LYNN — The Lynn Tech football team was held to a single-digit point total for the first time all season Saturday night, as the No. 1 Tigers fell to No. 2 Cathedral, 20-6, in the Division 8 North championship game at Manning Field. Tech scored the first touchdown of the game but couldn’t really find any consistency all night on offense. Mistakes didn’t help either, as the Tigers turned the ball over twice and had some untimely penalties.
“The mistakes certainly hurt us, but I’ve got to take my hat off to Cathedral,” said Tech coach James Runner. “That’s a very good football team and that’s a big win for those guys over there.
“I’m sure they’ll represent the North well in the state semis. But the penalties didn’t help, and we didn’t help ourselves out there either,” Runner said.
Steffan Gravely led the way for the Tigers in the loss, rushing the ball 27 times for 111 yards and a touchdown. He also added three catches for 68 yards. On the other side, Khalil Blair rushed 15 times for 215 yards and scored all three touchdowns for the Panthers.
It was a defensive battle in the first half, with neither team scoring until halfway through the second quarter. Both teams turned the ball over on downs on their first possession, then Tech made some big plays on defense on Cathedral’s second drive of the game. After Tech forced a fourth-and-20 from Cathedral’s own 29 yard-line, a bad snap set the Tigers up inside the red zone to open up the second quarter.
The Tigers capitalized on the good field position, running a 7-play drive that culminated in a 4-yard touchdown run from Gravely to make it 6-0. Tech went on to force a three-and-out on the ensuing drive and got the ball back with four minutes left, but couldn’t get the ball into the end zone before halftime.
The second half is where it started to go downhill for the Tigers. It started with the opening kickoff, which Tech was set to receive. But Cathedral pulled off an onside kick and was able to recover the ball near midfield to grab the momentum.
The Panthers only furthered that momentum two plays later when Blair broke through a hole and raced 48 yards for the game-tying touchdown.
The game slowed down a bit from there, with the two teams exchanging unsuccessful drives into the fourth quarter. But when Cathedral got the ball back with about 10 minutes remaining in the game, the Panthers orchestrated a 7-play drive that took four minutes off the clock before Blair punched in a one-yard touchdown to take a 12-6 lead.
Tech responded with a 10-play drive of its own that was designed to be the last drive of the game. The Tigers marched all the way down to the 7-yard line but were stopped a yard short on a fourth-and-three, giving the ball back to Cathedral with 1:15 to go.
Three plays later, Blair put the final nail in the coffin with a 91-yard touchdown run to seal the win for Cathedral.
While a Division 8 state title is no longer in the cards for Tech (9-1), there is still plenty to play for. The Tigers will face off against Austin Prep on Nov. 22, and they will still have a chance to play for the Massachusetts Vocational Athletic Directors Association (MVADA) championship on Nov. 30.
“That’s still something to look forward to for our guys,” Runner said of the MVADA title opportunity. “We still have a chance to win a state title, and that would be a great way to end the year.”
