Tech rallies to stop North Shore

LYNN – Things were going about as bad as they possibly could for the Lynn Tech football team in the first half on Saturday night at Manning Field against North Shore Tech.The Tigers had minus-18 yards of offense and no first downs for nearly 22 minutes while watching North Shore push them around and lead 12-0 in the final seconds. Then, with one lucky bounce, everything changed.Billy Colon’s Hail Mary attempt was deflected and caught by Jason Grant for a 65-yard touchdown on the next-to-last play of the first half to give the Tigers life. Tech then rode that momentum to 24 unanswered second-half points for a 30-12 win over the Bulldogs.Click here for a photo gallery.”A year ago, this team probably doesn’t win this game with the way things were going,” Tech coach James Runner said. “That Hail Mary was such a huge play. It gave us a little momentum and then we made some simple changes at halftime and the kids executed them perfectly.”It didn’t take long in the second half for Tech to capitalize on the sudden change in momentum.Kennedy Gomes (126 yards passing, 46 rushing) hit E.J. Ward on a deep seam route for another 65-yard touchdown that tied the game at 12-12 less than three minutes into the second half.North Shore then systematically marched inside the Tech 30 before a sack and a false start penalty backed it up to the 42. On a third-and-17 play, quarterback Jared Farese’s pass was picked off by Gomes, who niftily returned it 82 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.”We had a lot of guys step up for us (Saturday),” Runner said. “They are so huge up front that we knew it was going to cause a problem for us at the beginning. But the guys adjusted to it very well.”The Bulldogs promptly fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Ward recovered at the Tiger 46. Gomes scrambled 38 yards on fourth-and-one to bring the ball to the North Shore seven but Tech was turned away when the Bulldog defense stiffened at the three.Instead of crumbling, the Tigers pounced when Farese fumbled an exchange in the end zone and Joel Devaney fell on the loose pigskin for a two-score Tech lead early in the fourth quarter.North Shore punted on its next possession and Tech went for the kill when Gomes threw another strike on a seam route to Grant for a 64-yard gain to the Bulldog four. Ward took it in on the next play to cap the stirring and stunning turnaround.”Jason really stepped up huge for us,” Runner said. “He’s a senior receiver and he can catch the ball. He told us, ‘Just get me the ball and I will make the play,’ and that’s what he did.”