BY KEVIN ROBERTS
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
SEYMOUR – The Woodland High football team came ready to play in its Thanksgiving Eve game against Seymour at DeBarber Field.
So ready that senior Christian Morales ran 44 yards on the game’s first play from scrimmage. So ready that junior Jack Brunetti threw one incompletion in 17 attempts (224 yards, 4 TD) in a nearly flawless first half.
The Hawks got the Helmet back in convincing fashion with a 68-13 win over the Wildcats. The 68 points are a school record for Woodland (7-3). The Hawks moved up to sixth from seventh in the Class S state playoff standings. Seymour finished the season at 4-6.
“We just wanted to make the playoffs. We knew we were in a good spot to make it, and that’s it,” Woodland coach Joe Lato said. “We’re playing our rivals on Thanksgiving Eve, and that’s something. We didn’t have the Helmet, and we got the Helmet back. We did a lot of good things.”
Brunetti finished 18 of 20 for 251 yards and five touchdowns. Erik Pulkinnen caught touchdown passes of 15 and 7 yards to lead the receiving corps. Brett Lato had a 39-yard catch and run for a touchdown, Norman Cook scored on a 15-yard pass, and Morales hauled in an 8-yard connection.
“You’ve got to give them the ball in space,” Brunetti said. “I’ve got to trust them to make plays, and they always do. It feels great to have them supporting me.”
Morales ran for 142 yards and scored on runs of 8 and 20 yards. Whether Woodland was in the spread formation or the double-wing, everything clicked.
“It felt great. We put in a lot of work this week, kept practicing, made all of our plays perfect, and it shows,” Brunetti said.
“We just focused on one play at a time, and we go from there, and that’s it,” Joe Lato said. “If we have a good play or a bad play, we move onto the next one, and that’s been the message. It just kind of snowballed from there. You don’t focus on the score, you focus on the moment, and good things happen.”
Will Brooks (2 yards) and Nico Scampolino (3 yards) added rushing touchdowns for Woodland. The Hawks used touchdown runs from Brooks and Morales, sandwiched around a Brunetti-Pulkkinen scoring connection, for a 20-0 lead after one quarter. Brunetti connected with Lato, Pulkinnen and Morales in the second quarter while Scampolino scored on the ground as Woodland built a 47-7 halftime lead.
Mark Poulin recovered a bad snap in the end zone in the fourth quarter for Woodland’s final touchdown.
“They shoved it in our face last year,” Brunetti said about his team’s 34-14 loss to Seymour. “They talked trash and we knew it wasn’t a possibility to lose. We had to get (the Helmet) back and fight.”
Quarterback Anthony Cortello and receiver Jake George connected on touchdown passes of 70 and 59 yards for Seymour.
