Fishermen punch ticket to second straight Division 2A Super Bowl

LYNN – For the second season in a row, the Gloucester football team is going to spend the first Saturday in December playing for a championship.The defending Division 2A champion Fishermen got 145 yards and two touchdowns from senior Ross Carlson and another 91 yards and two scores from Connor Ressel en route to a 26-7 win over Masconomet and a date with Duxbury on Saturday (3:30) at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough in the Division 2A Super Bowl.Click here to see a photo gallery from last night’s football action.It was the second win for Gloucester over the Cape Ann League Large champion this season and the third in the last 365 days when you add in the Fishermen’s win in the playoffs last season.”The kids really played well,” Gloucester coach Paul Ingram said.This game was a lot closer than the 26-7 score might indicate, as the Fishermen were clinging to a 12-7 lead entering the fourth quarter. But Carlson’s four-yard run on the second play of the final period made it 20-7 and ended any hopes the Chieftains might have had.After Masco drove to the Gloucester 25 with 4:45 to go, the Fishermen defense came up huge, forcing two Chris Splinter incompletions to turn the ball over on downs.Masco then had Gloucester in a punting situation but was caught with 12 men on the field, giving the Fishermen an automatic first down. Two plays later, Ressel went 58 yards down the left sideline to put the icing on Gloucester’s superb second half.Gloucester’s finish was in stark contrast to how the first half played out.The Fishermen (11-1) got the ball and used a 33-yard pass from quarterback Rick Gallant to Dylan Maki to get into Chieftain territory. But the Masco defense forced a punt, which Gloucester downed at the three.The challenging field position proved to be no obstacle to Masco as Evan Bunker went for 20 yards on the Chieftains’ first snap of the game. Splinter then shocked everyone in the crowd when he faked a handoff and dashed 75 yards up the sideline to give Masco a 7-0 lead after Nick Salvo’s extra point.Gloucester turned to its fleet of talented running backs for an answer. Carlson did most of the work on an eight-play, 83-yard march that he closed with a 13-yard run to the end zone to make it 7-6 (the kick was no good).Masco drove to the Gloucester 33 on its next possession, but linebacker Robbie Lowe’s interception ended that march and sent the Fishermen on their way.A 19-yard strike from Gallant to Taylor Burbine was followed two plays later by a 17-yard reverse from Burbine to the Masco 26. Carlson went to the 12 on the next play before Ressel was stopped for a four-yard loss.The Gallant-to-Burbine connection returned moments later, moving the ball to the one, from where Ressel powered in for a 12-7 halftime lead.The Chieftains got the ball to start the second half but saw Maki and Carlson team up to make the play of the game. Bunker gashed the Gloucester defense for a 17-yard run on the first snap of the third quarter, but Maki stripped him from behind and Carlson recovered at the Fishermen 48.Gloucester failed to convert on that chance, but after a Masco punt late in the third quarter, the Fishermen turned out the lights with a nine-play, 55-yard drive that culminated in Carlson’s second touchdown.