Swampscott football rallies past English

SWAMPSCOTT – The Swampscott football team was mere inches from likely seeing its hopes of making the playoffs go out to sea when Lynn English faced fourth-and-inches at the Big Blue 11-yard line with 2:25 left to go and the Bulldogs leading 23-21.That?s when the Big Blue came up with a play that might have saved their season when they stoned Lucas Harris? quarterback sneak to get the ball back with 2:20 left to go. Quarterback Devin Conroy and halfback Mike Faia did the rest, engineering an 89-yard drive in just over two minutes that ended with Conroy?s game-winning five-yard touchdown with :13 left to give Swampscott the 29-23 victory.?I was proud of the kids for coming back and playing the way they did in the second half,” Swampscott coach Steve Dembowski said. “Now we are able to control our destiny for the playoffs.”The Big Blue (1-3) trailed 23-7 at the half but came out determined to assert their will at the point of attack in the third quarter and it paid off in a pair of grind-it-out drives that culminated in 24 and 14-yard touchdown runs by Jordan James (6-90) that cut the lead to 23-21 with 1:12 left in the third.The Bulldogs (1-3) then proceeded to play their own version of keepaway thanks to the efficient passing of Harris, who hit 19-of-24 throws for 162 yards and a score, and the tough running of Stevie Collins (17-100).English would systematically move down field, keeping the ball for almost 10 minutes as it converted on a pair of fourth downs in Swampscott territory. The drive eventually reached the Big Blue 20, where English had a first down with just over three minutes to go.After an incompletion, Collins gained nine yards on the next two plays, setting up fourth-and-inches at the 11. Harris got the call but the middle of the Swampscott line stuffed him at the point of attack to get the ball back.?We lost this game by four inches,” English coach Peter Holey said. “Swampscott made the play and they deserved to win the game.”The Big Blue had 2:20 and 89 yards separating them from a winning score. Faia (15-125) got Swampscott into English territory with a 43-yard jaunt to the 49. Four plays later, the ball was at the 33 when Conroy rolled right and hit Anthony Rizzo for 12 yards to the 21.Faia then swept right and reached the five with :20 left. Conroy faked the give to Faia on the next play and bulled his way into the end zone with :13 left to give Swampscott its first lead of the night and ultimately a much-needed victory.?We felt that in the second half we could come out and run the ball,” Dembowski said. “And our offensive and defensive lines came out and played really well.”The Bulldogs took the lead first as Collins performed a great piece of broken-field running when he shook off six tacklers and scored from 33 out early in the first. The Big Blue responded late in the first when Faia capped a quick six-play drive with a 22-yard dash to make it 7-7.The tie lasted all of :12 as Collins returned the ensuing kick 84 yards to the house for a 14-7 English lead after one. After a Swampscott fumble early in the second, Harris hit Daequan Shepard for an 11-yard touchdown and a 20-7 lead.After an exchange of fumbles, the Bulldogs would score on the final play of the half when Shepard?s 35-yard field goal caught the inside of the left upright and went through for a 23-7 lead.