Wakefield gridders take advantage of English miscues

LYNN ? Last season, the Lynn English football team defeated Wakefield despite committing five turnovers. This season, the Bulldogs paid for their charity.View photo galleryWakefield (2-0) turned two of English’s miscues into 10 points, which were enough to help the Warriors defeat the Bulldogs (1-1), 22-16, Friday night, in an entertaining nightcap of a high school football doubleheader at Manning Field.?We turned the ball over against them five times last year, and we turned the ball over to them five times this year,” English coach Peter Holey said. “This difference between this year and last year is they’re a better team.”That’s high praise for a team that won its division in the rugged Middlesex League and made it to a Super Bowl last year. The Warriors are breaking in a new offense behind quarterback Michael Miller, who threw touchdown passes of 49 and 4 yards and ran 56 yards for a third score on Friday, and running back Dan Cardillo, who unfortunately left the game late in the first half with what appeared to be an ankle injury and did not return.?I’ve said (Miller) reminds me a lot of (former English star quarterback) Tyllor McDonald,” Holey said. “He’s capable of making big plays.”English also got some big plays, starting with a 90-yard return of the opening kickoff for a score by Isaiah Davis. Lucas Harris also caught a 72-yard pass from Chris Lessard, who added a 32-yard field goal.?We did some good things and we did some things we have to work on,” Holey said. “They’re a great team, and that we were able to give them a game tells me we’re going to be right in the middle of things this year.”Davis took the kickoff to start the game, found some running room down the left sideline, and then broke the last Wakefield attempt at a tackle at about the 10-yard line to give the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead just 13 seconds into the game.A fake punt helped the Warriors pick up a first down on their first series, which eventually stalled, but Alec Brown’s 61-yard punt with the wind at his back was downed at the English 1-yard line. The Bulldogs were able to move out from that precarious position, but the drive ended when Wakefield’s Dan Cardillo recovered a fumble on the Bulldogs’ 31. Miller quickly hit Bruce Brown for 27 yards on a fade route, and then found Conor Coogan in the right slot for an easy touchdown. Brian Auld’s kick was good and Wakefield led, 7-6, just 5:28 into the first quarter.Lessard engineered a drive that went 52 yards but eventually stalled at the Warriors’ 15-yard line, though he salvaged three points with an impressive field goal into the wind to give a 9-7 lead back to English.An interception by Josh Batista set up the Bulldogs at the Wakefield 36, but they gained just two yards before turning the ball over on an incomplete screen pass on fourth down. Five plays later, Miller rambled around right end, broke into the clear at about the English 40, and then raced into the end zone to give the Warriors a 13-9 lead they took into halftime.Wakefield threatened to blow the game open right away in the third quarter. On the second play from scrimmage, Miller scrambled and connected with Alec Brown from just inside midfield for a touchdown that made the score 19-9. English fumbled the ball back to Wakefield on the first play of its next series, and Miller quickly hit Bruce Brown for 33 yards to move the ball to English’s 5-yard line. The Bulldogs held, though, and forced Auld to kick a 24-yard field goal with 9:11 left in the third quarter.English came right back with Lessard’s 72-yard hookup to Harris, who got a couple of nice blocks down the left sideline and was able to break a tackle before he reached the end zone. Lessard’s kick was good, and it was a 1-score game again at 22-16.Early in the fourth quarter, English moved the ball to Wakefield’s 27, but with Lessard out of the game due to cramps, the Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs. English’s last two possessions ended with interceptions, the first by Bruce B