Warriors fend off Vikings to end title drought

CANTON — Blue Hills and Nashoba Tech took part in a game of hot potato Friday evening.

The Warriors (11-2) outlasted Nashoba Tech 52-51 in a backand-forth contest to capture the Small School State Vocational Super Bowl title at Canton High School.

Jake Reissfelder was outstanding on the ground with a monstrous 255 yards on 28 carries and punched in four touchdowns to lead Blue Hills to its second Super

Bowl title — their first came 10 years ago to the day.

“All the credit goes to the offensive linemen. They’ve been outstanding all season long. Our line is mostly seniors except for our sophomore center so it’s going to be so much different without them,” said Reissfelder, a junior tailback. “Coming from a vocational school we don’t get a lot of coverage, we don’t get a lot of kids coming in, but this (win) is going to bring a whole new life to the program.”

The game came down to who had the ball last — or so Nashoba

Tech had hoped.

With 2:25 left to play in regulation, quarterback Anthony Graziano called his own number and scored from the one-yard line to get the Warriors within one, 5150. Eric Mann, who scored three two-point conversions, scored his final one of the game just inside the left pylon for the go-ahead points.

But Nashoba Valley ran down a 10-play series behind the stellar running of Elijah Murphy, who finished with 149 yards on 20 carries. Murphy Senecal (13-for-20 for 220) hit Connor Buchman in the middle of the field at the five for a first and goal from the five but with no timeouts. Nashoba Tech ran out of time and the Warriors celebrated with an ice bath for first-year head coach Ed Madden.

“We just stick to the program, the linemen believe in the program, the backs believe in the program, and the quarterback believes and as a unit their belief is so strong, they can do anything,” said Madden. “This was a really tough team and beating them was a real challenge and we knew that going in.”