St. Mary’s rebounds, beats Brighton

LYNN – The St. Mary?s football team was not about to let last week?s emotional loss in the opening round of the MIAA Division 5 playoffs alter its approach for the rest of its season which has been a roller coaster ride to say the least.On Friday evening at a frigid Manning Field, the Spartans came out firing, building a 50-0 lead at halftime before coasting to a 56-12 victory over visiting Brighton.?The guys were pretty upset about last week (a 22-14 overtime loss to Whittier Tech), a game in which we felt we were short-changed,” said coach Matt Durgin. “The guys came out tonight, played hard and showed what kind of character we have as a football team.”St. Mary?s (5-4) scored on its first four drives, each concluding on a rushing touchdown.Connor Sakowich got things started with a 53-yard romp at 9:36 before a five-yard blast from John Gaeta, followed by an Abraham Toe conversion run.The latter found pay dirt just 2:26 later on a 52-yard burst before Sakowich added a 19-yard score with 1:44 left to cap the period.Toe (3 yards), Sakowich (35) and James Brumfield (9) scored in the second quarter, which featured an interception from Antonio Felix that set up the first of the rushes.With the host?s starters on the sidelines, Brighton (7-2) found its pulse after the break with touchdown runs of 36 and 11 yards from Dexter Andrews and True Bray.Matt Luciano concluded the St. Mary?s scoring on a quarterback keeper from the goal line at 3:00 before Bray beat the buzzer on a 50-yard run with four seconds remaining.?We started to get our younger guys in the second half which is always good,” said Durgin whose team will meet the winner of Madison Park and East Boston next week. “They come to practice and work hard each and every day so it?s nice seeing them rewarded every now and then.”