photo by: Carter Gaskins

Veritas junior Adam Maurer (11) runs past Albany Nate Doolittle (11) in the first half during a game Friday night at VHS on Aug. 30, 2019.

At first glance, Veritas freshman offensive/defensive lineman Calvin Clements provided a much-needed spark for the Eagles with a fumble recovery for a touchdown with 3:07 left in the first half.

However, the Eagles had nine players on the field, thus nullifying a rare scoring opportunity and illustrating Veritas’ struggles in a 48-0 season opening loss to Albany.

“[We] came out, they fought hard,” Veritas head coach LoGun Saiz said. “But they’re a really young team. They fought their hearts out, that’s for sure.”

Miscues and miscommunication defined the Eagles’ difficulty stopping Albany’s offense, which had its way throughout the first half.

The visiting Warriors opened up the scoring through the air as junior quarterback/linebacker Tryce Floyd was able to escape the pocket and connect with junior wide receiver Kaeden Hutchinson for a 38-yard touchdown to take an early 6-0 lead.

Veritas looked to respond in its first drive, as junior quarterback Andrew Maurer broke free for a 35-yard run.

“I just see green,” Maurer said of his outside scrambles Friday night.

However, the Eagles quickly fumbled the ball the next play, giving the ball right back to Albany.

Fumbling proved to be an issue on both sides in the first half, with Veritas putting the ball on the ground three times and Albany with two fumbles.

And while Veritas was forced to punt four times before halftime, Albany’s offense continued to march down the field. Floyd scored off a quarterback sneak, senior running back Dawson Butterfield punched in two touchdowns and junior Ethan Mercer scored on a 16-yard run after a Veritas penalty.

This scoring spree was helped by starting in Veritas territory four times in the first half.

Less than an hour into the game, Albany held a 36-0 lead over Veritas.

“We just had to get our heads together,” Maurer said. “It’s the first game of the season; everybody’s a little out of it.”

Coming out of the halftime break, Veritas looked to change things up, though, giving senior running back Ben Hanson six carries on the first drive of the half after no carries before the break.

“He’s our fastest kid on the team,” Saiz said. “We wanted to catch the edge and hopefully get outside so we could get a little bit more yardage.”

Pair that with a 30-yard run by Maurer and the Eagles had their longest drive of the night and found themselves with a first-and-goal opportunity.

“Adam as an 11th grader is playing at, I think, a senior level already,” Saiz said. “His thought process during the game and his game knowledge was huge. He’s an athlete and he’s making it happen.”

But once again, Veritas struggled to capitalize as the Eagles couldn’t convert on fourth down, handing the ball right back to Albany.

“We were close to a touchdown there, but we’ve got to get that much better,” Maurer said.

As for Albany, it was more of the same as Floyd broke off a 31-yard run deep into Veritas territory to set up another rushing score for Mercer, this time a 18-yard run into the end zone.

The score read 44-0 after another successful two-point conversion and the game teetered toward a 45-point mercy rule before the fourth quarter.

Veritas tried its best to prevent this, but costly penalties hurt the Eagles and forced more punting.

Finally, Albany finished things off with a 43-yard burst by Floyd down the left sideline that was punctuated by a horse collar penalty against Veritas, setting up first-and-goal. Butterfield promptly scored his third touchdown of the night, ending the game and capping off an explosive offensive night from the Warriors.

Even with the season opening loss, Maurer said the team has improved from last year, agreeing with Saiz that the Eagles just need to stick with the process.

“And coming in next week we’ve got to make sure we’re focused and we’ve got to earn our wins every week,” Saiz said.

ALBANY 48 VERITAS 0

AW | VE

First downs 11 | 3

Rushing yards 31-231 | 23-81

Passing yards 84 | 13

Total offense 315 | 94

Fumbles-lost 2-0 | 3-1

Interceptions 0 | 0

Penalties-yards 5-30 | 5-33

Score by quarters

Albany 14 22 12 X — 48

Veritas 0 0 0 X — 0

Individual statistics

Rushing

AW: Dawson Butterfield 17-102, Tryce Floyd 8-80, Ethan Mercer 6-49

VE: Adam Maurer 3-65, Andrew Windheuser 10-10, Ben Hanson 8-6, Eli Reusch 2-0

Passing

AW: Tryce Floyd 7-11-84

VE: Adam Maurer 2-7-13

Receiving

AW: Kaeden Hutchinson 6-83, Ethan Mercer 1-1

VE: Benedict Kaiser 1-10, Eli Reusch 1-1

HOW THEY SCORED

First quarter

7:25 — Kaeden Hutchinson 38-yard reception. Two-point conversion no good. (AW 6, VE 0)

51.7 — Tryce Floyd 1 run. Two-point conversion good. (AW 14, VE 0)

Second quarter

11:00 — Dawson Butterfield 2 run. Two-point conversion no good. (AW 20, VE 0)

6:15 — Dawson Butterfield 8 run. Two-point conversion good. (AW 28, VE 0)

2:53 — Ethan Mercer 16 run. Two-point conversion good. (AW 36, VE 0)

Third quarter

3:55 — Ethan Mercer 18 run. Two-point conversion good. (AW 44, VE 0)

32.3 — Dawson Butterfield 2 run. (AW 48, VE 0)