LYNN– Thanksgiving dinner will taste a little sweeter for the Classical football team.
The Rams came hungry to play in the 106th edition of their Turkey Day battle with rival English and pulled away for a 22-9 win at Manning Field behind a second-half surge.
“Overall I’m just really happy for the seniors,” Classical coach Brian Vaughan said. “At the end of the day, it’s about them. This is their team. I’m so happy for them. I’m so happy about the players they’ve become over the years. I’m so happy with how they played (Thursday). They stepped up against a really good team.”
With heavy downpours, Classical struggled to move the chains in the first half. The Rams, up 7-2 at halftime, turned to their ground game and defense in the second half. Both units were ready for the challenge.
“The conditions hurt us a little bit,” Vaughan said. “Both offenses are explosive. Both teams have explosive kids capable of big plays. The weather took that away from both teams. We just tried to deal with the elements and run the ball a little bit. It worked in our favor.”
Quarterback Daniel Gisonno drove both elements of Classical’s offense. Gisonno ran for 110 yards on 21 carries and completed 3-of-10 pass attempts for 50 yards and one touchdown. Jeff Hill, on the receiving end of Gisonno’s touchdown toss, caught two passes for 39 yards. Kalvin So recorded 74 rushing yards.
Bulldogs quarterback Jessie Maggs, a sophomore, found Jessie Ofurie on a 6-yard pass for English’s lone touchdown.
It was a tale of missed opportunities for the Bulldogs, who led 2-0 midway at the start of the second quarter via safety.
“We got outplayed,” English coach Chris Carroll said. “They were tougher than us, especially up front. We didn’t make plays when we had chances to make plays. When you don’t make plays and you don’t run the football, you won’t succeed. Our inability to run the football was a big reason for the outcome.”
Tahj Purter returned the opening kick 75 yards to Classical’s 5-yard line, giving the Bulldogs a golden opportunity from the start. Classical stuffed English on three consecutive runs and Andy De Leon recovered a fumble at his own 2 to squash the threat.
English took a 2-0 lead in the second quarter, when Anthony Timmons and Ray Contreras sacked Gisonno in his end zone. Making the most of a short field, Classical swayed momentum in its favor with 7.7 seconds left in the half on Gisonno’s 9-yard touchdown strike to Hill (Kyle Durant PAT).
“That was huge,” Vaughan said. “I think the game goes completely differently if we don’t get that. Games are all about gaining and losing momentum. I think that gave us momentum. It definitely helped.”
Defense led to offense for Classical in the third quarter. After English stopped Classical short on a fake punt, Dow intercepted Maggs at Classical’s 25 and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown (Durant conversion rush). Maurice Sequeira followed with another interception a minute later, setting the stage for So to rumble in a score from 14 yards out (Durant PAT).
Classical led 22-2 heading into the fourth quarter.
“All year we’ve been able to run the football and not turn the ball over,” Carroll said. “We were uncharacteristically sloppy with the football and we couldn’t run it. Credit to them. Their defensive line did a great job, especially Kevin Paniaqua. But we’ll learn from it.”
Maggs’ (10-of-17, 70 passing yards) 6-yard touchdown throw to Ofurie closed the gap to 22-9 (Tyler Drinan PAT) with 10:05 remaining. Dow’s interception at Classical’s 42 with 4:07 to go allowed the Rams to burn the remaining clock with a string of carries from Gisonno, So and Nico Galeazzi.
“At the end of the day we had to make more plays,” Carroll said. “They made more plays when they had to.”
Classical finishes the season at 7-4.
“I’m just happy for the seniors to go out with three winning seasons in a row,” Vaughan said. “They got to see what their hard work accomplishes.”
English wraps up at 6-5. The Bulldogs, who graduate six seniors, have a bright future ahead with the majority of the team returning in 2020.
“I’m proud of the way our kids played all year,” Carroll said. “We had one senior starter so we return a lot of guys. I’m proud but we have to get better as a program moving forward.”
