Rams squeeze past Gloucester in OT, 22-20

PEABODY – Classical coach Tim Phelps stated the obvious following Saturday afternoon’s 22-20 overtime victory against Gloucester at Donaldson Field. Though happy with the Rams’ Houdini-like escape, he readily acknowledged the tough-luck Fishermen were the better team for much of the day.”That’s a very good football team, maybe the best 1-5 team I’ve ever seen. They beat us up front all day. But, we had to make some big plays to take the win and we made them,” Phelps said of the Rams, now 5-1 and with a week off before beginning their CAL/NEC Tier 1 schedule. “If they (Gloucester) keep doing what they’re doing, they’re going to be fine.”In OT, Gloucester grabbed a 20-14 lead on quarterback Santo Parisi’s three-yard pass to tight end Devin Hemeon (five catches, 56 yards), his second score of the day. The conversion rush failed, leaving the door open for Classical. Junior fullback Justin Avery (12 carries, 46 yards) bulled in from three yards on second down, then junior Brad Scuzzarella skirted the right side on a counter, outraced the pursuit and dove in for the decisive two-point conversion.As the Rams erupted in celebration, several Gloucester players slammed their helmets to the turf in frustration after their second two-point loss in as many weeks to a Tier One opponent.Leading, 14-6, Gloucester eschewed a punt that would have pushed the Rams into their own territory with less than four minutes left in regulation and opted to go for a first down on fourth-and-one from their own 44. A botched snap resulted in the ball going over on downs to Classical at the Gloucester 42.Four plays later the Brothers Brown connected as junior quarterback Jordan delivered a 30-yard strike to Jalen, a senior, who beat two Fishermen on a fade route to the rear right corner of the end zone. The two then converted on a barely good two-point conversion with Jalen scooping a low pass to tie it at 14-14.”Jalen is almost exclusively a defensive player for us but he’s a basketball player and a terrific athlete. At that point we decided we wanted a bigger, stronger receiver in there,” said Phelps of Brown’s insertion into the offense on the scoring play.Gloucester reached the Classical 15 on Parisi’s 22-yard throwback screen to Mark Horgan with five seconds to play. However, Parisi’s 32-yard field goal attempt into a swirling wind fell just short as regulation expired.Both teams launched long first-half scoring drives.Gloucester’s 14-play, 79-yard advance took 8:54 to execute and featured Parisi’s 18-yard connection with Hemeon on a third-and-11 and a 15-yard John Good gallop. Parisi’s five-yard scoring pass to Hemeon and PAT gave the Fishermen a 7-0 lead.Classical’s 16-play, 71-yard march consumed 6:27 and culminated in Jordan Brown’s 10-yard TD pass to Joe Rose with 14 seconds left in the half. Jordan Brown and Scuzzarella both had drive-sustaining 11-yard runs on third down but Gloucester blocked Jalen Brown’s PAT and exited with a 7-6 halftime lead.The Fishermen were back at it to open the second half with Jordan Pallazola plowing in from three yards to finish a 13-play, 74-yard drive that had no play of longer than 12 yards. Parisi’s PAT made it 14-6 with 3:31 left in the quarter.Classical’s prospects for victory seemed grim after a lost fumble at the Gloucester 35 with 6:21 to play. However, when the Fishermen returned the favor, the Rams cashed in.