ConVal football rolls past Kingswood in home opener

PETERBOROUGH - The expected rain fall held off Friday night as ConVal (3-0) celebrated its home-opener with a 35-6 victory over visiting Kingswood (0-3).

Bolstered by an offense line that excelled at pass protection and opened lanes for the ground attack, the Cougars’ offense began to click after a scoreless first quarter in which both teams traded punts, penalties and turnovers.

Following a 20-yard scamper by quarterback Dan Spezzaferri to begin the Cougars' first possession of the second quarter, ConVal’s up-tempo offense capped an efficient drive with a bruising 9-yard touchdown run by Scott Stanley, the first of four scores on the night for the senior tailback.

Spezzaferri’s 158 yards out of the backfield, combined with Stanley’s slew of chunk rushing plays, contributed to the bulk of ConVal’s nearly 300-yard rushing performance.

“That was huge,” ConVal coach Paul Landau admitted after the win. “Spezz softened up their defense, and once we fixed our blocking, Scott Stanley ran the ball great.”

The passing game also got on track after a slow start, with Spezzaferri rebounding from an early interception to connect on a slew of short passes to his receivers, perhaps none bigger than a leaping 5-yard touchdown grab in the corner of the end zone by senior Sam West to break open the game 27-0 in the third quarter.

On the defensive side of the ball, ConVal’s front line and backers made several big plays behind the line of scrimmage. Even when sacks weren’t recorded, the relentless pressure applied to quarterback Jackson McCullough resulted in junior Keenan Wilson and senior Makeen Wilson each picking off passes to end first-half drives for Kingswood.

Despite losing their third straight game to start the season, coach Justin Leonard’s team showed some encouraging signs of improvement. Special teams, a solid first-half defensive effort, and the play of Cameron Mann were a few of the bright spots for the winless Knights.

After ConVal extended their lead 14-0, Mann returned the ensuing kickoff to the Cougar’s 29-yard line with seconds remaining before halftime, but a desperation pass by McCullough was intercepted to end Kingswood’s scoring opportunity.

James Donovan relieved McCullough at quarterback in the second half and led the Knights on their lone scoring drive of the game - and first of the season for Kingswood. Set up by the legs of Chance Parker and a crucial ConVal penalty, sophomore Matt Drew sliced his way through the defense for a 17-yard score, making it 35-6 late in the fourth quarter.

Kingswood recovered the onside kick, and drove deep into ConVal territory after Donovan completed a long pass down field. The Knights attempted to register their second scoring drive of the season, but two plays later ConVal’s Tyler Finley intercepted Donovan to put an end to the night – and an end to the Knights.

Three games in the books, and three ConVal wins for Landau and his team, but there’s still room for improvement.

“Penalties killed us tonight,” Landau said. “It set us back and we probably could have run for 500 yards (if not for the mistakes).”

Despite the glut of penalties, the coach commended his offensive line and acknowledged that a 3-0 start to the season is a good place in which to be as ConVal heads into the middle part of their schedule.

“Every week is like a playoff week this year,” he said. “There’s probably going to be a bunch of teams in the division with five or six wins at the end of the season, all trying to get into the playoffs, so (starting out 3-0) is really going to help us.”

The Cougars converted three of four extra point attempts, Zach Obuchowski ran in a 2-point conversion, and freshman Austin Davis blocked a Kingswood extra point to round out the scoring.

ConVal hosts Sanborn on Friday, while Kingswood aims to notch its first win when the Knights return home to play John Stark.