SUDBURY – It’s not too typically a soccer staff picks off one other in actual sport motion, two days in a row.
Yet, the defensive efficiency No. 6 Lincoln-Sudbury maintained from Friday’s storm-suspended sport en path to a 24-14 nonleague win over No. 4 Methuen on Saturday morning wasn’t a standard end result towards such a harmful offense, both.
The Warriors compelled 5 turnovers between each days and held the Rangers and not using a level within the first half as Lincoln-Sudbury dominated time of possession. Four of these turnovers got here within the second half, pairing with Cooper Tarantino’s two landing passes and the offense’s 4-for-5 fourth-down conversion fee to energy a season-opening signature win.
“We knew we had our hands full, but our kids executed,” mentioned L-S head coach Jim Girard. “We didn’t (make the playoffs last year) and they had a sour taste in their mouths. We knew playing against a great team in the first game of the season was going to be important for us to get off to a good start.”
“It’s awesome, the boys are fired up,” added Jake Haarde, who completed with 68 receiving yards, a landing and an interception. “We’re not going to let down now.”
Well-timed execution was the theme of the win on each side of the ball.
The opening drive of the day noticed Tarantino (99 passing yards, 48 speeding yards) join with Logan Umbach on fourth down to maneuver the chains in Methuen territory, and a 16-yard completion on third down arrange a Darius Braithwaite 2-yard landing run for a 7-0 lead.
Methuen responded quickly after with an extended catch-and-run landing, just for a holding name to spoil it. The Rangers had 5 essential penalties in all, both extending an L-S scoring drive or halting one in every of their very own.
That included a private foul on a sack on the subsequent Warriors possession, turning a possible third-and-long into a primary down close to the 50. A bit later within the drive, Haarde hauled in a jump-ball from Tarantino for a 26-yard achieve to place L-S in scoring place once more. Two performs later, Tarantino related with Umbach for a 10-yard landing and the eventual 14-0 halftime lead.
Tarantino’s three yards after contact on third down gave kicker Marcus Cassel the yards he wanted to simply barely clear a 44-yard discipline purpose within the third quarter. Tarantino additionally threw a 25-yard landing move to Haarde on fourth-and-10 within the closing body, and Haarde’s rush on a faux punt helped ice the win.
“It’s just execution,” Girard mentioned. “We took advantage of the field position that we had throughout the course of the game, so the fourth downs didn’t really feel like fourth downs. … Those are just simply senior captains making plays and they’re making the coaches look good.”
Methuen didn’t go down and not using a struggle, regardless of all of the penalties hampering its alternatives.
Its second play within the second half noticed Drew Eason join with brother Shane Eason for a 65-yard landing move up the best seam for a 17-7 deficit. Down 24-7 halfway by the fourth quarter, a 91-yard kick return from Josh Kwakye arrange Shane Eason for a 5-yard landing run to maintain the Rangers alive.
But every time Methuen gained a little bit momentum with its personal defensive effort, Lincoln-Sudbury stole it proper again. A shanked Warriors punt had Methuen at its personal 45 solely trailing 17-7 within the third, however Umbach compelled a fumble on the subsequent play to reclaim possession. Following a 36-yard Methuen completion on the subsequent drive, L-S broke up three straight passes for a turnover-on-downs at midfield.
Blake Wessel’s interception with 3:13 left within the fourth nearly ended the Rangers’ comeback makes an attempt, and the sport ended with the Warriors forcing a fumble.
Source: www.bostonherald.com