Hollis Brookline football takes care of business against Manchester West

HOLLIS - Chris Lones has expressed all season to the Hollis Brookline High School football team how small the margin for error is in Division II.

That means winning home games and winning the games the Cavaliers are expected to win takes on an even greater importance.

After a slow start Saturday against Manchester West, HB took care of business in home game it needed to win, as the Cavs rolled to a 50-0 win over the Blue Knights in a Division II South Conference game.

HB got another big game from sophomore quarterback Sander Wimmer, as he completed 12 of 18 passes for 240 yards and four touchdowns, all in the first half. JT Arnold caught three of those passes for 83 yards and two touchdowns while Matt Simco had four catches for 81 yards and a score, and Quinten Wimmer had five receptions for 72 yards and a touchdown for the Cavs (5-1)

"He still makes sophomore mistakes," Lones said of Sander Wimmer. "Then he makes plays that aren’t sophomore plays. You live with it and try to get him better every day. He has all the tools, it’s just the maturity part."

West (1-6) was able to put together a 15-play drive against the HB defense that used up over seven minutes on its first possession. The Blue Knights converted two third downs and a fourth to keep the drive going, but the offense stalled at the Cavs' 21-yard line.

"We had a six-minute drive and then they just shifted guys over," West coach Tom Bozoian said. "We have young guys on our line and we had to adjust on the fly. Our kickout guys was kicking out to the wrong guy. Our double guy was doubling the wrong guy."

HB made a few adjustments on the defensive line and held the Blue Knights to just 41 yards the rest of the first half. Jaymeson Maheux led West with 149 yards rushing on 31 carries, but the team finished with just 173 yards of offense.

"We weren’t getting off the ball fast enough," Lones said. "We were a little slow getting going. Once we got there, we became better. I thought if we were bigger on the outside, we’d be better, but we were better bigger on the inside and faster on the outside. We moved Clem (Sherwood) and Garrett (Moloney) inside and put Ben (Lindsey) and Brandon (Iodice) on the outside to give us more speed on the edge and more quickness. It made a difference."

The Cavs scored on the game's opening drive, as Wimmer found Arnold for a 21-yard touchdown and a 6-0 lead. West forced a punt on HB's next possession and short punt helped the Blue Knights get to the Cavs' 26-yard line before they turned the ball over on downs again.

This time, Wimmer was able to get the offense going, leading a four-play, 66-yard drive that took just 50 seconds and ended with a 34-yard touchdown pass to Simco. HB made it 22-0 on its next drive, getting a 4-yard touchdown run from Iodice, and after a fumble by Maheux on West's next possession, Sander Wimmer connected with Quinten Wimmer for a 5-yard scoring pass and a 28-0 lead.

Sander Wimmer and Arnold connected for a 45-yard touchdown pass on HB's next possession and the Cavs took a 36-0 lead into halftime.

Marc Thermitus added two touchdown runs, and finished with 59 yards rushing on six carries, in the second half to finish out the scoring.