Last year was magical for English. The Bulldogs won 10 games — only the third time in school history that has happened — and capped the season off with a resounding win over archrival Classical.
Duplicating that this season while rebuilding their core defensive front was going to be a mean feat. Still, heading into Thursday’s game with Classical (10 a.m., Manning Field), this has been a successful season. The Bulldogs are 7-3, with having to replace their entire front seven and start 10 sophomores.
The Bulldogs know what they’re up against.
“I don’t know,” said coach Chris Carroll, “whether there’s a carryover from last year or not. But from our perspective, there’s the season, and then there’s Thanksgiving. It’s our seniors’ last game, and everybody wants to go out a winner.”
Two of those seniors are quarterback/safety Matt Severance and running back Ishmile Bangura.
Earlier this season, Severance broke his coach’s school passing record in a win over Swampscott. He’s gone on to pass for 1,450 yards and throw for 14 touchdowns. He has run for 300 more yards and nine touchdowns. On defense, he has 102 tackles and four picks. Bangura goes into Thursday’s game with 901 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Another solid contributor has been senior receiver Prince Brown.
In addition, English has had stellar seasons from defensive backs Mathias Fowler and Tahj Purter, “who had a big catch in our win over Swampscott. Taj and Mathias are a special pair together,” said Carroll.
He’s also high on Thomas Gaylord, “who has been an undersized two-way starter. He’s a great leader and a great kid.”
After getting off to a 2-0 start, “we ran into a little bit of a hiccup in a loss to Malden Catholic,” Carroll said. After that, though, the Bulldogs ran the table with wins over Saugus, Swampscott, Salem and Winthrop to enter the Division 3 playoffs at 6-1, good enough for a second seed.
Especially nice, said Carroll, was the win over Swampscott.
“You have the Blydell Cup, and it’s a natural rival,” he said. “And that game, and Salem after it, were our two best wins. I hope we can get back to playing like that.”
English beat Concord-Carlisle, 35-33, in the MIAA quarterfinal before losing to Danvers in the semis, and then at Marblehead in Week 10.
As for 7-3 Classical, the Rams have been on a tear since being passed over in the MIAA playoffs. After winning two straight to end the regular season, the Rams have run of three lopsided wins over Wilmington, Marblehead and Beverly to go into Thanksgiving on a 5-game streak.
“They’re playing good ball right now. They have a good offense. Keith Ridley (quarterback) is a good, strong player.”
