Greene’s preparation pays off against Windsor

Greene 36, Windsor 28

GREENE – Greene was prepared for moments like Friday night. Sixty-three yards, just over three minutes left, and one timeout remaining to score the go-ahead points against a talented opponent.

No problem.

Junior quarterback Scott Gorton tossed a perfectly thrown fade pass to Brendan Kinne in the back right of the end zone with six seconds left to give the Trojans a thrilling non-league win over the Black Knights.

“We’ve beaten Sidney the last two years and Norwich last year. This win has to rank right up there,” said hoarse-voiced Greene head coach Tim Paske.

Every day the Trojans work on the two-minute drill in practice, and it paid off big time. Nate Whittaker, who shared QB duties with Gorton during the game, had a first-down run and a first-down catch, Garrett Hickey picked up a 13-yard run, and Dan Carlin caught a first-down pass at the Windsor two setting up the winning scoring toss to Kinne. It certainly wasn’t the first – or last time – those two will connect on scoring tosses. Last year that pitch-and-catch duo made hay on the junior varsity level. “That pass route (to Kinne) is one we practice a lot, and we have guys who can go up and get it,” Paske said.

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While Greene found a nice mix of rushing a passing in the game finishing with 194 yards on the ground and 99 yards passing, Windsor moved the pigskin almost exclusively through the air – to the tune of 277 yards. That was a result of a stingy run defense that surrendered just 24 rushing yards to the Black Knights.

Forgoing the run, Windsor quarterback Matt Murray threw three TD passes, and his last, a seven-yarder to Mike Williams, knotted the game with 3:04 left. Josh Clink batted down the all-important two-point scoring pass to hold the score in check.

“We knew coming in that Windsor would try to be multi-dimensional, but we shut down the run, and really gave up only one real big pass play,” Paske said. “Our goal was to keep everything underneath and come up and make tackles.”

The gang-tackling approach from defenders Hickey, Nick Wilcox, Tyler Beckwith, Luke Messier, Tyler Kehl, and Grey Fahrenz among others rocked Windsor’s receivers and backs, and even knocked out one of their receivers after a big stick.

Matching touchdowns with Windsor in the first half, Hickey’s second scoring run from one yard out pulled the Trojans to within 14-12. A safety at the end of the half tied the game.

Murray fumbled the snap exchange and was tackled in the end zone.

Kinne put Greene in front for the first time scoring on a quick-hitting 23-yard TD strike from Gorton. Following Windsor’s 64-yard TD pass from Murray to Tim Costello, Whittaker dove in from the one-yard line putting the Trojans up 26-20.

“Windsor is a strong team and we knew it would be a dog fight for four quarters,” Paske said. “Our kids hung tough and were able to handle adversity.

Hickey led with 88 yards on the ground and Gorton finished 8-for-10 for 78 yards and two touchdown passes.

Score by quarters

Windsor 6 8 8 6–28

Greene 6 8 8 14–36

Scoring summary

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First quarter

G: Garrett Hickey 13 run (pass failed)

W: Mike Gnall 12 pass from Matt Murray (kick failed)

Second quarter

W: Noah Sibley 1 run (Mark Murray pass from Matt Murray)