WAKEFIELD — It may have been a tough Saturday for two of college football’s more prominent Tiger dens, but the high school one in Lynn certainly had no problems.
In a battle of bengals, LSU defeated Auburn Saturday afternoon. And while Syracuse may not have the tiger as a mascot, its color is very definitely orange. And those Orange stunned defending national champion Clemson Saturday.
But at Breakheart Stadium on the campus of Northeast Regional, Lynn Tech took the field and put on a clinic in defeating the Golden Knights, 47-26.
Though there were stars aplenty for Tech, the brightest one had to Steffan Gravely, who scored four touchdowns, one of them off a pass interception in which he ran 73 yards to the house after picking off the throw.
Gravely also finished the game with 166 yards and at eight tackles on defense.
“As well as he played on offense,” said coach James Runner, “I thought he played even better on defense.”
For that, Runner presented him with the Rick Drislane game ball, presented at the conclusion of this game every season in honor of the former Tech standout who died in an auto accident in 1987.
Keoni Gaskin, Gravely’s running mate in the Tech backfield, had a solid 158 yards to go along with Gravely’s 166, and he scored two touchdowns for the Tigers.
“My hat is off to these guys,” said Runner. “There are no words to describe how proud I am of them.
“Northeast is a good, tough team, and we always have a tough time against them,” Runner said, adding that during his tenure with the Tigers, Tech has been 1-4 against the Golden Knights.
Tech’s win ensured that there will be three undefeated teams from Lynn heading into next week’s final slate of regular-season games: English, St. Mary’s and the Tigers.
The game started as if the spectators might be worn out by the time it ended. Gravely had a 40-yard TD run on the third play from scrimmage, and Jamie James’ kick made it 7-0.
But Northeast started out as if it would control the line when its offense was on the field too. Running back Zach Sanderson ran for 57 of his 123 yards on the opening drive, scored a touchdown, and then ran in the extra point to put his team up 8-7. It was the first time all season the 6-0 Tigers have had to play from behind.
From there, it was all Tech. The defense gradually figured it out and stuffed the Knights until the game was long past settled. Runner credited Emerson Ramirez and Gravely for taking a leading role in turning the game around.
After Northeast’s touchdown, Tech drove eight plays from its 34, with Gaskin taking the ball the final 18 for the score to make it 13-8. The Knights finally blinked, with David Barrios picking off Northeast’s Nick Bell, giving the Tigers the ball back on their own 29. A 5-yard motion penalty set them back before Barrios led Elvin Gonzalez beautifully, hitting the receiver on a dead run for a 74-yard scoring pass.
After getting a stop, Tech was back for more, this time courtesy of Gravely and an 18-yard run. Gravely picked off Bell on the next possession scooted up the far sideline, simply outrunning all the Northeast defenders trying to chase him, for a 73-yard touchdown return that made the score 34-8 at the break.
The second half was played at a less frenetic pace, as Northeast’s Don Heres played some subs while Runner’s Tigers were content to run.
Dillon Pineau scored twice in the second half for Northeast and Connor Joseph — who received the Ed Reppucci Award (Northeast’s counterpart to the Drislane, who also died in an accident) scored one.
Gaskin (50) and Gravely (51) finished up the scoring for Tech, which plays Greater Lowell Saturday (10:15) at home.
