Athlete Of The Week: Daniel Handville

NEW BEDFORD – After Cape Cod Tech defeated Upper Cape Tech 14-6 on Nov. 27 to win the Golden Wrench and the Mayflower Athletic Conference Small League title, junior quarterback Daniel Handville had a question for his head coach, Calvin Castillias.

He wondered if Castillias would stay later back at the school so he could get a workout in. It was Thanksgiving, and he figured the gyms would be closed.

“That's just how he is,” Castillias said.

Against first-seed South Shore (7-6) in the deciding game of the vocational small school state playoffs on Dec. 3, Handville took over both through the air and on the ground to lead the seventh-seed Crusaders (9-4) to a 30-24 win and the program’s first football championship in program history.

“I'm so proud of where he's at,” Castillias said. “He put in all the work this offseason. He's the one who's first in, last out, the amount of questions he asks, his just determination to get himself better.”

It started in the second quarter with an 85-yard touchdown pass to junior Thomas Allen. Handville’s very next pass, on the following drive, was a strike to junior Anthony Bartlett, who took the reception for an 87-yard touchdown. Handville, a captain, finished the half having completed five of six passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns.

In reaching their first vocational playoff final, the Crusaders were rematching with South Shore, who they had lost to earlier in the season to fall to 1-4. Cape Tech had won seven straight since.

“That was our make or break,” Handville said. “That's a hard team to play. They're super physical. And I think after that, we all just locked in.”

The Cape Tech air raid continued into the home stretch, while Handville also kicked it into gear with his legs when needed. Handville found sophomore Jordyn Wilson for a 51-yard touchdown. Later in the third quarter, after a sack for a 9-yard loss and Cape Tech needing a score to retake the lead, Handville crafted the following sequence: completion to Bartlett for 23 yards, completion to Allen for 14 yards, quarterback run for 14 yards. That got the Crusaders in range to pull out the halfback pass touchdown that delivered the vocational championship.

“The guys were just jelling,” offensive playcaller George Castaneda said. “They trusted each other.”