HAMILTON – All season long Nottingham moved the ball but couldn’t finish drives, and it seemed like more of the same when the Northstars began Saturday’s game at Hamilton West by turning the ball over on downs at the 5-yard-line. A case of “Here we go again” hung over the ‘Stars sideline. But Hamilton’s first play resulted in the fumble recovery of the year for Nottingham, as Daniel Laurent pounced on a loose ball at the 2 and August Cassidy scored on the next play. The Northstars never looked back in rolling to their first win of the season, 27-0, to spoil West’s Senior Day. “That was huge,” quarterback Dante Vazquez said. “We got the ball in the red zone so all we had to do was punch it in.” Coach Milo McGuire termed the fumble recovery “Amazing.” “We can’t kill ourselves,” McGuire said. “We had crazy penalties today where we took away drives and stuff like that with things that we did. We have to clean that up. Once we got that turnover inside the five-yard-line it was like ‘Shwew! Now let’s go complete it.” Nottingham overcame 95 yards in penalties to play its best all-around game of the season. It scored more than two touchdowns for the first time and outgained Hamilton 388-77 in total offense. Vazquez was 10-for-16 for 223 yards and two TDs, Sabri Melvin had three catches (two for the highlight reel) for 100 yards and a touchdown, Qymir McMillan grabbed three balls for 66 yards and Kendy Guillaume made an eye-popping TD grab. August Cassidy and Tymir Carmichael paced a 165-yard rushing effort and both ran for scores. Defensively, Nottingham was on top of everything the Hornets tried as Hamilton gave sophomore Cullen Bressler his first start at quarterback. “We were surprised, we were expecting number five (Matt Brescio) to start,” said sophomore defensive back James Rumph, who had an active day. “We didn’t really change anything. We just locked up their receivers and stopped the run game.” It all added up to getting Northstars (1-5) out of the Winless Galaxy. “It obviously feels great to get off the schneid,” McGuire said. “I felt bad for myself but really felt bad for the kids. We had a heavy weight on us and we knew we weren’t a winless team. We knew we had what it took to make the plays, the intangibles to get over the hump. We had to believe it to do it. I’m so glad we were able to do that today.” They were helped by Vazquez’s career day. “There’s a lot of ups and downs,” the junior signal caller said. “People who don’t believe in us. Our school didn’t believe in us that much. But we were still coming out every day trying to prove something because we know we’re not an 0-5 team.” Nottingham did a nice job of mixing its plays in a 91-yard scoring drive that bridged the first and second quarter and culminated in Melvin’s leaping touchdown catch in the back of the end zone. Vazquez had to throw it high to get it over the cornerback’s head and had faith that the athletic Melvin would come down with it. “Throughout the summer we did the 7 on 7s and it’s always been like that,” Vazquez said. “He’s been like that since he transferred in as a sophomore and it’s been great to finally throw to him.” A key play in the drive was a 36-yard completion to McMillan on third-and11 from the Nottingham 42. “Qymir always tells me I need to put faith in him and I had belief in my receivers,” Vazquez said. McGuire shares that faith. “We were missing Sabri the first four weeks and now he’s back and he’s a threat,” the coach said. “He’s always gonna be a threat out there, he’s a very athletic kid. When that ball goes up it kind of reminds you of Q (McMillan, Qymir’s brother) a couple years ago. The ball goes up, his radius to get it is big.” “Our receivers are very talented,” Vazquez added. “They all have their specialities. Sabri goes up and gets it no matter what. Qymir does the same. Carlos (Almonte) is always open across the middle. Then we have Kendy, we haven’t gone much to him but we have to start using him more.” They did just that in the third quarter, when Guillaume went up between two receivers and used his leaping ability and strength to wrestle in the ball and come down within the back of the end zone for a 16-yard TD reception. Carmichael had a 7-yard run to complete the scoring in the fourth quarter. Rumph was happy to see the offensive outburst, saying “It’s amazing. We have to go on the field a lot less. And it feels great to finally get a dub (W).” Vazquez could not agree more. “It feels good to finally go out and get a win,” he said. “We finished drives, we did what we’re supposed to do.” Asked if he felt good, McGuire said “Feeling better, but we got some ways to go.” He just just hopes this is an indicative starting point for wherever they are going. Nottingham (1-5) 6 6 8 7 – 27 Hamilton (1-5) 0 0 0 0 – 0 N-Cassidy 2 run (kick blocked) N-Melvin 11 pass from Vasquez (run failed) N-Guillaume 16 pass from Vasquez (Melvin run) N-Carmichael 7 run (Alvarez kick).