Defenses have their say despite offense-laden morning

LYNN – In a 28-10 football game, defense might not be the first topic to come to mind.Yet there was some fine defensive play throughout as English defeated Classical.It doesn’t hurt that the Bulldogs boast the Northeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year in Chris Tinkham, a 6-3, 280-pound junior with a crushing handshake.”Chris Tinkham is unbelievable,” his coach, Peter Holey, said. “He had his best game of the year.”That included making eight tackles, as well as one sack of Rams QB Jordan Brown.”He’s very physical,” Holey said. “He’s a big, strong kid. He plays real hard. He’s coming off a knee injury last week. He sucked it up.”Tinkham and the Rams defense had a tough assignment, going up against NEC Co-Offensive Player of the Year, Brad Scuzzarella. (The other Co-Offensive Player of the Year? None other than Isaiah Davis of English.) While Scuzzarella scored the lone touchdown for the Rams, the Dogs did limit him to 33 yards on nine carries.”Brad has one more year,” Rams coach Tim Phelps said. “He’s a good player. We couldn’t quite get him going. They’re strong up front with their front seven.”On offense, Tinkham also helped open up holes for Davis and company, along with Jamal Rose and Robert Rasmussen.After the game, Tinkham sounded a bit like a man on a mission after hearing about pregame comments from the Rams on Twitter ? even though he said he doesn’t have a Twitter account.”They like to talk to me there,” he noted. “I just decided to come through. It was a good time to start fighting through. I didn’t have much to say.”However, he said, “At the beginning I had stuff to say.”And it sounded like he played the game intense.”You’re going to have personal fouls and the refs did a nice job,” Holey said. “Chris had one. He was just being Chris.”While the coach felt it was a “nice tackle,” he said the referee decided it was “a bit too rough.”Maybe next time, Twitter won’t be so popular to get the grudge matches going.”It’s always the fat kid,” Tinkham said when asked about pregame comments online. “I can still make plays.”He added that he wanted to give the seniors “a happy Thanksgiving,” and said, “I’m a junior. I have to set an example, be a role model.”Other standouts defensively for English included Josh Michel (9 tackles), Zach Lozzi (7 tackles, .5 sacks), Keenan Benton (4 tackles, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery), Josh Pimentel (2 tackles, .5 sacks) and Alex Ortega (6 tackles, 1 interception).For the Rams, Jeff Beck (8 tackles, .5 sacks) and Devin Crayton (2 tackles, .5 sacks) each helped pressure the Bulldogs, with each also teaming up on a fumble recovery. Jalen Brown made seven tackles and had an interception.Steve Sam, one of the Rams’ captains, finished with eight tackles.”(Sam’s) a good player,” Rams coach Tim Phelps said. “He was a little banged-up at times. It was his last game.”Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].