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Dracut grinds out second-half comeback to beat Hillies

Friday, November, 11 By Chuck Frye
Staff writer

DRACUT — Haverhill’s offense was quite impressive against Dracut last night.

Behind workhorse Chance Brady, the Hillies turned a Blaine Joia interception into a 97-yard drive to the end zone to take the lead at halftime. On a sharp 25-yard pass from Tommy Morgan to Joia, Haverhill scored on the last play of the game. And in between, a pair of 60-yard marches yielded nine more points.

But when two-way standout Taylor Sullivan left the game with four minutes left in the first half, the Hillie defense became susceptible to the ground game and the Middies took full advantage. Combined with prime real estate, Dracut found the end zone on its last three possessions, surging for a 27-21 victory.

After attempting 10 passes in the first half, the Middies just needed to throw twice the rest of the way.

Field position played a key role in that as Dracut’s worst starting spot on its scoring drives was its own 44-yard line, set up by strong kick returns as well as a partially blocked punt.

Quarterbacks Jimmy Ryan (63 rushing yards in the second half) and Dante Torres (38 yards, touchdown) joined with Leo Lakmany (45 of his 61 yards in the final 22 minutes, TD) to make the short fields rewarding.

Add on a 21-yard fourth-quarter Ryan-to-Torres toss that put the Middies on top to stay and the comeback was complete.

“They definitely wanted it a little more than us coming out of halftime,” said Hillie head coach Tim O’Connor. “Dracut is big up front, well-coached and disciplined. They took advantage of our lack of depth at linebacker.”

That depth issue was exposed when linebacker/tight end Sullivan went out due to an apparently serious left leg injury. He was taken from the field on a stretcher at halftime.

“When Sully went out, it hurt us inside on defense,” O’Connor said. “We got young really fast. And Eric Freitas stepped in and did play well, but it hurt a little bit not having Sully on offense because it made us made us a little more predictable. When we’re not balanced, we’re predictable.”

With the production of Brady (133 yards, two TDs) and Morgan (171 passing yards, TD), offense wasn’t an issue until there was seven minutes left in the game.

Trailing 14-12 with first-down at the Dracut 2, linebacker Matt Ferrazzani and defensive back Torres stuffed three straight Brady runs for no gain, forcing a 20-yard Gideon Schena field goal that gave the Hillies a one-point lead but the Middies tons of momentum as they scored on their next two drives to lock up the victory.