LYNN — When you play your A-game across all phases, good things happen.
The English football team scored five touchdowns on offense, one defensively and one via special teams in Friday’s 48-20 win over Winthrop at Manning Field.
“It’s the first time that I can say we put all three phases together,” English coach Chris Carroll said. “What I’ve been telling the kids is that we need to play our best football at the most important time. We’re going into the playoffs next week and that’s the most complete game we’ve played all year.
“It was Senior Night for us and I always appreciate what the seniors have done. We have a great group of seniors and it’s always nice to win like this.”
Mathias Fowler completed 7-of-9 pass attempts for 125 yards. Fowler tossed a touchdown pass to Tahj Purter (two receptions, 40 yards), one to Jesse Ofurie (three catches, 75 yards) and ran in a touchdown from 14 yards out. Sam Ofurie scored on a 50-yard carry, as did Traiquan Menter, who sealed English’s scoring on a 1-yard run.
Purter returned an interception 28-yards to the end zone and Uzziah Omosefe scored on a 60-yard kick return.
“It’s not so much that you don’t know what English will do,” Winthrop coach Jonathan Cadigan said. “You have to kind of pick your poison. They can run effectively and they can throw effectively, and that’s tough. Chris does a great job there.”
Winthrop quarterback Mikey Chaves (14-of-21, 165 yards) threw two touchdowns to Chris Ferrara (three catches, 42 yards). Ricky Rosado added a 4-yard touchdown rush.
“We’ve had a quarterback carousel the last couple years,” Cadigan said. “Mikey was in our plans at the beginning of the season. He wasn’t quite ready. But he’s starting to really show it. He’s very athletic.”
After a short squib kick, English went to work on the game’s opening drive. Purter put English on the board with a 27-yard touchdown toss from Fowler (Tyler Drinan PAT). Winthrop closed the gap to 7-6 in the closing seconds of the quarter on Ferrara’s 17-yard touchdown catch from Chaves (PAT missed).
Things quickly turned in English’s favor in the second quarter, without its offense stepping onto the field. In an 11-second span, the Bulldogs turned a 7-6 lead into a 21-6 lead. Omosefe returned a squib kick for a 60-yard touchdown and Purter returned an interception 28 yards (Drinan PATs).
“That was a huge play by Uzziah and a huge play by Tahj,” Carroll said. “They were getting those hitches on us at first. Then Tahj stepped right in front of one. Those were two huge plays in the game.”
Ferrara reeled in a 33-yard touchdown toss midway through the period (Juan Sanchez PAT). But the Bulldogs closed the half with Fowler’s 14-yard touchdown scamper (PAT missed) and Jesse Ofurie’s 65-yard touchdown catch (Drinan PAT). The Bulldogs led 34-13 at halftime.
English kept its foot on the gas in the third quarter. Sam Ofurie’s 50-yard touchdown rumble stretched the lead to 41-13 (Drinan PAT). Nolan Mulcahy’s 25-yard interception return set Menter up for a 1-yard touchdown plunge (Drinan PAT), making it a 48-13 lead.
Rosado punched one in from four yards out in the fourth quarter to seal the scoring (Sanchez PAT).
English now enters the Division 3 North state tournament at 5-2.
“The approach is one game at a time, one day at a time,” Carroll said. “I don’t know who we’re playing yet. We’ll figure that out after Saturday. We know we’re going to be on the road. But it is what it is. One game, one day at a time.”
Winthrop, 2-5, still carries a fighting chance in Division 6 North. The postseason pairings will be announced Sunday.
“We have to be 5-5 going into Thanksgiving,” Cadigan said. “It doesn’t matter who we play, where we play. That’s just the message going forward.”
