Acton-Boxboro survives roller-coaster ride
Tim Bassett has spent most of his life playing and coaching football, but nothing prepared the second-year Acton-Boxboro coach for the wild turn of events which occurred Friday night.
His Colonials built a stunning 28-0 lead against No. 2 Lincoln-Suudbury, then watched as the Dual County League archrival stormed back with 35 second-half points to take a 35-31 lead with 1:12 left. Unfazed by the recent turn of events, A-B marched 75 yards on the final drive to score the winning touchdown on a 5-yard pass from Finn Murray to Victor Otero with time running out to earn a thrilling 37-35 victory.
“I’ve never been involved in a game as emotional as that one, as a player or coach,” said Bassett, whose team snapped a four-game losing streak to L-S. “Never a game more exciting than that one.”
A-B opened the season with three straight wins, but many considered the Colonials a decided underdog against an L-S squad which returned the nucleus from last year’s Division 2 Super Bowl finalist squad. No one bothered to read that script to the hungry Colonials.
“The kids all know one another from playing against one another in different sports, and they all go to the same football camps,” Bassett said. “We felt that we knew we could play with them and the goal was to get the game into the fourth quarter. We’ve played a tougher schedule and they really haven’t had to use their starters too much in the fourth quarter, so if we could hang in there until the fourth, let’s see what happens.”
After a scoreless first quarter, A-B put together three scoring drive in the second quarter to take a 21-0 lead into the break. At halftime, Bassett warned against the evils of celebrating too soon.
“Like any coach in that situation, we just told the kids to treat the game as it was a 0-0 contest,” Bassett said. “We knew Lincoln-Sudbury was an excellent team, we didn’t come here expecting to shut them out and we knew they would make a run.”
Led by quarterback Braden O’Connell and running back James Dillon, the Warriors quickly sliced into the lead. They took their first lead when O’Connell threw a 5-yard pass to Dillon with 1:12 left.
A-B didn’t panic, and Bassett thinks a large part of that stems from what happened last spring.
“Many of these kids are lacrosse players and they had that great run to the state final last year,” he said. “They’ve been in pressure situations before so they are used to it.”
Starting at the 25, Murray completed a 47-yarder to Otero (12 catches, 152 yards, two TDs). A pass interference call moved the ball deep into L-S territory, setting the stage for the final play.
“They just never feel like they are out of a game,” Bassett said. “That comes from the senior leadership we have, and you could see it building up from the end of last year. They have a great work ethic, great attitudes and great leadership.”
And a great win under their belts.
Streak enders
It was a good weekend for a trio of teams which hadn’t enjoyed a win in some time.
Rivers snapped a 14-game losing streak with a 14-10 victory against Middlesex, the winning points coming on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Brian Gonsalves to Chris Bucking.
Medford won for the first time in 13 outings with a 19-13 victory over Somerville, while Burke ended a nine-game drought with a 22-10 win over Madison Park.
Sweet 16
1. EVERETT (4-0): Interesting road test this week against a BC High team coming off a big win at Brockton.
2. XAVERIAN (3-1): Hawks showed a lot of moxie in rallying from a 17-point deficit to win on the road at Catholic Memorial.
3. ST. JOHN’S PREP (3-1): Could be the game of the weekend when the Eagles meet up with CM.
4. DUXBURY (4-0): Defense has been the calling card for the Dragons in recent weeks.
5. NORTH ANDOVER (4-0): Not many figured the Scarlet Knights would drop 40 and double up Tewksbury, but this is a talented bunch.
6. CATHOLIC MEMORIAL (3-1): The Knights can’t dwell on the crushing overtime loss to Xaverian with the Prep up next.
7. NEEDHAM (4-0): The Rockets had little trouble with Weymouth, but Braintree figures to provide a stiffer test.
8. ACTON-BOXBORO (4-0): Biggest win for the Colonials since the Abare days.
9. LINCOLN-SUDBURY (3-1): Great comeback went for naught in the final seconds against rival A-B.
10. MANSFIELD (3-1): The Hornets held off a potential game-winning 2-point try by King Philip to move to 2-0 in the Hockomock Kelley-Rex.
11. MASHPEE (4-0): Falcons survived a stiff test at Abington to run their winning streak to 24.
12. NATICK (2-2): Redhawks starting to click on all cylinders.
13. HINGHAM (3-0): Harbormen will take a crack at ending Duxbury’s reign of terror in the Patriot Keenan.
14. NORTH ATTLEBORO (3-1): Red Rocketeers with another big offensive effort.
15. CENTRAL CATHOLIC (2-2): Raiders beat Andover, their old Turkey Day rivals, in the Saturday Night Special.
16. DANVERS (4-0): The Falcons should get their toughest test to date when they travel to Manning Field to face Lynn Classical.