Mustangs rout Cougars

BY MICHAEL PIASETZKI

The midget AAA football North Shore Mustangs were simply the better team Sunday afternoon at Parc des Bénévoles in Kirkland, romping easily to a 42-0 whipping of the Lakeshore Cougars.

The Cougars’ roster featured only eight returning players, with many players having never even strapped on the pads before this season. For their part, the Mustangs came out of the affair with mixed emotions. Even though they worked hard for 60 minutes and won, there were questions. More importantly, they committed far too many penalties throughout.

“As one of our kids said to me after the game, ‘this is nothing to be too happy about,’” said Mustangs head coach Justin McHugh. “We’re 1-1 now, but we have to make sure we’re executing properly in our next game, and in order to do that, we’ll be watching a lot of film. This was the second consecutive game we took too many penalties. We have to play good, clean hard football and avoid being put in bad positions like that.”

The game itself was pretty well in the books by the end of the first quarter. A 40-yard touchdown romp by running back Eric Bishara followed by a 40-yard interception return by defensive back Mohammed Malik staked the Mustangs to a quick 14-0 lead with a little over four minutes gone in the contest. Two consecutive Hogan field goals made it 20-0 Mustangs after the first quarter. A safety touch followed by a 40-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kevin Hillier to wide receiver Richard Elias made it 29-0 Mustangs at the half. Two more Hogan field goals made it 35-0 after three quarters before the Mustangs added their final touchdown on a blocked punt recovered in the end zone late in the fourth quarter.

“We’re here to teach these kids to play,” said Cougars head coach Jim States. “As long as we continue teaching them, they’ll be all right. And you know, we as coaches made mistakes out there today. You can’t point the finger at the kids if that happens. We held our own in the second half, and that was promising.”

Grid note: The Mustangs play their home opener this Saturday afternoon at 5. There will be a special ceremony beginning at 4:30, in which their home field will officially be renamed the Glenn F. McHugh Field, in memory of McHugh, who devoted 25 years to the local football. McHugh passed away in 2006 at the age of 55.