Bulldogs escape with win over Winthrop

WINTHROP – Last Sunday, English coach Peter Holey took the blame for not allowing kicker Cory Burt to try a pair of extra points in the fourth quarter of a 34-32 loss to Swampscott.Friday night at Miller Field, Holey showed faith in his placekicker and it paid off as Burt’s 30-yard field goal on the opening drive of the game proved to be the winning points in a 31-28 barnburner against Winthrop.”I think that I took my own advice with Cory,” Holey joked. “All he needed was a little confidence because he is a good kicker. We knew that he could kick it. He was knocking them out of the stadium in pregame.”The Bulldogs (2-2) also had to deal with the one-man wrecking crew that was Winthrop’s Chris Beranger.”He is just unbelievable,” Holey said about the Viking senior. “He almost single-handedly took that game away from us.”Beranger caught touchdown passes of 31 and 70 yards and returned a kick 89 yards for a third score. He could have had four scores if not for an ill-timed penalty on an 80-yard punt return for a score in the first quarter.”It’s the same story as last week,” Driscoll said. “We return the punt and get called for a block in the back. We just can’t finish.”The Bulldogs got the ball to begin things and didn’t waste much time in getting their ground attack, which finished with 334 yards, going.Kyle Smith dashed 29 yards to the Winthrop 29 before Jesse Fowler (21 carries, 125 yards) added 16 more. The Bulldogs got to the one before an errant shotgun snap on third and goal cost them 13 yards.Burt salvaged three points out of the drive with his right toe when he booted home a 30-yarder to make it 3-0 with 7:12 left in the first quarter.Winthrop needed five plays to come right back. Beranger accounted for 57 of 62 yards on the march, capping it with a diving catch at the goal line for a 31-yard touchdown and a 7-3 lead.Beranger would have his punt-return touchdown called back moments later before the Bulldogs retook the lead with a quick strike in the final minute of the quarter.Fowler scrambled 30 yards to the Winthrop 26 before throwing a strike to Justin Young in the end zone to give English a 10-7 lead after one.The Vikings put together a lengthy drive on their ensuing possession, but a holding penalty on second-and-goal at the nine doomed the march.English then unleashed Arzu and Jermaine Patterson on Winthrop. The two carried the Bulldogs into Viking territory before a nine-yard Fowler scramble on fourth down kept the march going.Arzu did the rest, eating up the final 35 yards on two carries to give English a 17-7 lead with 1:41 left in the half.Winthrop responded as Beranger returned Burt’s kick to midfield. William Milano gained 15 yards on a fourth-down sneak before hitting Beranger for 12 to the English 15. He used the sneak again at the six to get the Vikings to the precipice of cutting into the lead.But the English defense stuffed two Milano sneaks in the final eight seconds to preserve the 10-point lead at the half.”The end of the half was huge,” Driscoll said. “They did a good job of stopping us because if we score there, we get all the momentum and we get the ball to start the second half.”The Vikings took the second-half kick and went 68 yards on nine plays, capped by a three-yard Frank Ambrosino run that cut the lead to 17-14.Those would be the only plays the Winthrop offense would run in the third quarter as English took advantage of a Beranger fumble on a punt. English turned it into seven points when Fowler scored from the two to make it 24-14.That lead lasted until Beranger got his hands on the kick from Burt, fielding it at the 11 and racing 89 yards untouched to make it 24-21 through three quarters.The Bulldogs responded with an 80-yard drive in 12 plays that saw both Fowler and Arzu go over the 100-yard mark on the ground. Patterson closed it with a one-yard plunge that made it 31-21 with 8:29 left.Winthrop wasn’t done yet, as Milano and Beranger hooked up on a 70-yard bomb that saw Beranger outjump