LYNN — The No. 2 St. Mary’s football team came to play Friday night, rolling past No. 6 Medway by a score of 40-14 in a division 6 quarterfinal game at a rain-soaked Manning Field.
“Like a lot of teams I’m sure, we were a little worried about the weather coming into the game but things cleared up just in the nick of time and it was a great night,” said St. Mary’s coach Sean Driscoll. “We got off to a bit of a slow start but then got cooking, and once we started rolling there was no looking back.”
Running back David Brown Jr. once again had a massive game to spark the Spartans, rushing for 168 yards and two touchdowns while also intercepting a pass on defense and returning that for a touchdown. Fellow running back Donovan Clark rushed for 46 yards and two touchdowns, while running back Derick Coulanges rushed for 57 yards. Quarterback Ali Barry completed 3-of-9 passes for 56 yards and a touchdown, while receiver Nick Sacco had one reception for 23 yards and a touchdown.
Medway took the opening kickoff and got right to work, driving 69 yards down the field on the first drive of the game. When Matt Childs rushed one in from seven yards out, the Spartans found themselves behind 7-0 midway through the first quarter.
But after allowing that initial touchdown, the St. Mary’s defense clamped down on Medway — finishing the game with two interceptions, a forced fumble and a defensive touchdown.
“Our defense at times, it doesn’t look like much, especially on opening drives,” said Driscoll. “But once we get settled in we’re a really tough team to move the ball against. We were able to capitalize on some chances, get a couple of pics and a fumble, and even score on the defensive side. That’s a successful night no matter how you slice it.”
And St. Mary’s answered right back on offense. After taking over near midfield, the Spartans went on a marathon 15-play drive that ate up more than eight minutes of game clock. Coulanges and Barry did most of the heavy lifting on the drive, but it was Brown who put it in the end zone when he muscled one in from two yards out. After Michael Anderson’s extra point, the score was tied at 7-7.
After forcing the Mustangs to punt on the ensuing drive, St. Mary’s picked up right where it left off. The Spartans ran six rushing plays to push them to the brink of the red zone, then Barry hooked up with Sacco on a beautiful 23-yard pass-and-catch play in the corner of the end zone to make it a 14-7 St. Mary’s lead late in the second quarter.
After taking that lead into the halftime break, the Spartans came out in the third quarter and started right up again. Coulanges busted a 14-yard run on the opening play and then Barry hit Jack Marks on a 29-yard completion to get inside the 10-yard line. Two plays later, Clark took an end-around handoff and rushed six yards for the score to stretch the lead to 21-7.
A few minutes after that, the Spartans really blew the game open. It started when Brown picked off a Medway pass and raced 54 yards the other way for a score. After a Coulanges interception on the ensuing Medway drive, it only took four plays for Brown to bust a 43-yard touchdown run. The Spartans then forced a Medway fumble, and Clark made the Mustangs pay when he raced 40 yards for his second touchdown of the night to make it 42-7 and turn on the running clock.
Medway scored one final touchdown in the last minute of play, but the game ended and the Spartans were able to celebrate with a Final Four banner.
St. Mary’s (9-1) moves on to the Division 6 semifinal, where the Spartans will face No. 2 Abington next Friday (TBD) at a neutral site.
“I went to see them play (Thursday) night, and they’re a very solid team that always seems to be in the mix for a super bowl in Division 6,” Driscoll said of Abington. “That means that this is going to require our best game of the season, and like I just told the guys, I don’t think we’ve gotten there yet. We’ve shown spurts of playing our best ball, but I think we’ve yet to play our best game and there’s no better time for it next weekend.”
