LYNN — The English football team kicked off the 2017 season on the right foot on Saturday afternoon, taking down defending Division 2 North champion Beverly, 26-20, at Manning Field.
The Bulldogs showed off their speed on both offense and defense throughout the game, and became the fifth, and final, Lynn team to win on the gridiron this weekend. KIPP started the parade Thursday, and St. Mary’s, Classical and Tech continued it Friday.
Junior quarterback Matt Severance ran the show for the Bulldogs, completing 15-of-26 passes for 183 yards and two touchdowns with one interception while also rushing for 46 yards and two touchdowns. Senior running back Ski Gaston rushed for 109 yards, while junior wide receiver Prince Brown had 101 yards on six catches and two touchdowns.
“We did some good things for sure, and we took care of the football for the most part which is the most important thing,” said English coach Chris Carroll. “We’ve still got some things to work on, but overall I was pleased with what we got done today.”
Another impact player on offense for English was freshman receiver Mathies Fowler, who had 69 yards on six catches in his first career game.
“He’s a tough kid, he comes from a great athletic family, and he’s been working his tail off all summer to be here,” Carroll said. “He feels that he’s good enough to be on varsity as a freshman and he wants to show it. For me, if kids can play they can play, freshman to senior. He’s bought in and he works hard.”
The English defense set the tone from the first series of the game, forcing a three-and-out and stopping two plays behind the line of scrimmage. When English took over after the punt, Matt Severance orchestrated an eight-play drive down the field that culminated in an eight-yard touchdown pass to Brown to make it 6-0.
Beverly started to move the ball on the ensuing drive, moving into English territory behind some strong running from Panthers senior Ameer Alshrafi. However, when quarterback Nick Berry rolled out of the pocket on a first-and-10 from the English 25, Severance flew into the backfield from his spot in the secondary and made a huge tackle, stripping the ball for English senior Tyshawn Anderson to recover.
The turnover kicked off English’s longest drive of the game, as they moved 72 yards in 14 plays capped off by a one-yard touchdown run by Severance. The Bulldogs then forced a three-and-out to get the ball back and moved down the field quickly thanks to a 43-yard touchdown pass from Severance to Brown, making it 20-0.
Beverly finally did get some momentum moving in its direction on the ensuing drive, all on one play. On first-and-10 from their own 26 yard-line, Berry fired a pass over the middle to senior Clark Marchand, who took it 74 yards to the house to get the Panthers on the board. The ensuing drive saw Beverly force an English punt for the first time in the game, but the Panthers couldn’t convert another score before the half.
English got right back to business to open the second half, working a 10-play, 80-yard drive that ate up a bunch of time and ended with another Severance touchdown run, making it 26-7. From there, though, English’s offense seemed to stall. Beverly forced three-and-outs on the Bulldogs’ next two possessions, then scored on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Berry to Alshrafi to get right back in the game at 26-13. When junior Clayton McAlpine punched in a 10-yard touchdown run with just over five minutes left in the game to make it 26-20, English needed to stop the bleeding.
They did just that, as the Bulldogs came up with a 10-play drive that included two huge third-down conversions to keep the clock running and ice the win.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it, we hung on for that victory at the end,” Carroll said. “I was very pleased with what we did for two-and-a-half quarters, but in the end we had to hold on for a win. But we do talk about finishing games above all, and the guys were able to do that on the final drive.”
Next up for English will be Somerville, one of the newest members of the NEC who came up with a big conference win of its own in Week 1 (24-7 win over Peabody).
“We don’t know very much about them other than their big win this week,” Carroll said of Somerville. “I’m sure it will be a long week of film study and practice to get ready, then we’ll see what happens on the field.”
English and Somerville will kick off on Friday night at 7 p.m. at Dilboy Field in Somerville.
