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Greater Lowell Gryphons Football '07

Sat, Oct 27, 2007 10:30 AM @ Whittier
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Greater Lowell 14 0 0 7 21
Whittier 0 6 6 8 20

Kickoff return defeats Whittier

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Sunday, October, 28 By Tim Donovan
Staff writer

HAVERHILL | Greater Lowell slipped past Whittier Tech in a fumble-filled Saturday morning contest. As rain fell steadily, both sides struggled to keep their footing and their hold on the ball. When the final seconds ticked away the Wildcats were on the losing end, 21-20.

"We got ourselves in a hole early on," said Whittier coach Kevin Bradley. "I was very proud when we came out in the second half and played well."

The Wildcats, down 14-6 at halftime, scored the game's next two touchdowns to go ahead 20-14 on thirty-plus yard runs by Tyler Page and Bryan Trickett. Despite the duo's long yardage, the offense was a struggled for most of the game. "On offense, well, in this muck there's not much you can do," lamented Bradley of the large mud puddle at midfield. "You just have to try to get it over to the side to get some footing."

Defensively, the Wildcats were strong with big plays by Jeff Beauregard and Cam Taylor. Beauregard was a backfield presence, sacking Gryphons QB Ricky Sheehan (1 for 8, 2 int) and making passing all but impossible.

Taylor's hard-hitting play was on display when he went head-on with Greater Lowell's big tight-end Joe Dellucci and came out on the winning side, stopping him for no gain. Taylor and Beauregard teamed up to stuff the Gryphon's first drive in the fourth quarter when they pulled down Paul Leakeas for a five yard loss.

But a strong defense wasn't enough and the game-winner came in the form of a 53-yard kick return with 6:23 remaining, just seconds after the Wildcats went ahead. Leakeas scooped up the bouncing kick at the 47 and headed outside, where he broke through the Wildcat tacklers to open field. Whititer's Don Leighton was the last line of defense and managed to bump Leakeas, but the pair or burly blockers knocked him out of the way.

According to Bradley, "The kick return is what got us. I thought that (our touchdown) might have been our chance, but he (Leakeas) did a good job."

"I'm just proud of the way our kids played," Bradley continued. "They played hard. We're a young team. We'll be back."

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