LYNN ― The Lynn Tech football team brought its hard hats and lunch pails to the game Saturday afternoon, out-muscling visiting South Shore Tech to take home a 28-16 victory on Senior Day at Manning Field.
“This was one of those wins we needed to get, especially coming off of the bye week,” said Tech coach James Runner. “We wanted to come out, play physical football, and be in control. South Shore played a great game and stayed in it the whole way, but we were able to make enough plays in the end.”
The Tigers were led by a four-headed rushing attack in Saturday’s win, with quarterback Ethan Prum leading the way with 110 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Running back Regnar Nival added 84 rushing yards and a touchdown, while running back Domenic Giordano rushed for 50 yards and a touchdown. Running back Gabino Melendez added 53 rushing yards in the win.
“We like to get a lot of different guys touching the ball and really give the opposing team headaches while they figure out who is going to carry it,” said Runner. “All of those guys stepped up when their number was called, and that’s all you can ask for as a coach.”
The Tigers got right to work in this one. After forcing South Shore into a three-and-out to start the game, the Tigers took over at their own 36-yard line and started moving. Eight plays later, Prum highlighted the drive with a 28-yard touchdown run on a quarterback keeper to put Tech up 6-0.
The Tigers were able to add to their lead quickly after that, as Giordano blocked a South Shore punt to set Tech up inside the red zone. It only took three plays ― all rushes from Nival ― for the Tigers to find the end zone again, as he punched one in from five yards out. After Melendez added the two-point conversion, Tech led 14-0 ― a lead that the Tigers took into the halftime break.
At halftime, the Tigers honored their group of 13 seniors ― Giordano, Melendez, Rubens Ceciliens, Brian Darosa, Remy Chiep, Jeremy Paulino, Alejandro Gonzalez, Ben Pojoy, Mario Rivera, Zachary Bowzer, Imanol Gomez, Ben Tartarini and Michael Welch ― for their contributions to the program over the past four years.
“This is a great senior group that provides a lot of leadership for us,” said Runner. “We have a pretty young group as a whole this year, so to have that group of seniors really step up as leaders has been huge for us.”
Tech got the ball to start the second half, and the Tigers went on a marathon nine-play drive that took nearly seven minutes off the game clock. The Tigers made it count, too, as Prum broke through the line and rushed 19 yards for his second score of the game to make it 21-0.
South Shore finally responded with a little more than two minutes left in the third quarter, with quarterback Tyler Richards rushing one in from eight yards out to make it a 21-8 game.
But that didn’t faze the Tigers, who turned right around and drove down the field for another score ― this one a seven-yard scoring run from Giordano ― to make it 28-8.
South Shore made one final reach with about five minutes to play when Richards rushed in his second touchdown of the game and then the Vikings recovered the ensuing onside kick, but Richards then threw an interception to effectively seal the win for the Tigers.
Tech (2-3) plays on the road at Nashoba Tech Friday night (7).
“We know we’re going to have a tough test on our hands Friday night, but a win will go a long way towards our playoff hopes,” said Runner. “We’re going to hit the film room on Monday and start up a new week of work, and then come out and try to execute on Friday.”
