Last modified: Monday, December 1, 2008 10:58 AM EST
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| North Attleboro's Kevin Richman is sandwiched by Attleboro's Nick Mazurkiewicz (54) and Kevin Papagiris. (Staff photo by Martin Gavin)
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Generation gap
BY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
ATTLEBORO - They are all too young to remember the last time Attleboro High had won this football game. That made them appreciate the accomplishment all the more.
"It's the best feeling," AHS quarterback Mike Barry said after his team's 12-10 victory Thursday over arch-rival North Attleboro at Tozier-Cassidy Field. "It feels pretty good."
If that sounds like a huge understatement by the Bombardiers' senior signal-caller, understand that he had just finished whooping it up atop a 50-yard-line riser with his fellow seniors. Like their effort on the field, the Bombardiers left it all on the riser as well.
Scoring the go-ahead touchdown with 7:20 left to play and stopping two Red Rocketeer possessions thereafter, the Bombardiers concluded their season with a 9-2 record by downing North, 12-10, for their first victory over their rivals in 15 tries (14 on the holiday) since 1994.
North Attleboro (7-3) still has a 53-27-8 lead in the venerable series (and one more win from an MIAA Division 3 Super Bowl in 1998), but a generation's worth of blue-clad frustration was erased when Barry took a knee at his own 32-yard-line, one play after North's Joe Kummer overthrew Milan Whitaker in the end zone on a fourth-down prayer.
Matty Campbell, the game's offensive MVP, carried 15 times for 64 yards in the second half, including the game-winning 3-yard touchdown run with 7:20 to play, to pace the Bombardiers come-from-behind effort. The junior running back finished with 123 yards on 25 carries, three receptions for 50 yards and two touchdowns.
"Everyone just had to block man-on-man, and it wasn't hard," Campbell said. "Everything was open and I was just running."
He also fumbled twice in the first quarter, and the Rocketeers turned the second fumble into points on the very next play when Steve Rollins connected with Whitaker for a 39-yard touchdown pass on the first snap of the second quarter - a score that Whitaker pulled out of the hands of AHS defensive back Nate Robitaille.
The lost fumbles from the normally sure-handed Campbell shocked everyone on the Attleboro side of Tozier-Cassidy.
"When it was Matty, it was even tougher to swallow because it was uncharacteristic of him," AHS coach Kevin Deschenes said. "North hit him hard and was able to get the turnovers, and it did put us in a hole. I'm sure everyone was thinking, 'here we go again.'"
But Campbell is a remarkably poised young man, and once he knew he still had the support of his teammates, he righted himself.
"Everyone was telling me to keep my head up, and that no one was worrying about it, so I was all right, and just decided to hold onto the ball tight and run," he said.
North had drawn first blood on a 30-yard field goal by junior Corey Wynn with 2:25 left in the opening quarter, following an eight-play, 43-yard drive. Wynn hooked a 32-yard attempt wide left with 4:30 left in the half, which served as Attleboro's wake-up call.
Campbell carried five times for 35 yards and caught two passes for 37 yards - including a spectacular diving grab for 25 yards to enter Rocketeer territory, and a 12-yard grab to the North 3 that was followed by a mark-off of a yard and a half for a roughing the passer penalty. On the next play, the 6-foot-1, 225-pounder blasted off right tackle with 1:11 left to draw Attleboro back to within four points (10-6) at the half.
Still, what everyone feared on the Attleboro sideline almost came to pass to start the third quarter.
"North always defers so they get the ball to start the second half, and they march down and score every time," Deschenes said. "They didn't score this time."
The Rocketeers, riding the hard running of Chris Weeman (four carries for 25 yards) and Richman (three for 18), marched from their 34 to the Attleboro 17 in nine plays. But on second-and-11, Rollins was picked off by Robitaille in the end zone.
Then after reaching the AHS 33 on their next possession, Rollins threw a fourth-and-3 pass again into Robitaille's arms, this time at the 20.
"You can't have turnovers in a big game," North coach Kurt Kummer said. "We still had time, we're still playing and we're still in it, but their kid ran hard and they did a nice job. Congratulations to them."
Getting the ball on the 20, the Bombardiers turned the ball over to "the horse." Campbell amassed 31 yards on the first six carries before an incompletion, then followed Justin Whitmarsh's block for another 13 to the North 32.
Ryan Araujo turned in an acrobatic 20-yard catch to the North 10, and two more Campbell carries resulted in a 12-10 lead with 7:20 to play. The conversion pass was just out of his reach.
It was left to the Attleboro defense to do its job. On back-to-back plays on the next possession, defensive MVP Nick Mazurkiewicz dropped Richman for a 6-yard loss and Philip Elias sacked Joe Kummer for a loss of 15 to the North 11.
Barry's improvised sneak on fourth-and-1 at the AHS 39 kept the ensuing drive alive with 3:26 left to play, taking precious time away from the desperate Rocketeers. But they got the chance of a lifetime when Barry's pitch to Tyler McCarthy fell to the ground at the AHS 31 and was recovered by North's Brett Mastropoll with 1:49 to go.
The big defensive stop in the series was Brenden Dozier's tackle of Richman for a 5-yard loss on second down, effectively taking North out of Wynn's field-goal range. Kummer got 2 yards back on a pass to Danny Lang to the 34, but his fourth-and-13 throw to Whitaker in the end zone soared long.
"Everyone just worked together," said Barry (4-5, 70 yards). "We did our own jobs and paid attention. We had a couple of keys of what to read, and everyone just did their own job."
"The kids just played outstanding defense in the second half," said Deschenes, whose team limited North to 60 total yards of offense after intermission. "The kids, the school and the city of Attleboro are going to relish this one for a while."
MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/farinella. |
