Terrance Cherry, Natick stop Wellesley’s comeback bid

Having relied on its stellar defense for most of its Bay State Carey showdown with visiting Wellesley, Natick asked the unit for one more play Friday evening. Terrance Cherry answered the call.

The senior linebacker stuffed Raiders quarterback Matt Maiona on a late two-point conversion attempt to deny a stirring Wellesley comeback and preserve a 14-13 triumph that keeps the No. 3 Redhawks unbeaten at 5-0.

“It seems like every time we play them it’s a close game because their kids play hard and the coaches do a great job of getting them ready, and they were 4-0 for a reason,” Natick coach Mark Mortarelli said. “It was two good teams and we came out by one point, so we’ll take it.”

Trailing 14-0 early in the fourth quarter after Jayln Aponte’s second touchdown run of the game, No. 13 Wellesley (4-1) rose off the mat for a pair of scoring grabs by Anthony Perez, the second of which came on a stunning 25-yard end-around pass from Sam Gear with 1:03 to play that cut the margin to 14-13.

Coming off an overtime win over Newton North, Wellesley elected not to try to tie it and go for the lead, but Cherry anticipated Maiona’s keeper and kept him out of the end zone to clinch the victory.

“I saw the counter and saw the puller and I just shot there. I had to do it for my team,” Cherry said. “Our coach always says guard reads, guard reads, guard reads. I saw the guard come the opposite way and I just filled downhill before they could even touch me.”

The first half was marked by squandered opportunities for Wellesley. It was blessed with great field position throughout but was stopped in the red zone twice and forced to settle for field goal attempts, both of which missed.

After managing just one first down in its first three possessions, Natick grinded out the only score of the half, going 57 yards on eight straight runs. Aponte barreled in off tackle from 6 yards out to give the Redhawks the 7-0 lead with 1:30 left before the break.

Natick’s second scoring drive was remarkably similar, with nine runs netting 57 yards, capped by an Aponte 2-yarder that made it 14-0 with 10:46 left.

But Maiona marched the Raiders 73 yards in response, culminating in a 13-yard strike to Perez. A critical stop by the defense and clutch punt return by Chris Althoff set Wellesley up at the Natick 36 with 2:06 remaining, and the Raiders went into their back of tricks with Gear’s toss to set up the thrilling conclusion.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/30OFohs