Last modified: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 3:40 PM EST Left to right: Chris Harris, Chris Taylor and Chris Paine celebrate Feehan's second 2-point conversion that would provide the margin of victory. (Staff photo by Martin Gavin) Bishop Feehan shocks Mansfield BY MARK FARINELLA / SUN CHRONICLE STAFF ACTON - The Bishop Feehan High School football team knew it couldn't stop Mansfield High's powerful offense when it had the football. So the Shamrocks did the only thing they could - they didn't let the Hornets have the ball for most of the second half of Tuesday's MIAA Division 2 semifinal at Acton-Boxboro Regional High. The result was a stunning 23-21 triumph by the 9-2-1 Shamrocks over the 10-2 Hornets, one that wasn't secure until an onside kick attempt by the comebacking Hockomock League champions failed with 28 seconds left to play. Few believed this result was possible, given the Hornets' 29-7 triumph over the Shamrocks earlier in the season. But the Shamrocks weren't among the doubters. "Our motto for this past week was, 'We believe.' And we truly believed tonight and that's what got it done. We wanted to shock the world, and that's what we did," said Feehan running back Nick Schwieger, who carried 27 times for 97 yards and three touchdowns, also rushing for a two-point conversion and throwing for one. Schwieger gained 75 of his yards in the second half as Feehan executed a very effective ball-control offense. Mansfield ran only four offensive plays in the third quarter and was at the wrong end of a 14:21-5:39 possession deficit in the second half. "We knew they were a really good defensive team and we had to gamble at certain times and try and spread the ball out a little bit, because they're just too physical to try to pound it right at them," said Shamrocks' coach Tony Wood, who tried a fake punt and fake placements to keep the Hornets off-balance throughout the game. That's not to suggest that Mansfield didn't come to play, however. The Hornets took a 14-0 lead on a pair of Mike Morrill touchdown runs before Feehan's ball-control efforts started to pay off. And even with Feehan up by nine points with 2:49 left, they didn't give up. Mansfield executed a near-perfect two-minute drill, covering 74 yards in 11 plays and using up just 2:05, to pull back within two points on Mark Gilson's 6-yard rollout touchdown pass to Dave Westhaver and Curtis Graham's kick. Had the Hornets been able to recover the onside kick, they would have had time to run at least a couple of plays to get Graham into field goal range. But the kick grazed a Hornet after about 8 yards, and even though it looked as if Mansfield initially recovered, the early touch negated the play. "We got up big early," said Gilson (9-for-16, 141 yards, one TD, one interception), but they made some big plays and they capitalized on them. (Feehan QB Mike)McGowan had a great game and so did Schwieger. That's what we expected, but we expected that we could handle them we should have handled them, but some things just didn't go our way." They definitely went Mansfield's way in the early going. The Hornets' first possession covered 72 yards in eight plays, with Morrill (nine carries, 79 yards) and Powell Simpson (10 carries, 71 yards) breaking big runs to set up Morrill's 15-yard gallop around left end for a 7-0 lead 3:57 into the game. Feehan penetrated to the Mansfield 25 on the ensuing possession - maybe a hint of what was to come - but Kevon Rogers broke up a fourth-down pass intended for Nick Linehan to turn the ball back over to the Hornets. With Simpson pulling in a 21-yard pass and Morrill breaking a 16-yard run, Mansfield got into Feehan territory in a hurry. Then, on a fourth-and-2 call four plays into the second quarter, Morrill went off left tackle for 26 yards and a 14-0 lead with 8:20 left in the half. That was the last of Mansfield's dominance, however. The Shamrocks converted a pair of fourth-down plays in a 12-play, 74-yard possession, including Schwieger's 3-yard TD run with 3:47 left. A 26-yard pass from McGowan (8-16, 84 yards) to Dan Effler on fourth-and-5 brought Feehan to the Mansfield 27 during the drive. Gilson and Simpson hooked up for a 40-yard gain to reach the Feehan 13 on the first play after the Shamrock score, but an illegal-block penalty stalled the drive, Gilson was sacked by Pat Beksha to further slow the Hornets, and their only option was a 42-yard field goal attempt by Graham that sailed wide right. The next time the Hornets would see the ball was at the 4:24 mark of the third quarter, although with their 14-8 lead still intact. Feehan kept the ball for 14 plays, going from its 26 to the Mansfield 12 and converting a pair of third-down situations in the process. But facing fourth-and-goal from the 12 after Jeff Mallett's 8-yard sack of McGowan, Feehan lined up for a 29-yard field goal attempt by Matt Boulter - only to have Schwieger, the holder, jump up and try to throw. Mansfield's Mike Willhauck wasn't fooled and swatted away the pass. Two plays into the Mansfield possession, however, Simpson was stripped of the ball at the Mansfield 29 and Linehan recovered. McGowan fired to Boulter on third-and-12 for a first down at the Hornet 18, and picked up another key first down with a 9-yard toss to Brian Gallagher at the 4. Three plays later, Schwieger blasted over from the 1 and Boulter added the kick for a 15-14 Feehan lead with 59 seconds left in the quarter. Gilson was intercepted to end the next Hornet possession, and the Shamrocks took the air out of the ball on a 14-play, 65-yard drive conducted entirely on the ground except for an incompletion on the first play. This time, they converted four third-down situations as Mynor Chacon carried four times for 29 yards and Schwieger nine for 23, leading to his 1-yard TD run with 2:49 left. Feehan had one trick left in the bag - Schwieger again took the placement snap and started running around in the backfield for dear life before he found Chris Taylor in the right corner of the end zone, just over the outstretched hands of Rogers, for a very important two-point conversion. It wasn't a play that's been used often this year, Schwieger admitted. "Maybe twice this year," he said. "That was a botched snap, and I really didn't know where I was going. I just saw him out of the corner of my eye and heaved it up, trying to make a play." Looking at a nine-point deficit with just 2:36 left after the kickoff, Gilson ran as effective a two-minute drill as you'll see in the high school ranks. He completed six of nine passes for 67 yards - three to Simpson, one to Bill Goodale and the last two to Westhaver, including the touchdown. But that would be Mansfield's last hoorah in an otherwise memorable season. "It's my last year as a starter, playing for Mansfield, and I kind of wanted to go out on top," Gilson said. "It's too bad it had to end like this, because I just didn't want to let it go." "They're a great football team, a great football program," Wood said of Mansfield, "and another minute, who knows what would have happened?" Feehan's season will continue for at least 40 more minutes, Saturday at Gillette Stadium against Walpole, a 30-14 winner over Melrose, in the Division 2 Super Bowl. For video highlights courtesy of NorthTV, visit thesunchronicle.com/sports. MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com