On the Gridiron: Hollis Brookline football picking it up on offense

When Chris Lones first became an assistant coach for the Hollis Brookline High School football team, the program was in an interesting predicament.

The Cavaliers were coming off some of their most successful stretch to that point, and were hoping to keep the ball rolling, but there was a big hole in the team's offense.

"When I first started in this program, we had wide receivers that we had to convert to quarterbacks," Lones said.

Things have improved over the last couple of years, so much so that this offseason, the Cavs had a quarterback competition between junior Joey Delaney and senior Tyler Bergerson.

"This is our second year with Joey and Tyler in the system, and they worked their butts off all summer long," Lones said. "We knew coming in that we were going to be OK no matter which was starting. Joey won the starting job and he's proven us right."

Delaney certainly did so in last Saturday's 40-14 win over Trinity, throwing for 274 yards and five touchdowns pass despite playing just the first half of the game. About the only mistake he made was his first interception of the season, which helped set up Trinity's first touchdown.

But after the pick, Delaney and the HB offense was able to pick up on what the Pioneers were trying to do defensively, and exploit it.

"We saw their weaknesses and they double-teamed Matt (Simco), so we went to the three other wide receivers," he said. "We took advantage of them and called some big plays for them and just executed. Up front, great blocking, and I had all the time I needed back there."

Simco had been Delaney's top target through the first two weeks of the season, catching 21 passes for 349 yards and two touchdowns, but the Pioneers were able to limit him to two catches - albeit for 76 yards and a score.

"We knew they were going to try to take Matt (Simco) away," Lones said. "You have to, after the way he started the season. We knew we had answers with Brian (Delaney) and Derek (Davidson). We believe in those two kids, that they're going to be able to do things against anybody. Joey was focused on Matt the first two weeks, but Brian and Derek are awesome."

HB has needed the offense to play well early in the season while some younger players get adjusted to the defense. Last Saturday was a step in the right direction, as the Cavs forced four turnovers.

"We're getting better (on defense)," Lones said. "We have a couple of young kids playing in a brand new position. When you're playing somewhere you've never played before, there's a learning curve. They're getting better, they've gotten better every single week, and as long as they keep getting better, defensively, we're going to get better."

Next up, HB will bring in lights for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Friday night against Merrimack Valley (0-3), which has allowed an average of 40 points per game.