Stamford Smackdown

James Stefanowicz 
PrideTime Reporter

​"Winning."
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Winning, said by Andrew Trujillo, was what the football team was focused on, and that’s exactly how they started the game against Stamford High.

Not even two minutes into the game, a punt is blocked by Malik Goethe and returned by Jonathan Davila, leading to the first touchdown of the night on the Black Knights home field and a great day on the turf for McMahon.

After that, Jermayne Daniels, later on in the first quarter ran in a touchdown to make the game 14-0.
The next score would come from Donyae Shavers on a ninety four yard kickoff return with a missed PAT, as well as six points put up by the Knights makes the game 20-6 at the end of the third quarter.

Lastly, senior captain Mike Macari would run another touchdown in, with Stamford scoring 6 more in the last quarter, ending the game with a two possession lead, 27-12.

Captains of the football team (left to right) Mike Macari, Thaddeus Burrus, Patrick Coulter, and Andrew Trujillo

McMahon’s head coach was planning his goals before he was even hired for the job.
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“Every New Year’s Eve, or New Year's Day I write down 10 goals I want accomplished throughout the year, and one of my goals was to get my first win as head coach, and at that point I wasn’t even hired as the head coach yet,” said Coach Q.

McMahon’s new head coach, Jeffery Queiroga, better known as Coach Q, had accomplished one of the goals he had set out before he had even become head coach, achieving his first win of the season and as head coach in their fifth game of the season.

“The referees came up to me and they explained it to me as, it was a two score game, because we were up 15 with a minute and a half left… they (the referees) just felt that, two score game, minute and a half left, they didn’t think Stamford was going to come back and they decided to end it.” Coach Q said about the game ending early due to a fight breaking out between the two teams in the fourth quarter.

“One of their players ripped off Connor Barton’s helmet … and kind of threw a punch at him, kind of swung, one of those sort of things… about four seconds went by and they (the referees) didn’t call it, so then I got angry and I started yelling at the ref… if they had called the personal foul, minute and a half left, it would’ve been automatic first down for us, we could’ve just taken a knee and we would’ve won the game.” Said Coach Q.

After this, a flag was thrown, and an unnamed player came over to Coach Q and got in his face, which prompted the rest of the McMahon team to back up their coach, leading to the fight.

​Coach Q stated that three Stamford players may be suspended and possibly one McMahon student, who is also unnamed due to possibly not being suspended.“Our players learned how to win,” said Coach Q.

McMahon is looking to continue their success going against Bridgeport Central for the homecoming game, and with the momentum they gained from Stamford’s game, they have a great chance to get their second win of the season.