Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking: Tech, Saugus show grit in Week Two

Nobody wins all the time. Losses happen, and sometimes they?re pretty ugly. It?s what happens afterwards that separates the men from the boys.Two weeks ago, both Saugus High and Lynn Tech lost games. Each of them was ugly, though for different reasons.In Saugus? case, the Sachems blew a 35-14 lead late in the third quarter and ultimately lost to Winthrop, 44-41, thanks — in part — to an excessive celebration penalty call on the team?s go-ahead touchdown with a little over a minute left. That gave Winthrop great field position, and the Vikings marched the final 50 yards to score the winning touchdown with 13 seconds left.Tech got blown out of Massachusetts Maritime Academy in the first half, giving up 36 points to a powerful Pope John Paul II team. The Tigers came back and scored two second-half touchdowns, which was probably exactly what they needed to do. Because last Friday, in the opener of a football doubleheader at Manning Field, Tech bounced back from that defeat by throttling Nashoba Valley, 26-0, with Raffy Lora leading the way (100 yards rushing, two touchdowns).Needless to say, it was very important for Tech to come away with a win. The Tigers are trying to rebound from a sub-par 2013 season, and opening with twin losses wasn?t going to help that situation at all.Saugus fell behind, 16-14, after a half against a consistently good Northeast Regional team. Saugus may play in a higher division than the Golden Knights, but year in and year out, the Knights are always in the hunt.Between losing two weeks ago and being behind at halftime last Friday, there?s no doubt that the Sachem players had to do a little soul-searching … had to look inward to find out what they were made of.They found out in a hurry. The Sachems dominated the second half of that game, on the road, and ended up winning, 36-16. And while Dan Cacciola of Saugus didn?t duplicate his 381-yard effort of two weeks ago in Winthrop, his 190 yards on 17 carries was certainly good enough. Even if he only produced half of his week one output, coach Mike Broderick will take 190 yards from his lead back anytime, we?re sure.One thing that didn?t change from a week earlier, though: when Cacciola gets some open space, look out. He scored on runs of 30, 23 and 64 yards last Friday.Those who worried that Marblehead may only go as far as Brooks Tyrrell can take it, and that bottling Tyrrell up was the key to winning, can now exhale. In Week 1, Tyrrell had some cramping issues on a hot night, and the Danvers defense keyed on him. No problem. Spencer Craig more than made up for it with his passing in a win over Danvers.Last week, at Manning Field, Tyrrell, Craig and Will Millett provided the offensive balance in the Magicians? win over Classical.So, it looks as if those seeking to beat the Magicians are going to have a fight on their hands. They seem as balanced as they were last year.Anyone who has followed Matt Durgin-coached teams knows that there never seems to be a shortage of speedy little backs when he?s patrolling the sidelines. Last Saturday afternoon, Durgin unveiled his latest speedy little back: Abraham Toe, who scored all three touchdowns in an 18-14 win over Swampscott and ran for 157 yards.And when you add in Connor Sakowich?s 105 yards, you have — once again — a potent one-two punch out of the backfield.Antonio Felix threw the ball 12 times in that game, connecting on seven of them — with Toe snagging three.Abraham Toe is right up there with Rufus Rushins for one of the all-time great football names.And speaking of Lynn?s Rufus Rushins, the revelation in last Friday?s Bishop Fenwick win over Hamilton-Wenham wasn?t that he ran for 111 yards, though that is certainly very good. It?s that the last of the Renzulli brothers — Matt — threw for 130 yards and a touchdown in the victory. We all know Rushins is the real deal. But if Crusader coach Dave Woods can find someone who can even do half the things Nick Bona did last year, Fenwick will be a formidabl