Whittier has big second half in win over Tech

HAVERHILL – Lynn Tech coach Gary Sverker called Whittier Tech the best team in the Commonwealth Conference. When his team made the trek to Haverhill to take on the high-powered Wildcats, he may have been proven right.Whittier used a 30-point explosion in the second quarter to hand Lynn Tech its first defeat, 38-12, at Whittier Tech High School on Saturday.”[Whittier] is the cream of the crop,” Sverker said. “They’re the best team in the league. They made the plays, and we didn’t make some plays. We had our opportunities, and that’s that.”The game was relatively even early before Whittier (4-0) got on the board on the first play of the second quarter. Quarterback Dillon Ryan (12-20, 182 yards, 3 touchdowns) found receiver Steve Surette (8 catches, 99 yards, 2 touchdowns) for an 11-yard touchdown pass, and Nate Allen’s rush made it 8-0, Wildcats.With just under four minutes remaining in the half, both offenses erupted. Whittier capped a 12-play drive that lasted almost six minutes with Donald Leighton’s 1-yard rush. He added the conversion to make it 16-0.Tech (3-1) needed only two plays to answer. Whittier’s squib kick gave the Tigers excellent field position at the Whittier 27, and two plays later, Steven Caisse ran it in from 20-yards out to cut the deficit to 16-6.Whittier answered with a momentum-shifting play as soon as it got the ball. The first play of the Wildcats’ drive was a 47-yard bomb from Ryan to Ralph Hancock, putting the ball at the Tigers’ 11. Two plays later, Ryan found Leighton from 11 yards out, and Nick Ferreira’s rush made it 24-6.Disaster struck for Tech when it got the ball again. On the first play of the Tiger drive, Richie Warren’s pass was tipped and picked off by Shawn Mahoney. It took Ryan just one play to make the Tigers pay for their mistake – he connected with Surette from 28 yards out to make it 30-6.Tech closed the gap on Warren’s 30-yard touchdown pass to Conor Bryson just before halftime, but with the score 30-12, it was clear Whittier had all the momentum.”It was great on both sides of the ball that we were able to make things happen,” Whittier coach Kevin Bradley said. “On offense, what was good about it, we capitalized on things, and we did it quick.”Things only got worse for the Tigers in the second half. The team was able to gain just 16 yards offensively after the break, and the Tigers turned the ball over twice in the final two periods.On Tech’s first possession, quarterback Richie Warren stepped on the back of the end zone while trying to evade a sack, giving Whittier a 32-12 lead following the safety.The Tiger defense, though, played better after the break. Lynn Tech forced two Whittier turnovers, and the only Wildcat touchdown after halftime came on Jay Desjardin’s 18-yard run midway through the fourth quarter.Unfortunately, though, with Desjardin’s touchdown pushing the Wildcat lead to 38-12, Lynn Tech was unable to get enough going offensively to make a comeback bid.”[Whittier’s] got the whole package,” Sverker said. “They’re a tough team to stop.”