In plain English: it’s a rout over Gloucester

LYNN – It was a result that not even the biggest of Lynn English football fans could have expected when they walked through the gates of Manning Field on Friday night to take on Gloucester and its 26-game winning streak.\ Click here for a photo gallery of last night’s gameWhat transpired over the next two hours can only be described as amazing.Jermaine Kelly made his first start at Lynn English one for the ages, as the Swampscott transfer threw for 279 yards and six touchdowns, four of them going the way of Josh Batista. Throw in a defense that held Gloucester to 84 yards of total offense and it added up to English dealing the visitors a 41-0 loss, their worst since 1976.It was an effort that even got coach Peter Holey to crack a wide smile after the game.”That was the only team in the (Northeastern Conference) that we hadn’t beaten and now we’ve beat everybody,” Holey said. “Our defense did a fabulous job and Jermaine is an athlete and he works so hard.”The Fishermen managed only five first downs all game against Greg Brotherton’s defense, three of them coming with the game very much decided in the fourth quarter. English, meanwhile, racked up 410 yards in all.”I’m happy for the kids,” Holey said. “They stepped up, put the work in and came out and played a great game.”The tone was set on the first snap when Batista took Kelly’s short pass and turned it into a 35-yard gain to the Bulldog 43. Two plays later, he took a carbon copy pass, slipped two tackles and raced 46 yards for a 7-0 lead just 1:28 in.The Bulldog defense promptly forced a turnover and Kelly looked to another new weapon in Malcolm Brown-Simpson for a 31 yard TD toss that made it 14-0.Late in the first quarter, English took over at its 34 and showed the diversity of its attack as P.J. Dorsey, who carried for 91 yards on the night, did most of the work before Batista capped the 10 play drive with a 15-yard touchdown grab for a 20-0 lead.Things went from bad to worse for Gloucester when Chayanne Sanchez recovered Chris Lessard’s onside kick at the Fishermen 39. Brown-Simpson got behind the secondary on the next play and caught Kelly’s fourth touchdown of the half with 9:54 left in the quarter.English stopped the Fishermen on the next two possessions to get the ball back with 3:38 left in the half at its 49. Aided by an ill-timed personal foul penalty, English struck with 1:26 left in the half as Batista caught his third touchdown of the half for a 34-0 lead at the break.”We really did come out and play a very good first half,” Holey said. “Problem is that in the third quarter we got a little to happy about it and didn’t play very well.”English had to burn three timeouts in the third quarter alone on substitution snafus but the Bulldog defense continued to stonewall the Fishermen.The Bulldogs would cap the scoring early in the fourth as a 42-yard pass to Erik Holey was followed by a 30-yard screen pass to Dorsey to make it 41-0.