The football team could not have asked for a better start to its 2013 season than the 45-7 thrashing it laid on Georgetown Saturday afternoon at Brown Stadium.
“I’m happy with the way we played offensively, defensively and on special teams,” said Head Coach Phil Estes. “There were some really good things that happened out there.”
After a penalty on the opening kickoff forced the Bears (1-0) to start deep in their own territory, Bruno controlled every facet of the game, building a 17-0 lead after the first quarter and extending the lead to 31-0 at halftime.
Brown’s first-quarter execution produced a one-sided first 15 minutes. The Bears amassed 185 yards of offense on three first-quarter drives, while Georgetown (1-3) managed just 10 yards and no first downs against the Bruno defense in the first.
Using a balanced run-and-pass attack, the Bears marched 92 yards in the game’s opening four minutes to get on the board first. Patrick Donnelly ’13.5 found Alex Phelan ’14 in the back of the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown strike and marked the Bear’s first score of the season. Donnelly captained a mix of formations and no-huddle plays on the drive and connected on three passes of 10 yards or more — one to Phelan and two to Tellef Lundevall ’13.5.
Four minutes later, placekicker Alex Norocea ’14 drilled a 32-yard attempt to push the lead to 10-0 midway through the first. Running back John Spooney ’14 piled it on with a minute left in the quarter, finding a hole in the Hoyas’ defense for an eight-yard touchdown scamper.
Donnelly attributed the fast start to the team’s anxiousness to get off the practice field and start competing.
“It felt like the team had been in camp and preseason forever … everyone was chomping at the bit to play,” Donnelly said.
The second quarter was much the same, with Bruno converting two of its three drives for touchdowns. Donnelly dumped a screen pass to Spooney, who followed a great lead block by guard Daniel Austin ’14 and scampered 24 yards into the end zone for his second score of the day.
Spooney struck again with four minutes left in the second with a shifty seven-yard run for touchdown number three.
Donnelly’s aerial attack — 15 for 21 for 141 yards and two touchdowns before halftime — was supplemented by a strong running game by Spooney. The speedy back raced for 53 first-quarter yards and hit the century mark before the end of the first half to go along with two touchdowns.
“Welcome back John Spooney,” Estes said, opening his postgame remarks by emphasizing the positive impact the running back brought after Spooney took last year off to focus on preparing for track and field.
After Donnelly led the offense to its fifth touchdown with three minutes left in the third quarter, his strong season-opening performance was over, and he was relieved by backup quarterback Marcus Fuller ’15 and the second team offense.
The second teamers did their part the rest of the way, with Robert Grebenc ’15 scoring a touchdown on a 25-yard run to push the offensive output to 45 points, the most for the Brown squad since 2008.
Georgetown found its only offensive success in the final minute when it connected on a touchdown pass to break the shutout.
Despite the lopsided score, Estes and defensive captain Michael Yules ’14 stressed the many aspects of the game where the team did not execute.
“We are our hardest critics,” Estes said. “There are a lot of things that I think we have to fix before next week.”
Bruno plays its Ivy League opener next Saturday against Harvard in Boston.
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