Pinkerton football kept its focus in playoff win over Bishop Guertin

Brian O'Reilly has witnessed just about everything during his high school career coaching football and lacrosse.

So just because his Pinkerton Academy football team had defeated Bishop Guertin by 39 points during the regular, it didn't mean the Astros were guarantied of doing it again.

In order to try to relay that message to his players, O'Reilly recalled a lacrosse game from almost 20 years ago - the 2005 Division I championship game, when an upstart Bishop Guertin team beat the juggernaut Astros for the first time.

"We beat them in the regular season 18-3," O'Reilly recalled. "They were the No. 6 seed. Everybody was shocked. We had only lost one game that year to Londonderry. I think we had beaten (Bishop Guertin) 26 straight times.

"I told that story, and I told the lacrosse guys, you have no idea how bad they were (before 2005). They did that to us. Don’t you dare take these guys lightly because they have the ability to score."

The Astros coach saw that firsthand the week before last Friday's Division I quarterfinal, when the Cardinals dropped 56 points on Dover. It was the second time this season Bishop Guertin put up over 50 points and the fifth time in six games it had scored at least 34.

But the real question going into this quarterfinal matchup was could the Cardinals slow down the Astros?

The answer was a resounding no.

Pinkerton had nine possessions, including two kickoff returns for touchdowns, and scored on eight of them. The ninth was the final drive of the game, when the Astros took a knee to run out the clock on a 55-20 win.

The Astros ran for 323 yards, averaging 6.7 per carry, and had five players score a rushing touchdown.

"You have to be consistent," Bishop Guertin coach Anthony Nalen said. "A couple of times, they ran counter and we were there. A couple of times, we weren’t. It’s the same exact play, why did it work one time and not the other? Sometimes, it was a lack of effort, and other times, it was a lack of discipline. We struggled with that all night."

Matt Morrison led the way with 109 yards and a score on the ground and also had kickoff return touchdowns of 90 and 87 yards.

"We worked on that kick return this week," O'Reilly said. "We wanted to break it against the grain because we didn’t think they were bringing enough guys over to the weak side. It worked out better than I expected."

Bishop Guertin was still able to move the ball, as quarterback Mike MacDonough completed 17 of 26 passes for 173 yards and three touchdowns.

But Pinkerton took away the Cardinals running game, in part by taking a multiple-score lead early in the first half. Bishop Guertin finished with just 15 yards on 12 carries.

And when the Cardinals did find the end zone, Morrison made up for it with a kickoff return.

"It really kills all the momentum going for their side and gives it to us," Morrison said. "It essentially cancels out their touchdown and leaves us with the last score."