North Attleboro fine working OT
MANSFIELD >> North Attleboro and Mansfield played a little déjà vu in their annual battle in Week Two.
This time the home field was flipped to Mansfield, but sadly if you are a Hornets fan, the visitor was victorious again.
Last season, the Hornets stole a double overtime win over the Red Rocketeers and now it was North Attleboro’s turn as the Red Rocketeers survived in overtime with a 27-21 road win to remain unbeaten at 2-0 on the season.
Chase Frisoli found senior Aidan Conrod on the first snap of overtime on a play-action pass out with Conrad of the backfield and the Red Rocketeer defense stood their ground for the second time on a goal-line stance to stun the Hornets in their backyard.
“We have to look at our senior leadership, our captains, they’re the ones. I mean, to stop Mansfield twice at the one-yard line is unbelievable. I think that’s the game,” said North Attleboro head coach Mike Strachan. “Up front we were able to really compete with them and I thought we did a really good job.”
North Attleboro broke out a new wrinkle on offense with the power I formation midway through the second quarter as it realized it was winning the battle in the trenches, but it was two goal line defensive stops on Mansfield that secured the six-point win.
Mansfield scored on its first possession after limiting the Red Rocketeers to a three and out. Rocco Scarpellini scored on the ninth play of the drive on a oneyard dive to give the Hornets the 7-0 lead after the extra point with 5:50 left in the first quarter.
The score remained 7-0 until North Attleboro scored on its final two series of the second quarter. Greg Berthiaume scored on a 10yard fullack dive out of the power I formation which caught the Hornets’ defense off guard.
On the next series the ground and pound game was working for the Red Rocketeers to perfection as Chase Frisoli pulled the ball down on play action and found Jovany Rivera wide open for a 21-yard gain down to the eight-yard line. Frisoli finished the drive, finding Berthiaume in the end zone for the 14-7 lead with 56 seconds left in the half.
Mansfield wasn’t done and was trying to re-steal the momentum. Quarterback Connor Zukowski (18of-25 for 303 in the loss) went 3-for-3 for 60 yards to get the Hornets down to the Red Rocketeers’ 2. A few plays later, time expired as Scarpellini could not repeat the magic at the goal line.
After North Attleboro took a 21-7 lead on their first series of the second quarter, another touchdown from Zukowski immediately followed and a 40-yard run from Connor Curtis tied things up at 21 late in the fourth quarter.
North Attleboro marched the field for the win but a failed 36-yard field goal attempt with 26 seconds left in regulation set up the overtime drama.
After Frisoli put the Red Rocketeers up 26-21, the two-point conversion failed, and it seemed Mansfield was ready to claim another overtime win over their Hockomock League rivals.
But this time it was Curtis who was stopped on a quarterback dive to end the game and send the Red Rocketeers sideline into a frenzy as the defense won out one last time.
“Two missed opportunities. They were physical and we just couldn’t punch it in and it felt like they had extra guys at the point of attack,” said longtime Hornets head coach Mike Redding. “In overtime, I gotta come up with a better play call, so those were two lost opportunities, we had penalties, turnovers and we still forced overtime. If we scored there and hit the extra point — we win it, but we just came up short. Could have deserved better in the end but we just couldn’t punch it in.”