After a rough start to the season, things seem to be turning around for the Harrison football team, which trounced visiting Lincoln on Sept. 30 to win its third straight game. The Huskies torched the Lancers, opening the game by scoring 33 unanswered points en route to a 53-6 victory that put them above the .500 mark for the first time this season.
After recovering the opening kickoff, the Huskies wasted little time putting points on the board, as Stephen Windisch took a screen pass from Michael Cherico in for a touchdown on Harrison’s first offensive play. The Huskies recovered another fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and a few plays later, Thomas Gresham found the end zone to make the score 14-0 just 34 seconds into the game.
By the end of the first quarter, the game was out of control and head coach Dominic Zanot was able to rotate some of the second teamers in. The easy win, Zanot said, was a major boost.
“It’s a great thing,” he said. “It’s always great for team morale when everyone gets opportunities. Early in the year, we’ve had a lot of four-quarter games, but [on Friday] we were able to get everyone involved.”
Windisch hauled in two touchdown passes, and five other Huskies, including quarterbacks Michael Cherico and Frank Nannariello, also found the end zone on the day. Cherico and Nannariello combined to complete 8-of-9 passes for 154 yards and five touchdowns as Harrison’s air attack took a major step forward.
“It’s something we’ve been wanting to put in during the year,” Zanot said. “The kids started really executing in practice, and we saw that and we started to implement that in the games.”
The Huskies have won their last three games after starting the season with back-to-back losses, something that Zanot feels speaks to the willingness of his players to continue to improve. And although Harrison has been beset by injury, losing starting linebackers Rob Donohue and Kyle Stalteri, the head coach has been pleased with the play of Lucca Siqueira, Doug Dorado and Christian Steinns, who have filled in nicely.
“Losing some key members, it’s a really big impact when you think that our last three wins have been without multiple two-way starters,” Zanot said. “I think it says a lot about the kids and their ‘next man up’ mentality.”
The Huskies hope to keep their winning streak alive on Oct. 7, when they host 2015 Class A state runner up Lourdes. Coming into Friday’s matchup, Zanot said the Huskies will need to focus on stopping running back Joe Scaglione, who missed the first few games of the season with a wrist injury, and sophomore speedster Jaheim Jones, who won a national title in the freshman 100-meter dash last June.
“[Jones] is going to be the fastest kid we’ve faced this year and he may be the fastest player our kids will face in their careers,” Zanot said. “So those are two really, really good players.”
