Tewksbury holds off Lynn English

TEWKSBURY — This one had it all. Lots of offense, some big plays on defense, trick plays, a field goal and many different players stepping up on both sides of the ball and from both teams.

When the dust settled, the No. 2 seed Tewksbury Redmen (7-1) held off a late-fourth-quarter comeback from No. 7 seed Lynn English (5-3), 31-28, in Saturday’s Division 3 North sectional first-round playoff football game played at Doucette Field.

The win moves the reigning Division 3 state finalist Redmen into next weekend’s sectional semifinals, to be played against No. 3 seed and unbeaten Concord-Carlisle (8-0) back before the home crowd at 1 p.m.

“We try to be in this tournament every year — every single year,” said Tewksbury head coach Brian Aylward. “So if it may look like (we won’t make it) at the start, we don’t just junk our seniors, go with the young guys and rebuild for four years from now. For us, it’s about kids having their opportunity, and just try to fight and get us into the tournament. That’s what we did today.”

With All-Scholastic player Shane Aylward out with an injury, Tewksbury needed someone or several players to step up, and that certainly happened. Senior Tyler Keough did everything in this game but collect the tickets. He had five catches for 108 yards with a touchdown, he rushed the ball eight times for 27 yards, he tossed a 19-yard pass on a trick play, he gained 35 yards on a lateral trick play off a kickoff, he booted a 29-yard field goal and also converted all four of his PAT kicks. He ended up with 189 all-purpose yards.

“We knew that this was going to be a close one,” said Keough, a senior captain. “I just went out there and made plays. I’ve been doing that since I was in the second grade. That’s just my mentality. (With Shane Aylward’s injury) I kind of switched positions a little bit. But I’ve been (playing football) for a while and I know what I’m doing. I just can’t wait for Shane to come back.”

Keough started the offensive slugfest when he stretched his hands high in the air to pull down a 24-yard pass from junior quarterback Ryne Rametta (6-for-10, 127 yards, 2 TDs). Lynn English tied the game up on a 2-yard run by QB Mathias Fowler, who was quite dangerous with his arm (145 passing yards) and legs (30 rushing yards), and Tyler Drinan’s first of three PAT kicks was good.

Tewksbury came right back putting together a nine-play, 74-yard drive, capped off by Rametta, who on third-and-1 from the 9, connected with senior tight end Richard Markwarth, who brilliantly kept his feet in bounds to make it 14-7.

Two plays later, Fowler tossed a deep ball down the right sideline to Tahj Purter, who went untouched for the 84-yard score to tie the game back up at 14.

Again Tewksbury answered the bell. On the kic-off, the ball went into the hands of Nolan Timmons, who sent a lateral pass across the field to Keough, who then raced up the right side for 25 yards, putting the ball on the Bulldogs’ 33-yard line. Five plays later, junior Kyle Darrigo (18 carries for 120 yards) scored on a 5-yard run.

Lynn English followed with a drive into Tewksbury’s territory. Facing fourth-and-2 from the 37, Riley Auth chased down Fowler to nullify the first down and put Tewksbury’s offense back on the field, which led Keough’s field goal to make it a 24-14 game at halftime.

The Redmen opened the third quarter with a score as Darrigo ran in his second TD, which came three plays after Keough caught a big 51-yard pass from Rametta. That made it 31-14 with 10:21 left in the third quarter.

Lynn English would just not go away as Sam Ofurie (14 carries, 144 yards) scored on a 7-yard run before the end of the third quarter, before Purter added his second score of the day with 3:15 left.

Tewksbury then recovered the onside kick and got two first downs before taking the knee to officially end this wild contest.

“They (Lynn English) have a lot of weapons,” said coach Aylward.  “They are big, they are physical, and they are not one-dimensional. They can run the ball, they can throw the ball and you add in a quarterback who can do both of those things, that’s a tough combination. They are well-coached, and we have known that.

“We had to go out there and execute our stuff. We did enough of that today to stay in the tournament.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2oFtLMW