Windsor wallops Springfield 62-0 in homecoming game

The first score of the Windsor-Springfield game Saturday was a defensive touchdown by the Yellow Jackets’ quarterback. You heard that right.
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Windsor wallops Springfield 62-0 in homecoming game By RALPH TUTELA | Sep 28, 2015 1 Photo by: Ralph Tutela Windsor’s Nick Kapuscinski (8) and Caleb Harrington (41) put the pressure on Springfield punter John Hildreth (3) as the Cosmos’ Kyle Weeks blocks during Saturday’s game. d Springfield’s Ryan McSally makes a textbook tackle on Windsor’s Nick Kapuscinski. (Photo by: Ralph Tutela) Enlarge... WINDSOR — The first score of the Windsor-Springfield game Saturday was a defensive touchdown by the Yellow Jackets’ quarterback. You heard that right. In typical ironman style football, Seth Balch scored on a fumble recovery while playing safety. That play would be the start of a Yellow Jackets scoring frenzy that ended with a 62-0 homecoming victory Saturday. The entire series of events leading up to the TD was intense. First, after a couple of solid runs, Balch connected with wide receiver/running back Dakota Page on a 43-yard pass, giving the Yellow Jackets a first and goal. Four plays later, a strong defensive effort by the Cosmos stopped the Yellow Jackets on a fourth and goal from the one. It was the last time the Cosmos would effectively stop the Yellow Jackets, as on the next play a fumble by Springfield in its own end-zone and recovered by Windsor set the tone for a long day of football for the Cosmos. Cosmos first-year head coach Rich Saypack said at the beginning of the game that the plan would be to “play a complete game, you know, we get hot and cold but putting together a complete game has been a struggle for us. Saypack went on to indicate a lot of these struggles are related to the lack of experience from his team. Saypack said he was excited about the sophomores on his offensive line that have shown potential, but was also realistic that many of his “seniors who should be enjoying the game, are still learning the game.” That lack of experience was exposed in this contest as Windsor outplayed, outmuscled, and oustscored the Cosmos. The Yellow Jackets not only shut out the Cosmos’, but they also scored at will. With 2:42 left in the first quarter, Balch connected with Page for another long pass. This time, Page took it 32 yards to the house, giving the Yellow Jackets a 14-0 lead. Windsor would score four more touchdowns before the end of the half. Two of the touchdowns came on run plays by Hunter Patenaude and Nick Kapuscinski. Then, with one minute left in the half, Balch connected with Jake Tuker on a short pass for a touchdown, giving the Yellow Jackets a 35-0 lead. Despite being down by such a margin, Springfield continued to try to move the ball against the stout Yellow Jacket defense. Hoping to put something on the board before the end of the first half, the Cosmos tried to remain aggressive in the final minute, but Cosmos QB Kyle Weeks, who was under pressure all day, ended up fumbling, a turnover that was returned 69 yards for a touchdown by Kapuscinski. Though Windsor would miss the extra point, it would head to the half with a comfortable 41-0 lead. Despite strong efforts from Cosmos’ Kyle Weeks, Ben Tubbs, Ryan McSally and the rest of the Springfield squad, things did not improve in the second half. With 9:32 remaining in the third quarter, Balch threw another beautiful pass to Patenaude for 23 yards and a touchdown. Now, with a 48-0 lead, the Yellow Jackets scored 3 1/2 minutes later, this time with a 5-yard run from Trevor Worrall. After a second missed extra point, the Yellow Jackets had a 54-0 lead. The ninth and final touchdown of the game came on sweep to the right from inside the 10 by Dakota Page. Windsor went for the two-point conversion and converted, ending the scoring at 62-0. Windsor was firing on all cylinders. The Jackets had their run game moving the chains regularly, which opened up the pass. They also dominated on the defensive end as well, with fumble recoveries by Balch, Caleb Harrington, and Ryland Richardson. With a true coaches’ mentality, coach Greg Balch had this to say after the victory. “I always see room for improvement. Toward the end of the first half I felt we gave up a little on offense, missed a lot of blocks and didn’t execute a number of plays well … but I do think we controlled the ball and that was one of the keys to the win.” This is true, as the Yellow Jackets offensive line gave Balch plenty of time and also provided the run game with holes big enough to drive a car through. Balch threw just seven passes, but completed four for 166 yards. Worrall finished with 75 rushing yards on 10 carries. The Cosmos’ Saypack has plenty to work on, but is looking forward to watching his young team grow and learn as the season continues. Springfield falls to 2-3 (2-2 in the league) and will get ready for Mill River in North Clarendon next week. Windsor now has a 3-2 record on the season (3-1 in the league) and will begin to prepare for Mt. St. Joseph in Rutland next week.