Einarson, Indians snare third win
BILLERICA >> The Billerica High football team had a special delivery for its game ball following its 35-7 victory over Wilmington on Friday night.
As a group, the Indians approached the post-game huddle of the Wildcats and gave the ball to Wilmington head coach Craig Turner, who welcomed his second child and his first son into the world on Thursday at about 9 p.m.
“Coach Turner is a good friend of mine,” said Indians coach Duane Sigsbury. “He’s working his tail off with a young team.”
“That was a first,” Turner laughed after the game. “I haven’t had that happen before. (Tonight) was the first time I’ve seen my guys since Tuesday. It’s been a long week.”
On the field, the Wildcats simply couldn’t keep up with Billerica, which scored on its first four first-half possessions to take a 28-0 lead into the locker room.
“That’s a really, really good team,” Turner said of Billerica. “They’re very good, especially up front. Their offensive and defensive lines are as good as we’ll see all year.”
The Indians took a 7-0 lead with 7:02 left in the first quarter when sophomore Djoodny Dorival scored on a 1-yard run. Dorival set up the score with a 36-yard burst.
An interception by Billerica senior Marven Joseph set up the second Billerica touchdown, a five-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback JT Green to junior Mike Murnane with 2:35 left in the opening quarter.
The 60-yard trip to the end zone included first-down throws to junior Gus O’gara for 15 yards and a memorable third-and-45 heave to senior Scott Einarson to the 5. Billerica scored two plays later.
The Indians took a 21-0 lead with 6:57 left in the second quarter when Green hit Einarson with a seven-yard scoring toss before adding another score less than four minutes later with a 41-yard TD pass to Einarson, who had his most dominating performance of the season with 126 yards receiving, all in the first two quarters.
Senior Jason Chaffee was 4 for 4 on extra points for Billerica in the first half.
“We did what we had to do in the first half,” said Sigsbury.
Wilmington (0-3) scored its lone touchdown with 2:24 to go in the third quarter when senior quarterback Jacob Roque connected with senior Brett Ebert for a 23-yard touchdown pass. Junior Hunter Sands kicked the extra point.
The Indians (3-0) scored their final touchdown in the fourth quarter when an O’gara interception at the 45-yard line set up a 41-yard run by
second-half Billerica quarterback Steven Gentile, a sophomore.
“He’s great,” Sigsbury said. “His dad coaches for Wilmington so it was great for him to get a touchdown. He’s going to be a good one.”
Senior Andrew Knight added the extra point to complete the scoring. Joseph, a transfer student from Somerville, added his second interception late in his first game of the season for Billerica. Joseph also added a fumble recovery.
“I thought our kids hung in there,” added Turner. “The sad part is, if we played with this effort and intensity the last two weeks, we’re sitting at 2-1. We’re very inexperienced and we played like that the last couple of weeks, but if we play with this kind of effort, we’re going to win some games the rest of the way.”