By David Fierro
M.J. D’Angelo kept passing the ball and teammate Matthew O’Donnell kept catching touchdown passes for the Greenwich High School football team during the first quarter of Saturday’s road game against Stamford and when the first 12 minutes of play concluded, the Cardinals held a 21-point lead, thanks in large part to the dynamic duo’s connection.
D’Angelo threw three touchdown passes to O’Donnell in the opening quarter for Greenwich, which scored 28 first-half points and used a strong defensive effort to register a convincing 37-7 victory over Stamford in an FCIAC matchup.
The Cardinals, who earned a 24-6 road win over non-conference foe West Haven in Week 1, moved its record to 2-0 with Saturday’s triumph. D’Angelo threw four touchdown passes against the Black Knights (0-2) and passed for 150 yards.
“It was great to see the pass game going,” Greenwich coach Anthony Morello said. “We’ve been working really hard at it and obviously, we had a lot of run plays against West Haven a week ago, but that’s basically, because it was working. So, if things are working, we’re going to keep going with it. Today, we threw the ball well early, so we kept on it.”
“It was a beautiful day to throw the ball, we had the wind in the first quarter, so we figured, why not air it out on this blustery Saturday afternoon,” Morello continued. “M.J. was putting balls on the money, they loaded up the front and were determined to press us, so we wanted to show what our receivers can do.”
The Cardinals also had significant success running the ball, as they did one week ago at West Haven. Facing a formidable Black Knights defense, the Cardinals gained 177 rushing yards on 27 attempts against Stamford, with senior running back Hector Lopez pacing the ground attack.
A senior, Lopez reached the end zone on a 27-yard run and also scored on a 77-yard pass play off a well-thrown ball by D’Angelo.
“Credit to Stamford, they made a lot of adjustments from Week 1 to Week 2, they were determined to stop the run and they gave us a lot of fits,” Morello said. “Offensively we put points up early, but we didn’t put them away, we didn’t have that finishing drive that we were looking for. We want to get back to finishing football games.”
The Cardinals certainly didn’t waste time in seizing control of their FCIAC game versus the Black Knights. Senior defensive back Guy Germain broke up a pass from Stamford quarterback Ejai Presley on the game’s opening possession, forcing a punt. Greenwich took possession and promptly reached the end zone.
D’Angelo completed a pass in the flat to O’Donnell along the left sideline and O’Donnell showed his speed and shiftiness, sprinting to the end zone for a 22-yard touchdown. Senior Julian Ravina split the uprights with the extra point, giving GHS a 7-0 lead with 8:14 remaining in the first quarter.
On Greenwich’s second possession, D’Angelo threw a 29-yard scoring strike to O’Donnell, who hauled in the pass in the left corner of the end zone, making it 14-0 at the 4:24 mark of the first quarter.
“We had a hot start, there was a lot of chemistry building throughout the week,” said D’Angelo, who also successfully ran the ball against Stamford. “We had a great week of practice, we came out and executed. Me and Matt were talking before the game – we’re just ready to go. We knew we had the game plan we wanted. Our coaches get us ready there’s no doubt about that.”
Senior Max Marek sacked Presley, halting Stamford’s next possession and when GHS got the ball, another touchdown soon followed. The D’Angelo-O’Donnell connection struck again, with D’Angelo completing a pass over the middle to O’Donnell for a 6-yard touchdown, putting the Cards on top, 21-0, with 1:24 left in the first quarter.
“Me and M.J., we’ve been best friends since third grade,” O’Donnell said. “We’ve grown up together since GYFL all the way until now. I think the connection has always been there.”
O’Donnell appreciated his outstanding, three-touchdown first quarter.
“I never would have expected it,” O’Donnell said. “When I was born, I was diagnosed – I was deaf and in GYFL, I never thought I would be here scoring touchdowns for the Cardinals. In the first half, we were perfect. All in all I think we had a real good performance today.”
The Black Knights, who entered the game with several players injured, lost their starting quarterback Presley for the remainder of the game when he was hurt on a running play with 4:23 left in the second quarter. Stamford relies heavily on Presley, one of the team leaders, on offense.
Stamford’s score occurred with 3:54 to go in the second quarter, as Damar Taylor passed to Alijza Harris for a 22-yard touchdown. Leo Kantrowitz’s PAT cut Greenwich’s lead to 21-7 yet that’s the closest Stamford got, as the Cardinals’ defense didn’t give the Black Knights much to work with thereafter.
“The defense was swarming,” Morello noted. “The first half we played excellent football, we had one breakdown, but there were hats to the ball. We still have issues with alignments, we had some sloppy penalties. Most of our issues we had today were occurring before the whistle. Not the actual plays themselves.”
Junior linebacker Jack Kelly, senior defensive back Jack Carroll, senior defensive back Chase Inesta, junior linebacker Santi Parra and senior defensive lineman Peter Vomvolakis were among some of the numerous defensive standouts for the Cards.
“I thought it was a great win, we worked really hard this week,” Vomvolakis said. “We knew this wasn’t going to be an easy game, they’re a very good team. We have a lot of good leaders on this team, there were some mental mistakes, but we got them adjusted quickly and started progressing on offense, defense and special teams as well.”
Throughout, the Cardinals made it challenging for the Black Knights to run the ball and get into a rhythm offensively.
“They have a very good quarterback, so we knew we can’t let him run,” Vomvolakis said. “We tried to stop the run, they’re a run heavy team with a good offensive line and good running backs, so we knew we had to stop the run early.”
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Lopez’s 27-yard scoring run late in the second quarter put Greenwich ahead, 28-7 at halftime.
“It all relys on the line,” Lopez said, referring to the squad’s offensive line. “Coach (Bruce) Cunningham pushes the line to be the best they can. The line is phenomenal.”
Vomvolakis, Henry Wahl, Richie McMurray, Colin Falla, Frank Kingsley and Alex Mrdelja powered the Cardinals’ offensive line.
“We were tuned up and ready to go for the first quarter,” Morello said. “They were the home team, they aren’t going to quit, Stamford never quits. I hope their quarterback is all right, he’s a great player.”
Morello was impressed with D’Angelo and the offense’s overall performance.
“He (D’Angelo) demonstrated his ability to throw the ball, his ability to spread the ball around,” Morello noted. “Peter Vomvolakis paces everything for us on the offensive line.”
The third quarter saw Lopez score on a 77-yard catch and run, extending Greenwich’s lead on Stamford to 35-7.
“It was great, it was a great ball,” Lopez said of the touchdown pass. “It was great placement by M.J. and I got a good catch and scored a touchdown. It was a great game, there’s tiny things we have to fix still, but overall, it was a great game on offense.”
Greenwich added a fourth-quarter safety, giving them an impressive 37 points for the game.
“We have a lot of penalties and things we have to clean up,” D’Angelo said. “That’s football and we’ll get everything cleaned up for next week.”
Indeed, GHS showed that it’s not just a running team.
“We’re not one dimensional, that was the emphasis this week,” D’Angelo noted. “We had a good win against West Haven, but I don’t think we were satisfied with how we threw the ball, so we had to come out here and make a statement.”
The Cardinals will look to go 3-0 when it hosts a very unfamiliar opponent on Friday at 4:45 p.m. Greenwich takes on visiting Bishop Hendricken High School from Rhode Island at Cardinal Stadium.
