Classical explodes late to push past Beverly

BEVERLY – Lynn Classical coach Tim Phelps could only look at the scoreboard Saturday at Hurd Stadium and come up with a bemused thought.”Where did the 40 points come from?” Phelps said.Well, half of those points came when his Rams desperately needed them as they were the final 20 in a game that saw 0-5 Beverly give Classical all it wanted before the 4-1 Rams pulled away to a 40-20 win.Classical40Beverly20 “That is a very good football team we played,” Phelps said. “They might be the best 0-5 team around. But we played very well and they capitalized on the mistakes we made.”It was a breakout game passing for Classical quarterback Nick Grassa, who has done most of his damage running so far this year. On Saturday, though, the senior went 8-for-10 for 186 yards and a pair of touchdowns, both to Keith Nance.”We need Nick to be efficient throwing. We’re not asking him to be great at it but 8-of-10 is very efficient,” Phelps said.Even with all that, Classical still trailed 14-12 at halftime as the Panthers were ready for this one.Classical came out to begin the second half and put together an 11-play, 81-yard march that saw Grassa hit Nance for passes of 13, 23 and 16 yards before hitting him with a 19-yard TD on a third-down play to push in front at 20-14 after a Nance conversion rush.”They got us with some passes,” Beverly coach Dan Bauer said. “Classical is a good ballclub and they really came after it.”Beverly wasn’t done though as it put together a 55-yard drive that culminated early in the fourth quarter with a Joe Wioncek to Brendan Flaherty touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal. The PAT was no good and the game stayed tied with 10:49 left.From there on, the game belonged to Classical.After Beverly tried a surprise onside kick that went out of bounds, the Rams got the ball at the Panther 49 and needed only six plays to go back in front as Nance raced 30 yards for a touchdown and a 26-20 lead.Beverly would fumble two plays later as Flaherty was stripped and Classical recovered at the Panther 48. Two Nance runs gained 11 yards before Grassa kept on an option play and went 37 yards for a score to make it 34-20 (after a Nance conversion rush) with 5:48 left.Wioncek would be stripped of the ball with 4:00 left and Classical delivered the final punch when Tyler Alicudo completed a 7:38 stretch that saw the Rams score three times with a 20-yard dash to make it 40-20.”We had a lot of new guys out there and they stepped up and played well,” Phelps said.Beverly started quick as Nick Theriault raced 65 yards on the game’s first play for a 7-0 Panther lead. Classical fought back with a score as Eric Sisson powered in from the one to cut the lead to 7-6 after a quarter.Wioncek upped the gap to 14-6 with a one-yard sneak midway through the second before Grassa hit Alicudo for a 77-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-12 at the half.