The Wilbraham & Monson Academy Football team went out on top at home last week, and now the Titans are looking to go out on top for the season.
On Senior Night, WMA beat St. Thomas More 26-20 Nov. 7, putting the Titans in position to have a winning season headed into its finale Nov. 14 at The Gunnery. WMA is 4-3.
"We have guys who have been here four years, three, two, one," Coach Jeff Vartabedian explained. "There's nothing like winning that last game on the turf. The atmosphere of having the lights and a good crowd ... Now we have an opportunity to go 5-3 and have a winning season. That would be satisfying."
The start of the game wasn't satisfying for WMA, with St. Thomas more scoring on its first possession. But the Titans answered in a big way, with Steve Puzzo '16 scoring on a 27-yard interception and Jaelon Blandburg '16 scoring on a 20-yard pass from Jack Faulstick '16 after Eric Chou '16 forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff. The Titans never trailed the rest of the game.
"It was a great way to wrap up our last home game of the year," Coach Vartabedian said. "The atmosphere was great, as it always is under the lights. The kids were super excited. Although we had a slow start to the game, the guys responded, and in the blink of an eye we were up 12-7.
Craig Green made the most exciting play of the game, making an interception and returning it up the sideline 99 yards for a touchdown. WMA added a touchdown in the third quarter when Jaelon and Jack connected for another touchdown, this time from 15 yards.
As it has done all season, the Academy's linemen did yeoman's work against a much larger opponent.
"We were giving up a lot of size on the line," Coach Vartabedian said. "Our offensive and defensive linemen, they battled hard all game long. Size-wise, it was a mismatch. We've been the smaller team all year long, so we're used to it. But it was even more so on Saturday, but our kids didn't back down."
Caelan Etti '17 (58 yards) and Alex Claudio '17 (42) led WMA's ground game. Alex again played exceptionally on defense, with five tackles, a sack, five quarterback pressures and one tipped punt. Amir Zeisler '16 had another outstanding game at linebacker, with seven tackles, a fumble recovery and tipped punt. Tony Barbieri '17 was in on eight tackles, and Craig and James Halloran '16 both made six.