LYNN — When your game plan calls for an active passing attack, and you only end up putting the ball in the air three times for net zero yards, you can surmise that Saturday afternoon’s rain that fell on Manning Field was pretty significant.
“Yeah,” said Classical football coach Brian Vaughan after the Rams’ 14-0 win over Revere. “We figured we’d be throwing the ball quite a bit to (John Nasky) today. Obviously, the rain affected that.”
Revere coach Lou Cicatelli had the same post-game explanation for some of the Patriots’ miscues.
“Wet ball,” said Cicatelli, talking about the fumble on the Classical 1-yard line that killed a promising 11-play, 79-yard drive in the second quarter. “Too many mistakes, fumbles, interceptions, bad plays … What can I say? We’re young. Our kids don’t know a lot about football. We had a lot to learn.”
For a while, it looked as if nobody wanted to score.
“I have to tell you, for a while, it was getting to the point where I was really starting to worry,” said Vaughan, summoning up memories of years past, where the Rams and Patriots always seemed to see their games end in overtime. “Rainy, sloppy game like this – the last thing you want to see is overtime.”
How sloppy?
Put it this way. Both teams moved the ball. Classical’s R.J. Faessler ran for 130 yards on 17 carries and scored a touchdown. The Rams totaled 243 total yards. Yet they only scored 14 points. Revere didn’t attempt a single pass until late in the fourth quarter when the Patriots were forced to. None of them were completed.
Revere’s first drive, which started on its own 20, ended with a fumble on the 1-yard line. That came after Classical got as far as the Patriot 13 before being pushed backward.
“That’s one thing I can say,” Cicatelli said. “Our defense played well.”
Each team got deep in its opponent’s end one more time in the second quarter before the Rams finally found the end zone. With 1:58 left in the third quarter, and after a failed fake punt by Revere set up the Rams on the Patriot 11, quarterback Brian Vaughan Jr. managed an 11-yard keeper up the middle. Thomas Nolan ran in the 2-point conversion attempt to make it 8-0, Rams.
Revere fumbled on its next possession, giving Classical first down at the Patriot 45. Seven plays later, it was Faessler rumbling for 31 yards and the touchdown to make it 14-0.
Revere will play Malden next week. Classical, 5-2, has a tall order on its hands as the Rams travel to Everett with the Greater Boston League championship at stake.
