Dogs have their day in English Turkey Day win

LYNN – Isaiah Davis scored all four English touchdowns as the Bulldogs defeated cross-town rival Classical, 28-10, at Manning Field on Thanksgiving Day.View Photo Gallery”(Davis) has good eyes and ran tough,” Bulldogs coach Peter Holey said of his junior back, who ran for 132 yards on 30 carries.Davis may have had a bit of pregame motivation. His coach said that Classical “had a lot to say” on social media going into the game.”They were calling him a little back,” Holey said of the 5-8, 175-pound Davis, adding that Davis’ classmate Chris Tinkham also took some heat on social media.Asked about such pre-game commentary, Rams coach Tim Phelps said, “I heard something. We tell our kids (to give them) no bulletin-board material. I don’t know if it’s true or not.”After the game, “Tweet That!” was heard near the crowd of English players, and Holey was asked if this was the first English-Classical game in which social media played a factor.”In that way, yeah,” the coach said.As for the game itself, the Bulldogs took command in the first half behind big plays on the ground, through the air, and on special teams.They set the scene instantly on the opening kickoff, when Josh Michel tackled kick returner Tino Fernandez and Schuyler Hogan recovered the fumble on the Rams’ 38. Michel was a force for English all day, with nine tackles.On the next play, Davis moved the chains 18 yards, and just two plays later, he took it in from 10 yards. Chris Lessard supplied the first of his four extra points and the Dogs had a 7-0 lead.”Any time you turn it over on special teams, it’s a game-changer,” Holey said. “Unfortunately for them, it gave us a short field. Lynn Classical was stunned.””We fumbled,” Phelps said. “Fumbles happen in football. It was not a great place to fumble. It goes back to intensity. We were ready to go but we couldn’t match (English’s intensity).”Both the Rams and Dogs did good things on the next drive. Classical played methodically on offense, moving from its 20 to the Dogs’ 34, including a 7-yard keeper by quarterback Jordan Brown that converted a fourth-and-1 and prompted Brown to celebrate.However, the Dogs defense subsequently created another fourth-down situation and this time it was workhorse Zach Lozzi (7 tackles, .5 sacks) making the stop on his 33.Once again, Davis got the Dogs going with a big run, this one of 33 yards, all the way up the middle until Fernandez and Steve Sam (8 tackles) chased him down.”(Davis) is a good running back,” Phelps said. “He breaks a lot of tackles. The offensive line kind of came right at us. We had a lot of trouble stopping them.””We had three big guys on the offensive side,” Holey said, “Jamal Rose, Chris Tinkham and Robert Rasmussen.”He described Tinkham as “the best player in the league when he puts his mind to it.”After Davis’ long run, QB Lucas Harris took to the air and found Keenan Benton right-side for a 32-yard hookup 12 yards shy of the end zone. To their credit, the Rams stiffened on defense, with Jalen Brown (7 tackles) making back-to-back fine plays (the second assisted by John McKinnion). Yet on fourth down and three, Davis ran the distance for a touchdown and subsequent 14-0 lead.The Rams tried to get back into it with another methodical drive, this one lasting nine plays and progressing to the English 45. Yet the Bulldogs forced another fourth-down situation and Tinkham and Benton combined for the stop of Brad Scuzzarella as the second quarter opened.Yet the Classical defense still showed poise. Good stops by Jalen Brown, Jeff Beck (8 tackles, 1.5 sacks), Astrel Fort and Romario Louidhon (7 tackles) limited Bulldog gains on the next drive ? and when English punted, the snap flew over the punter’s head and the ball was eventually downed 17 yards shy of the Bulldogs’ goal line.However, the Dogs defense showed some grit, with Lessard, Tinkham and Michel all making tackles. Jordan Brown tried to find the end zone twice through the air, and was frustrated both times, the second