Defense drives CVU past Essex, 49-21

By Ted Ryan for the Burlington Free Press

ESSEX — When a football team racks up points the way Champlain Valley did Friday, the offense would seem to be the focus of the spotlight, and the Redhawks’ certainly dominated the Essex Hornets in a 49-21 win. Still, the Redhawks’ offense received a mighty big assist from the CVU defense, which produced four Hornets’ turnovers that led directly to 26 points, including the game’s first 12.

“The defense definitely pushed us forward. If it wasn’t for them, we would not be here right now,” said CVU running back Nick Ferrentino, who ravaged the Essex defense for four touchdowns and 242 yards rushing, and that’s not including a 68-yard TD romp negated by a penalty. “Our defense put us there and we executed.”

“What’s that country song? Thunder gets all the credit but lightning does all the work?” asked CVU coach Jim Provost. “That’s exactly what happened. It’s a two-way street. The defense creates opportunities and the offense taps them in.”

The first Essex turnover came on a punt reception recovered by CVU’s Matt Bauer at the Redhawks’ 45. CVU drove to the 6, from where Ferrentino recorded his first score with 4:57 left in the first quarter. Then, in a weird bounce of the football, Essex quarterback Jack Valley had a pass batted back into his own hands for the catch, but he fumbled with CVU recovering at the Hornets’ 37. CVU quarterback Drew Nick completed a 17-yard pass to Brendan Davitt, then ran the final 20 yards for a 12-0 lead at 3:33.

Ferrentino pushed the lead to 20-0 with a 53-yard run before the quarter ended and the score went to 28-0 on Nick’s 9-yard pass to Brent Carreiro at 10:11 of the second. At that point, the Hornets rallied with two touchdowns, Valley throwing a 5-yard scoring strike to Trevor Yandow at 6:02 and then connecting with Willie McSoley at 1:02 for a 28-14 halftime score. The late Essex points were “definitely startling,” said Ferrentino, who added, “They’re known for coming back, known for staying in there ... but we picked it up in the second half and brought it to them.”

An Essex turnover set up Ferrentino’s 6-yard scoring run at 3:27 of the third and he broke off a 74-yard TD dash as the quarter ended. A CVU interception led to Patrick Shea’s 12-yard run to account for the Redhawks’ final points. Essex backup quarterback Joey Picard finished the scoring with a 33-yard pass to Yandow.

The win pushed CVU’s record to 3-0 while Essex dropped to 0-3.