Masse, Xaverian throttle Brockton
BROCKTON — In a battle of the trenches, Xaverian notched its second straight road victory with a 14-0 win over Brockton last night at Marciano Stadium.
The tandem of Mike Masse and Mike Saliba were the difference as the running attack of the No. 2 Hawks (4-1) wore down the Boxers inte- rior line in the second half.
No. 19 Brockton (2-2) had several players missing from the starting lineup but held their own against one of the best offenses in the state.
After a scoreless first half, Masse took off and broke a few tackles to go in on a 35-yard touchdown run on Xaverian’s first possession of the second half for a 7-0 lead at 8:50 of the third. Xaverian got away from its bread and butter in the first half, felt coach Al Fornaro.
“We weren’t playing to our capabilities in the first half and what happens sometimes is you get away from what we should be doing, which is pound the ball,” said Fornaro. “Four yards a play, and I’m not real good at math, but after three downs, you get a first down, and we got a little bit away from that.”
The Hawks’ Justin Wenstrom then picked off sophomore quarterback Devonte Medley for a 32-yard interception return for a score, as Xaverian took its seventh consecutive win over the Boxers.
“So happy with (Masse) because in our program the tailback is the king and we’ve asked him to play some fullback,” said Fornaro. “He never griped once and he’s run some great ones and you have to dance with who (got you there).”
Medley made his first career start for the Boxers.
“I saw some good stuff (from Medley), ran the option good a few times,” said Brockton coach Peter Colombo. “He’s a young kid who is going to be a real good football player and that’s a tough task to beat a team like this on your first try.”
Brockton took its second loss in as many weeks to a Catholic Conference foe after losing to BC High, but Colombo pointed to the future.
“We gotta go win our league now, then it’s playoff time and everyone starts over,” said Colombo. “We keep improving, get our guys back that we were missing, and I think we can be a factor in the South playoffs.”