SALEM — When the English and Salem football teams met last season, the underdog Witches took the Bulldogs to the brink in an overtime nail-biter. English changed the script Friday night at Bertram Field with a convincing 41-14 win over Salem.
With the victory, the Bulldogs clinched their second consecutive Northeastern Conference Tier 3 crown.
“The kids really came ready to play today,” Carroll said. “It was their best four-quarter football all year. We clinched the NEC title for the second year in a row and that’s something to be proud of. We worked hard for it.”
English quarterback Matt Severance stole the show in the first half, running for two touchdowns and airing out two more to give his Bulldogs a 34-0 lead at recess. Severance completed 8-of-11 pass attempts for 170 yards. Prince Brown (two catches, 70 yards) and Mathias Fowler (three catches, 70 yards) each hauled in a touchdown catch. Ishmile Bangura and Tajh Purter ran in one touchdown each. Kicker Tyler Drinan went 5-for-6 on PAT’s.
“Our offense has been explosive all year,” Carroll said. “They really spread the ball around. There’s a lot of football to go around this team. You look at Ishmile Bangura, 27 carries for 212 yards last week (27-14 win over Swampscott) and tonight he got the ball four or five times. The receivers did a great job, Matt did a great job, the line did a great job. I’m really happy with where we are as a team right now. We still have to keep getting better though.”
English scored on each of its four possessions in the first quarter to set the tone early. Severance finished the game’s opening drive with a 21-yard dash up the middle (Drinan PAT). Salem went three-and-out and English followed with a 4-yard touchdown carry from Bangura (Drinan PAT) to boost its lead to 14-0. A Severance score on a 1-yard keeper (PAT blocked) followed by Fowler’s 47-yard touchdown catch gave English a 27-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“That’s the best quarter we’ve had all year, for sure,” Carroll said. “They saw an opportunity and they took it. We liked the defense Salem played against us. We went from running the ball 35+ times last week to really just slinging it today. Our receivers made plays, our quarterback put the ball where he needed to put it and our line blocked really well.”
The Witches logged their first first-down of the game on Sam O’Furie’s 7-yard carry early in the second quarter. But after Salem’s drive fell short the Bulldogs added to their lead on Severance’s 52-yard touchdown pass to Brown (Drinan PAT) with 6:33 left in the half.
“One of the things we really pride ourselves in is being a multi-dimensional offense, running and throwing,” Carroll said. “You never know what you might get. Today the game plan was to throw the ball and we did a really good job executing the game plan.”
Purter joined the scoring with a 30-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter (Drinan PAT). With a 41-0 lead, the Bulldogs emptied their bench and allowed their substitutes to finish the game.
O’Furie scored both of Salem’s touchdowns- the first on a 40-yard run with 14 seconds left in the third quarter and the second on a dive up the middle in the fourth quarter.
Salem (3-3) hosts Classical (3-3) next Friday night (7). English (5-1) visits Winthrop (2-3) next Friday night (7).
“Winthrop’s a team that’s young and up-and-coming,” Carroll said. “We have to have a great week of practice and keep getting better.”
