RallyNorth.net

Close but no cigar as Hillies fall to Triton

Friday, September, 16 By Chuck Frye
Staff writer

HAVERHILL — Games involving two teams playing phrenetic, spread offenses are a lot like riding the most extreme roller-coasters in the world ­— the action is so rapid that it’s hard to keep up with it all.

Triton and Haverhill managed to take this to its extreme last night, displaying offensive fireworks brighter than the 4th of July. Burning up the Trinity Stadium turf, the two teams combined to score on six of its first eight possessions and finished with 694 yards of total offense.

But on any productive night, it’s usually a huge defensive play that determines the outcome.

Hillie running back Chance Brady was virtually unstoppable as he turned 36 carries into 301 yards and four touchdowns, the last coming on a scintillating 29-yard display of moves and muscle that finished in the end zone with 4:21 left in the game.

Trailing the Vikings by a point, the junior’s number was called again on the 2-point conversion, however senior defensive tackle Chris Sheldon would have none of that. Sheldon submarined the offensive line and tripped up Brady at the 3 to preserve Triton’s 28-27 victory, snapping its own 12-game losing streak in the process.

“We’ve worked hard the past two years, and every game we’ve played has been close,.” said quarterback Blaise Whitman, Triton’s offensive hero with 200 yards and three touchdowns passing and a team-high 88 rushing yards. “We knew we had to stay together and stay positive.

“This summer, we worked on becoming a team. We knew if we stayed together, that when these close ones came down to the end, we’d be able to pull out the ‘W’.”

Whitman did his part, finding senior wideout Matt Hill (seven catches for 115 yards) on a pair of sideline patterns that turned into touchdowns of 46 and 31 yards.

Those scores bookended a 1-yard TD trot by Derek Paquette (78 rushing yards) set up by a Haverhill turnover.

The Hillies persevered behind the blocking of guards Stas Firek and Ryan Filliger and center Dan Burrows, clearing copious amounts of space for Brady to work with. Despite missing four starters including seniors Connor Tufts and Aaron Moisan and losing lineman Will Haskell to a hyperextended elbow early, Haverhill battled back from a pair of 14-point deficits to draw even with 5:48 left in the first half on Brady’s 5-yard TD run.

“I’m extremely proud of our boys,” said Hillie head coach Tim O’Connor. “We competed to the end and I couldn’t ask for more.”

Triton caught a break with 1:42 left in the half when a Whitman pass ricocheted off well-defended receiver Dominic Rovetto’s shoulder pad and into the arms of teammate Ryan Clark for a 24-yard touchdown. Ryan Clay’s fourth PAT kick gave the Vikings a 28-21 lead.

In a bend-but-not-break second half, both teams punched the ball well into enemy territory with nothing to show for it until Brady went to work.

Starting at his own 16 yard line with 8:44 left in the game, Brady got the call on 10 straight plays running strictly between the tackles. Averaging a workmanlike six yards per carry on the first nine plays, Brady capped the dominant drive with his 29-yard foray to the end zone, drawing Haverhill tantalizingly close but, with Sheldon’s stop, still on the short end of the score.

“We have to get mentally tougher,” O’Connor said. “Triton played an excellent game, but we shot ourselves in the foot and we have no one to blame but ourselves.

“We had missed opportunities throwing the ball (Haverhill was 5 of 20 for just 49 yards through the air) and we had fumbled snaps on the quarterback-center exchange, one that Triton turned into a touchdown. We made too many mistakes and Triton came to play. They played very well.”

And perhaps to emphasize that his Hillies need to improve, when asked if this was his offensive line’s most effective effort so far, O’Connor said, “No. Effective line play would have put the 2-point conversion in.”