Tabor opens up offense in big victory at St. Sebastian’s
Senior quarterback Tim Bengtson and junior running back Hugo Djeumeni give Tabor a solid tandem in the backfield. But teams are now finding out that the Seawolves can throw the ball as well.
Big plays through the air helped Tabor pile up 443 yards in a 38-28 win over host St. Sebastian’s on Saturday in an Independent School League contest in Needham. At 4-0, Tabor has already surpassed its win total from a year ago.
Djeumeni rushed for 145 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries, while Bengtson carried 22 times for 115 yards and a touchdown, and he also added 183 yards and a touchdown through the air.
The Seawolves trailed 21-14 at halftime, but scored touchdowns on its first two drives of the second half while the defense started to get stops and intercepted a pair of passes.
“It doesn’t matter what you do on defense, the guys have got to run to the football and rally to the football, no matter what,” said Tabor first-year head coach Jeff Moore. “We talked about a couple things we had talked about in practice but miscued in the first half. We were keying the back, we saw some formation we’ve seen but maybe didn’t align right the first few times.
“At halftime, we just sat down, we drew ‘em up, we went over them — and I say it to all our kids — we don’t need to be perfect, but we can’t make the same mistake twice.”
After allowing 224 yards in the first half, Tabor only yielded 134 after the break with the two takeaways.
Bengtson hit Dameer Phifer on a 44-yard seam route to tie the game at 21-all on the opening drive of the second half.
The Tabor defense then came up with its first big stand of the game, as Julian Grant dropped Arrows receiver George Kelly short of a first down on a fourthand-4 play at the Tabor 39.
The Seawolves went back in front on a 10-yard TD run from Djeumeni to finish off a 10-play drive. The Arrows hurt themselves on the drive with a pass interference penalty on fourth and 2 — the second time penalties extended Tabor drives that finished in the end zone.
A Kaiden Drinkwater interception set up a 25-yard field goal from Garrett Salit early in the fourth quarter that put Tabor in front, 31-21.
Tedy Frisoli made a spectacular one-handed TD grab along the sideline to get St. Sebastian’s within 31-28 with 4:26 left, but Tabor responded with a TD of its own on a 3-yard run from Djeumeni with 43 seconds left. The key play of the scoring march was, on third and 17, Bengtson hitting Drinkwater (5 catches, 104 yards) deep down the left sideline for a 57-yard gain with 3:04 left to get in the red zone.
“The last few weeks we’ve been running the ball a lot, but we can throw the ball as well,” said Bengtson, who had seven of his 10 completions for at least 10 yards.
Justin Bourque rushed for 128 yards and a touchdown for St. Sebastian’s (2-2). Quarterback Ty Ciongoli was 19 for 34 passing for 213 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
Milton Academy 41, Governor’s Academy 20 — Matt Childs rumbled for five touchdowns, including a 65-yarder, to lead the Mustangs (2-2) to an ISL-7 win. Qur’an McNeill connected with Bryce Anderson to tack on a late insurance score.
Brooks 25, Roxbury Latin 14 — Darnell Pierre shouldered the load, with 35 carries for 181 yards and two touchdowns, while Jack Sumner found the end zone on a 9-yard rush, and Henry Hebert (6 for 20, 68 yards) found Jagger Carreiro for a 19-yard passing score, as Brooks (2-2) earned the ISL-9 win.
Northeast 34, Greater Lawrence 26 — Chris Zullo rumbled for 214 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, and finished 3-of-4 passing for 100 yards and a score through the air in a Commonwealth Division I victory for the Golden Knights (2-4).
Cathedral 19, Bishop Stang 8 — Treyvon Fields tossed two touchdown passes to Ta’quaire Bell and another to Andrew Hedgepeth to earn a Catholic Central League victory for the Panthers (3-2).
Arlington 35, Belmont 21 — Kayden Mills broke out for 182 yards on 24 carries, scoring three second-half touchdowns for the Spy Ponders (3-3) in a Middlesex League victory. Roshan Mandal was 14 of 22 passing for 160 yards and two TDs, both to Jake Kerble (40 & 34 yards). Manu Mahenthiran picked off a pass to finish the win.
South Shore Voke 30, Upper Cape 16 — Todd Egan (151 rushing yards) scampered to the end zone three times, and completed 6 of 7 passes for the Vikings (4-2) in a Mayflower League victory. Tyler Kline added 85 rushing yards and a 70yard pick-six.
Nantucket 12, St. John Paul II 0 — Jake Haigh nabbed two interceptions, one for a touchdown, to make the difference for the Whalers (2-4) in a Cape & Islands League win.
Lowell Catholic 14, Lynn Tech 7 — Aidan Virella threw touchdown passes to Shawn Nherisson (78 yards) and Sean Scott (36 yards) for the Crusaders (1-5) to earn their first win. Scott also had an interception to seal the Commonwealth Conference clash.