Menwith Hill wins scrimmage, loses season
RAF ALCONBURY, England - Down to just 12 players at kickoff and using their No. 3 quarterback, freshman Brandon Montgomery, most of the way, the visiting Menwith Hill Mustangs posted a running-clock 27-13 victory in a scrimmage against the Alconbury Dragons.
“We wanted to play a full game,” Menwith Hill coach Pete Resnick said about the change of Saturday’s regularly scheduled Division III game into a scrimmage conducted with 45-minute, running-clock halves. “But the administration decided there would be too much risk of injury if we tried to play a regular game with so few players.”
Brendan Johnson ran 49 yards for one of Alconbury’s TDs and his teammate Keith Marasagin 56 yards for the other as the two teams ended the first half tied at 13. But Menwith Hill, which saw Josh Wilcox score twice in the first half on a 23-yard interception return and a 66-yard pass from Montgomery, pulled away after intermission on Ben Milam’s 8-yard TD run and Wilcox’s third TD of the day, a 2-yard scoring run.
“I told them at halftime,” Resnick said by telephone, “that they’d never again get an opportunity to play Iron-Man football like this. They stayed out there the whole time.”
Senior Christian Burdick, who kicked three extra points, led the defense for Menwith Hill, which ended its season Saturday. Burdick, playing at middle linebacker, made 14 tackles in his final high school game. Menwith Hill has cancelled its scheduled home game Saturday against Baumholder because of the player shortage.
Menwith Hill entered the day in fourth place in the D-III standings, but will not participate in the playoffs.Alconbury has received a provisional forfeit for the game, according to DODDS-Europe Athletic Director Karen Seadore and is fighting for the final playoff spot along with Sigonella.
