Fowler, defense help English top Peabody

LYNN ? With no postseason berth to play for after last week’s loss to Gloucester, the English High football team could have taken it easy in Friday night’s game against Peabody.Jesse Fowler and the Bulldogs’ defense didn’t let that happen, though. Fowler completed 15 of 17 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns while English limited the Tanners to 60 yards of total offense in a 28-0 rout at Manning Field.”The team responded well,” English coach Peter Holey said. “We played much better than we did last week. I’m happy for them.”Justin Young caught a 28-yard touchdown pass for English (6-3) and threw a 37-yard scoring strike to Charlie Rucker in the fourth quarter, after Fowler left the game when he was hit hard while completing a pass two plays earlier.Fowler later looked healthy warming up on the sidelines, but his return to the game wasn’t a necessity.Ryan Woumn also caught a 24-yard TD pass from Fowler, while Jermaine Patterson added an 8-yard scoring run. In addition to holding the Tanners (4-6) to six first downs, English’s defense also tacked on a safety.”They get to the ball quickly and make plays,” Peabody coach Scott Wlasuk said. “We knew they had team speed, but that’s maybe the quickest team we’ve seen this season.”The Bulldogs took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards in just six plays for their first touchdown. The key play was an 18-yard completion from Fowler to Rucker (70 yards on 4 catches), who made a fingertip catch on a high throw down the middle. Two plays later, Young took a receiver screen to the left and cut back over the middle for the score with 8:21 left in the first quarter.English also scored on its second drive, a 66-yard march that lasted nine plays and included a key personal foul penalty on Peabody. Fowler floated a perfect pass to Woumn, who beat one-on-one coverage in the end zone, near the left sideline.The first half closed with English almost scoring again on a strange play that ended in a touchback. Cory Burt lined up for a 24-yard field goal, but the Bulldogs ran a fake and Young made it to the goal line when he was hit and the ball popped up and forward. Rucker made an incredible play to catch the ball and lateral it to Brian Castellanos in the end zone, but the officials ruled Rucker’s foot was on the sideline and the Tanners dodged what would have been a demoralizing event with just 19.1 seconds left in the second quarter.The Tanners stopped another scoring chance by recovering an English fumble on their 2-yard line in the third quarter, but two plays later a host of Bulldogs tackled Mark D’Addario in the end zone to make the score 15-0.English took the ensuing free kick and quickly marched 47 yards in five plays, the last of which was a battering run by Patterson, who knocked over a defender at the goal line.English’s last score came with 9:32 left in the game. Young lofted a lob to the right, and Rucker plucked the ball out of the air and easily jogged into the end zone.”I’m happy for the team,” Holey said. “We told them before the game they were down to 88 minutes of football, and now it’s 44 minutes.”