Physically, I thought we did a very, very good job. That was the bottom line. We haven’t played a good physical game, in my opinion, in almost 2 ½ weeks. We started hitting. The defense set the tone and the special teams set the tone, and the offense got going.”

West’s best drive came after the opening kickoff, as the Blue Knights moved down to the Cardinals’ 35-yard line, thanks in part to two penalties on Bishop Guertin. But the Cardinals’ defense held and stopped West on fourth down to turn the ball over.

Three plays later, Cuipa found Bob Fahey for a 47-yard pass play down to the West 1-yard line and Alex Eaton plunged in from there to make it a 7-0 game with 6:32 left in the first.

The Blue Knights were forced to punt on their next possession and three players after that, Cuipa found Nick Pyzocha for a 36-yard touchdown strike to make it 14-0 with 3:05 still to go in the quarter.

West quarterback Aaron Martin fumbled on the next play from scrimmage, giving the Cardinals the ball at the Blue Knights’ 16. On the next play, Cuipa kept on the option and went around the left side for a touchdown that put the Cardinals up 21-0 with 2:46 to play.

There was a scary moment on the ensuing kickoff, when West returnman Dequan Taylor was hit hard on the run back. The ball came free and Bishop Guertin recovered at the 14 of West, but Taylor stayed down.

The West junior lost consciousness on the field and was taken off by stretcher. Taylor was transported to a nearby hospital, and according to West coaches, his X-rays were negative, but he was being held for further observation.

Once the game resumed, the Cardinals need two plays before Cuipa found Christian Ferlan for a 15-yard touchdown that made it 28-0 with 1:52 left in the first quarter.

“He made some great reads,” Johnson said of Cuipa. “They were basically putting nine guys in the box, so we knew the things where he needed to zip the ball were there.”

Cuipa finished the game 3-of-4 passing for 98 yards and two touchdowns to go with 45 yards rushing and another score, as his night ended early in the second quarter.

The Cardinals started subbing players before halftime, and so many got in the game that 14 different players registered at least one carry. Bishop Guertin scored on eight of its 11 possessions, as the Cardinals punted once, lost a fumble and took a knee to end the game.

“We got back to the way we can play football,” Johnson said. “We were ready to play tonight. We will be ready to play next Friday, too, there’s no doubt about that.”