Cacciola, Saugus sprint past Northeast

WAKEFIELD – The Saugus football team wasn?t about to let last weeks frustrating loss carry over into the business at hand on Friday evening, a non-conference game against Northeast Vocational, the defending Commonwealth Athletic Conference champions.Six days after relinquishing a 21-point lead to Winthrop in its season opener, the Sachems took a halftime deficit to heart before erupting for 22 unanswered points en route to a 36-16 triumph at Breakheart Stadium.?Coming off the disappointment of last week, we knew that this was (another) tough team to play against and they did a great job at handling us in the first half,” reflected coach Mike Broderick.?Our guys managed to recover at halftime and finish the job, something we discussed all week. I?m extremely proud of the way they stuck together.”At the forefront of the visitor?s attack was senior halfback, Dan Cacciola, who rushed for 190 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries.Trailing 16-14 after 22 minutes of play, Saugus recovered the third of four Golden Knights fumbles on the hosts opening drive of the second half.On the ensuing play, Cacciola received a pitch before taking off for a 23-yard touchdown run. Quarterback Justin Winn (116 rushing yards) scored on a two-point conversion keeper to restore the Sachems lead, 22-16.?He?s such a good runner and scoring that touchdown to open the second half was unbelievable for our confidence,” explained Broderick who made sure to spread the praise.?I have to throw a lot of credit to our offensive line as well,” he continued. “We lost (senior) Steve Whitehurst for a little bit but (sophomore) Cam Williamson came on and we never skipped a beat.”After the visiting defense forced a quick three and out, Caciolla and Winn alternated carries for 27 yard before the latter scored from 17 yards out.Caciolla?s 64-yard scamper to pay dirt with 5:57 to play capped the scoring.Through two games, the 5-11, 170 pound back has totaled 571 yards rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns.Saugus (1-1) took an early lead at 8:37 when facing a fourth and one, Winn broke off a 66-yard touchdown run to conclude the game?s opening drive.The hosts fired right back, staging an 11-play drive, resulting in a punch-in from running back, Kevin Rosado, at the goal line.The senior added a two-point conversion reception from Pedro DelToro.On the following drive, Winn (3-7, 52 yards, interception) connected with Marcus Atkins on a 32-yard screen pass, setting up a 30-yard Caciolla finish.Northeast (0-1) turned a Rosato interception into the only points of the second quarter, a 14-yard pass from DelToro to Gui Groscos. A successful quarterback keeper made it 16-14 with 31 seconds remaining.