GLOUCESTER — The Northeastern Conference Large champion Gloucester High football team has finally found out who their playoff opponent will be on Tuesday night (time and location to be announced today).
With a 31-28 double-overtime win over Acton-Boxboro yesterday, Westford Academy will be Gloucester's playoff opponent. The Thanksgiving Day matchup between those two team determined the winner of the Dual County Large.
"(Westford) is a good team," said Gloucester assistant coach Joe Stuart, who scouted the Thanksgiving Day game. "They run the spread offense and they have quick running backs and a couple of dangerous receivers."
The Grey Ghosts had trouble with Acton-Boxboro as they were down 21-7 at the half. After tying the score at 21-21 after regulation, the teams traded overtime touchdowns. Westford took the lead with a field goal in the second overtime period and Acton-Boxboro fumbled inside the 10-yard line on their second overtime possession to seal the game.
Ressel closing in on records
After another 100-yard game on Thanksgiving, his ninth of the season, Gloucester senior running back Conor Ressel is closing in on Nick Giacalone's single-season and career rushing marks.
Ressel has currently run for 1,526 yards on the season and needs 144 yards to break Giacalone's single-season record of 1,669 yards set in 2004.
Ressel is even closer to the career rushing mark, with 2,157 career rushing yards he needs just 48 yards to top Giacalone's career record of 2,204 yards.
Despite closing in on the records, there is only one thing on the senior running back's mind; winning the Division 1A Super Bowl next week at Gillette Stadium.
"I haven't really thought about it," Ressel said of the records. "My only focus is getting back to Gillette, and playing a good game on Tuesday."
Ressel was the Gloucester Fraternity Club's Player of the Game yesterday with 110 yards and a TD on 10 carries.
Tough homecoming for Lutz
Danvers running back and Gloucester native Clinton Lutz admitted that he was excited to be playing at Newell Stadium for the first time since he was a middle school student. The result, however, was not what the senior was hoping for.
"It was nice to come back to where I grew up," said Lutz, who moved to Danvers as a freshman. "We didn't want to go out like that though. They were big, strong and tough and we tried to match their toughness but we fell short."
Lutz last game at Newell Stadium went much differently as his Hampden Hill Tigers defeated the West Gloucester Chargers in the 2005 Cape Ann Pee Wee A-Team championship game.
Gilbert being Gilbert
As he has all season long, Gloucester tight end Gilbert Brown caught everything that was thrown his way.
The junior, who switched from wing back to tight end after Chris Unis went down with an injury, caught four passes for 89 yards and two touchdowns, including a 55-yarder from quarterback Brett Cahill down the seam.
"It was just Gilbert being Gilbert," Gloucester head coach Paul Ingram said. "He catches everything in his area."
Brown took advantage of the Falcons defensive scheme. Danvers stacked the box in an attempt to stop the Fishermen's vaunted run game (with limited success), meanwhile Cahill hooked up with Brown on three tight end pop passes including his 5-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
"We are very prepared to play against eight-man fronts," Brown said. "They stacked the line and I was able to get open a few times over the middle. Brett always puts the ball in the right place."
Carr stepping up
Manchester Essex junior quarterback Alex Carr has had games this season with gaudier statistics, but yesterday's performance might have been his best of the season.
He was 7-of-10 for 125 yards passing, including a 12-yard touchdown pass to Brian Ciccone. Carr also ran for a team-high 56 yards and had the game-winning score, an 11-yard quarterback draw in the third quarter.
Hornets head coach Mike Athanas, knew that Carr had big cleats to fill since former quarterback Pat Orlando (a three-year starter) capped off his incredible high school career with a Super Bowl win last December.
"From the first game, to the this game, Alex has improved every game," said Athanas. "That's what he needed to do: make better decisions and he stepped up and became a leader for the offense. He ran the offense very well."
With all three leading rushers graduating next spring, the Hornets will truly be Carr's team next season.
Big D for ME
For a team that's known much more for its high-powered offense, it's worth noting how well Manchester Essex's defense played yesterday.
They recorded four turnovers (Seth Young's interception, Doug Kenerson recovered a fumble, Justin Burke recovered a fumble and Max Houle's interception sealed it).
Manchester Essex also stuffed Royals senior quarterback Chris Esposito on fourth-and-2 in Hornets territory in the fourth quarter with Georgetown trailing 22-14.
Hornets seniors finish strong
The Hornets' 19 seniors will go down as one of the greatest classes in school history. Discounting freshman year when they didn't play for the varsity, they won nine games sophomore year, 13 last season including a Division 4 Super Bowl and finally nine this year.
They moved up to the Commonwealth Large this season and lost basically a do-or-die playoff game to Whittier a few weeks back but they have nothing to hang their heads about.
Senior captain Yuri Klypka-Simpson summed it up best about the seniors' attitudes.
"It's your last day," referring to Thanksgiving," he said. "That feeling of it never happening again so you just go all out. I was thinking about it last night and it didn't seem real. I would have liked a few more points on the board but you can't be perfect. I'm glad we won."
