Last second strike lifts Beverly over English

In a game that saw Beverly and Lynn English combine for 902 yards of offense; 34 first downs and big play after big play, it was only right that the result came down to whoever had the ball last.And thanks to a poised quarterback and a two-minute drill that most pros would be proud of, it was the Panthers who prevailed. The killer play cam on Joe Wioncek’s 30-yard touchdown pass to Justin Marrs with 15 seconds left that gave Beverly a heart-stopping 24-20 win over the Bulldogs at Hurd Stadium on Saturday.”Our players never lost composure when they came back and took the lead,” Beverly coach Dan Bauer said. “And we’re fortunate that we try to play at a faster tempo and that helped us in the two-minute drill.”It seemed like it was the Bulldogs (2-1) who were going to come out on top in stirring fashion when Tyllor McDonald, who threw for 316 yards and three scores, hit Melvin Tavares for a 35-yard touchdown with 1:58 to go to put English in the driver’s seat, 20-17. When Cory Burt’s kickoff went out of the end zone, the Panthers (2-0) got the ball 80 yards from paydirt.Passes of 23 and eight yards to Marrs, who caught eight balls for 98 yards in the second half, quickly got the ball into English territory. Three plays later, Wioncek found his man again as Marrs caught an 11-yard pass on third-and-six at the Bulldog 41.One play later, Wioncek went back Marrs’ way again and he found the senior behind the defense for the touchdown that gave Beverly the lead and eventually the win.”I think that the kid just beat our guy there,” English coach Peter Holey said. “And the quarterback made a great throw. We lost to a good football team that’s going to win a lot of games.”Wioncek’s heroics upstaged a dramatic comeback by the Bulldogs in the final five minutes. Beverly led 14-7 at halftime and took a 17-7 lead on Ryan Flannery’s 24-yard field goal on the second play of the fourth quarter.Tavares gave English some life when he picked off Wioncek for the second time in the game with 6:36 to go. An 18-yard dart to Ryan Woumn (five catches, 103 yards, TD) got English moving.After a sack, McDonald found a wide open Travonne Berry-Rogers for a 32-yard gain to the Panther 25. Two incompletions and a sack later, English was facing fourth-and-13 at the 28 when McDonald threw a jump ball into the end zone and Berry-Rogers won the battle over Dylan Terry for a touchdown that cut the lead to 17-13.Beverly went three and out on its next possession, setting the stage for English to score what looked to be the winning points. Passes of 19 and 15 yards to Woumn got the ball to the Beverly 40 and two plays later, Tavares broke free down the left seam for his touchdown catch.”I was so proud of the way we came back,” Holey said. “Beverly is a very good team and they came back and beat us. Coach (Dan) Bauer does a great job over there.”