BB&N 35, Milton Academy 14 — Knights impress in every facet

MILTON — You follow BB&N football the past few years, and you run into a few hard truths.

One, running back Bo MacCormack is going to run for a bunch of yards and basically dominate. Two, the Knights will impress you as a very good team.

In Saturday’s 35-14 win over Milton Academy, all of that remained the same. The only caveat? Maybe scratch off “very good,” and replace it with “great.”

In other words, the Knights (2-0) might have something special this year.

MacCormack was his usual self, as he piled up 266 yards and four touchdowns on 30 carries. Safety AJ Azuakolam had three interceptions, as the Knights totally eliminated the Mustangs’ (1-1) downfield passing game. Vince Snoonian was 5-for-5 on PATs.

It was not perfect, but it was convincing, and the Knights left no doubt on who the best team on the field was. BB&N coach Mike Willey’s had some very good teams at BB&N, and this one looks like one of his best.

“Every year we’ve had some good teams, but for me, truthfully, this is probably . . . it could be the most complete team we’ve had since I’ve been here,” MacCormack said. “Obviously, we haven’t proven anything. We’re 2-0. We could lose every game from here on out. I think this could be a very special team if we do what we do.”

MacCormack is quick to say the Knights have to execute, play tough, and be physical, but he’s right. There is potential with this group.

“I think, because of how hard they’re working in practice, we have three core values, and we’re really living by those,” Willey said. “I’m excited to see what we can progress to. It’ll be exciting, and we’ll be back to work on Monday.”

The Knights only have six seniors on the roster, but this does not look like a team that lacks maturity. MacCormack is a big part of that, and he was electric against the Mustangs. He scored touchdowns of 3 and 36 yards in the first quarter, the latter set up by Azuakolam’s first interception.

Milton Academy quarterback Qur’an McNeill bounced back from that mistake and tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Kash Kelly in the third quarter to pull his team to within 14-7. That was set up by McNeill’s 58-yard run. He finished with 105 yards passing and 149 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.

That was as close as Milton got though. A 51-yard MacCormack touchdown run pushed the lead to 21-7, and BB&N quarterback Damon Taylor hit Andrew Knapp for a 32-yard touchdown to basically salt it away.

McNeill scored on a 5-yard run, but MacCormack finished it off with a 25-yard run where he dragged tacklers into the end zone.

“I do,” Azuakolam said of this team possibly being the best at BB&N in a while. “One-hundred percent. It started at 7-on-7s. We worked a lot over the summer, lifting. We won the Northeast regional 7-on-7s. So I think this is the best team we’ve been on skill-wise and talent-wise. And I think if we keep putting in that hard work every day, we can be one of those great teams, maybe even the best team in BB&N history.”

MacCormack praised the offensive line, which only has one senior in Nate Bodden. The other starters are junior Jake McGrath, sophomores Ben Pantera and Liam Cunningham, and freshman Xzavier Chafin.