In a nail biting ending at Paul Lane field, the Staples Wreckers football team (3-0) edged out a narrow 28-21 victory over the Maloney Spartans (1-2). This victory marks the Wreckers 15th consecutive win, including last season’s historic state semifinal and title games.
The Wrecker offense was led by power back Kody Goldman ’25 who celebrated his 17th birthday with four rushing touchdowns including a go ahead score with 10 seconds remaining. Goldman drew high praise from his coaches and teammates for his late game heroics.
“He’s a savage going both ways… we have a lot of guys who do that week in and week out and they might not always get the headlines and get the glory but internally everyone knows what they mean to the team,” head coach Adam Behrends said.
Despite combining for over 500 passing yards in their two previous games, the Wreckers managed just 91 yards through the air, opting instead to lean on their ground game. Running backs Goldman and Anthony Armentano ’25 combined for 254 yards.
“I think what we’re going to do is put other teams on notice that we’re not just a passing team,” Assistant coach Jamar Greene said “We can run the ball, we can throw the ball and we’re still getting better week by week,”
Staples got out to a strong start in the first half with Armentano and Goldman putting the Wreckers in position to score three touchdowns. The Wreckers defense held up well throughout the first quarter, only surrendering one rushing touchdown.
Although the Wreckers entered the locker room at halftime with a 21-7 lead, momentum seemed to change sides in the second half. The Wrecker offense stalled in the third and early fourth quarter leaving the door open for a Maloney touchdown that reduced the Staples lead to one score.
Things took a turn for the worse for the Wreckers in the fourth quarter when Maloney scored on a 66 yard punt return from Jesus Martel to tie the game 21-21 with a few minutes left.
“It’d be awesome if we could hangout at Compo Beach all the time and hangout and sing Kumbaya and not have to come out here and work but a big thing we preach to the guys is how they respond to things when things get tough … we make them mindful of to just know that big plays are going to happen. That kid is a division 1 football player he’s going to score touchdowns,” Behrends said.
Ultimately the Staples offense would drive down the field positioning Goldman to score a rushing touchdown on fourth and one in the final seconds.
“It’s just a testament to the team. We willed our way to win this game, they came back a little bit with big plays but we always talk about neutral thinking and that’s what we did,” Goldman said.
The Wreckers will look to refine their game and avoid costly penalties as they prepare to host Westhill (2-1) on Friday.
