Bishop Fenwick coach David Woods by no means anticipated to get star quarterback Bryce Leaman on the sector after struggling a season-ending knee damage early within the season.
The day earlier than the Thanksgiving Day contest towards Masconomet, Woods, the Leaman household and the staff coach mentioned the choice of padding his knee and defending it a lot that he might presumably make a cameo look in his remaining varsity sport towards Masconomet.
“I’m just thinking, maybe he can go out, take a snap in shotgun and just hand the ball off. Just to get him on the field one last time,” Woods mentioned. “During the pregame, he looked good so I thought maybe we could put him in shotgun and throw a pass.”
Leaman did slightly greater than that. He began the sport, performed the primary two collection and yet one more within the fourth quarter. The quarterback with a torn ACL, MCL and PCL went on to finish 11-of-16 passes for 123 yards and cap off his highschool profession by throwing a back-shoulder fade to Kurtis Bruch for a landing in a 39-3 win.
“To me this is really what high school football is all about,” Woods mentioned. “I’m still emotional and humbled just thinking about what he did.”
Leaman wasn’t the one quarterback to point out some guts.
Xaverian’s Henry Hasselbeck might have regarded like somebody who went 15 rounds with Mike Tyson, however he refused to buckle towards a bodily St. John’s Prep protection. Playing with what was mentioned to be a damaged nostril, Hasselbeck rallied his staff within the fourth quarter. First he sprinted 54 yards for one rating and marched his staff into subject objective place for Luke Bell to hit the game-winning subject objective on the ultimate play to offer Xaverian a 23-21 win and a share of the Catholic Conference title.
What would Thanksgiving Day soccer be with out a few magical historic moments?
Start with Abington and Jim Kelliher, who introduced his retirement as the college’s head coach earlier than the beginning of the preseason. He celebrated his fiftieth and remaining sport in model as Abington rolled to a 46-6 victory.
Over in Wakefield, the Warriors defeated Melrose 7-3, depriving coach Tim Morris of an opportunity to earn his two hundredth win. The sport’s solely landing was scored by Steve Woish and it got here 75 years after his grandfather, Bill Deroche threw a landing go to John Sardella to offer Wakefield a 6-0 win over Gloucester.
Much due to Mike Uva for sharing this household tidbit.
SWEET 16
1. Xaverian (10-2): Beating Springfield Central, Needham and St. John’s Prep in lower than three weeks is fairly darned good.
2. St. John’s Prep (11-1): Eagles get a second shot at Xaverian within the Div. 1 state championship sport subsequent week.
3. King Philip (12-0): Venues merely don’t matter with this protection.
4. Duxbury (10-1): Dragons confirmed some mettle within the clutch towards a superb Marshfield staff.
5. Marshfield (9-3): Rams have little time to dwell on the last-minute loss to Duxbury with a state title sport towards King Philip subsequent up.
6. Catholic Memorial (8-3): Even in an off-year by the Knights’ lofty requirements, they’re nonetheless adequate to earn a share of the Catholic Conference title.
7. Needham (10-2): Terrific end to one of many higher seasons at school historical past.
8. Foxboro (11-1): Terrific gut-check victory over archrival Mansfield provides the Warriors a terrific raise heading into the Div. 5 championship sport.
9. Walpole (9-3): Timberwolves actually didn’t take it straightforward on Thanksgiving to prepare for the state championship sport.
10. Milford (10-2): Nick Araujo is the dwelling embodiment of the all-around soccer participant.
11. Andover (10-2): First time in 4 a long time the Golden Warriors put collectively back-to-back 10-win seasons.
12. Hanover (11-1): Hawks seeking to cap off a implausible season in model towards Foxboro within the Div. 5 Super Bowl.
13. Billerica (9-2): It wasn’t straightforward, however the Indians left Fenway Park on the plus aspect of the scoreboard.
14. Methuen (8-3): Congrats to Rangers’ quarterback Drew Eason on a record-setting profession.
15. Scituate (9-3): Rematch of the epic 2021 Super Bowl towards Patriot League foe Duxbury.
16. Central Catholic (5-6): Freshman Drew O’Keefe stepped up large by booting a game-winning 37-yard subject objective to defeat Lawrence.
ON THE BENCH: Everett (9-2), Milton (8-4), Mansfield (6-5), Barnstable (10-2), BC High (6-5), Bishop Feehan (8-2), Peabody (10-1), Shawsheen (10-1), Danvers (8-4), Fairhaven (11-1), Salem (10-2), Norwell (9-2), Carver (11-1)
Source: www.bostonherald.com