Woolies pull away from Rams
Millbury takes control late in first half, turns back Northbridge
MILLBURY — After 22 minutes of turnovers, big defensive plays and missed opportunities, it felt like one huge play would determine a winner in a Southern Worcester County League football showdown between Northbridge and Millbury.
The Woolies made not just one, but two big plays in the span of 58 seconds to fuel a 27-0 win over the visiting Rams Friday night.
Millbury advanced to 4-0, while the Rams fell to 2-2 in a game that likely will play a role in determining both teams’ spot and seeding in the Division 7 state tournament.
With the game scoreless, with just over two minutes to play in the first half, Millbury took a 7-0 lead after Sergio Hernandez’s 3-yard touchdown run. A 43-yard completion from Nathan Kozlowski to Tyler Vaccaro set up the scoring play.
On the ensuing possession, Vaccaro intercepted a pass and carried it deep into Northbridge territory. Hernandez did the rest, sprinting in to the left corner of the end zone from 5 yards to give the Woolies a 13-0 lead with 1:06 left in the half.
“For the first part of the game, it kind of felt like we were just feeling each other out a little bit,” Millbury coach Ray Richard said. “We were able to get that first score, and we thought if we could somehow get a stop and score again to make it a two-score game, that would be big. Then Tyler came up with the big interception.”
The Woolies made the hopes of a Rams comeback shrivel when they opened the second half. They generated a drive that chewed up nearly 6 minutes, capped when Hernandez scored his third touchdown of the night, this one a 9-yard sprint off the left side, and it was 20-0.
The Rams had a chance early. The Woolies fumbled the opening kickoff, and Northbridge recovered at the Woolies’ 14.
On fourth and long, however, Millbury defensive back Jon Moore broke up a fade to the corner of the end zone to force a turnover.
Millbury’s defense was immense and particularly aggressive in pursuing Northbridge quarterback Joel LaChapelle, pressuring him on multiple occasions and rarely allowing time for receivers to get space.
“Our defense did a great job,” Richard said. “We know Northbridge and how explosive they can be, so to limit that offense was a big part of getting a win.”
In a slog of a first quarter, the Woolies found some success on the ground running Hernandez, but each time a Millbury drive looked somewhat promising, Northbridge made a big play.
Rams defensive back Antonio D’Alfonso picked off a third-down pass inside the 10-yard line to stop a drive.
Northbridge then stopped the Woolies midway through the second quarter, when the defense swarmed to make a fourth-down stop in the red zone to keep things scoreless.
Contact Tom Flanagan at sports@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tgsports.