Middleboro rolls over EB

EAST BRIDGEWATER — South Shore League foes Middleboro and East Bridgewater came into their league tilt with identical 1-1 records. But that’s where the similarities ended.

Middleboro laid the lumber in a 34-8 victory over the Vikings in an important league game within the shortened COVID-19 season.

Timmy Crowley had a hand in all five touchdowns for the Sachems with three rushing downs and tossed two through the air to junior wideout Matt Gwozdz. Crowley finished the day 17-of-23 for 201 yards passing and added 38 yards on the ground in the win.

“(Crowley) knows where every guy is supposed to be as it’s his third year starting,” said Sachems coach Patrick Kingman. “You throw things at him and every once in a while he gets caught off guard, but he’s getting better recognizing middle open-middle close, who the overhang defenders are so he just knows what we are doing and he’s gotten better and knowing what the other team is giving us.”

The Sachem defense was put on their heels out of the gates as East Bridgewater scored first and quickly. After a quick three-and-out on Middleboro’s first series, Shane Graham took a QB draw 60 yards to the end zone and added the two-conversion for an 8-0 Vikings lead.

But the Sachems just were warming up as they roared back with four touchdowns on their next four possessions.

Crowley connected with Gwozdz from 7 yards out on an 11-play drive on the first series as Crowley then called his own number for three rushing scores from 6, 5 and 9 yards out on simple quarterback keepers up the middle and through the stunned Vikings defense.

“(Middleboro) was just a better team than us, they were more physical and beat us in an old-school football game,” said Vikings coach Tim Graham. “Kids showed up flat, we didn’t have a great week of practice and we got what we deserved. They had a great game plan.”

The defense led by Logan Verhaegen and his 2.5 sacks along with 11 tackles took care of the rest for the Sachems.

Gwozdz and Crowley hooked up again on a beautiful 34-yard post pattern over the middle and into the end zone with 25 seconds left in the third quarter for the final nail. Gwozdz finished with seven catches for 91 yards and the two touchdown receptions.

“I think that’s been our M.O. and something we need to change a little bit as we come out a little bit slow in certain areas — offense and defense,” added Kingman. “Part of the reason is we prep for stuff and we don’t actually see what we’ve prepped for, but you know Shane (Graham) is going to run the football. We were in a bad looking coverage on the back side, but we settled down and made a couple of adjustments. It’s a league game for us, we want to win every league game, and we did a nice job and we are showing right now that we are a tough, physical team.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3tYbmXQ