HAVERHILL— Yesterday's game at Trinity Stadium turned into a "Throwback Thursday" kind of Thanksgiving.
And what worked well for Haverhill in the first half worked out even better for Lowell in the second as the Red Raiders closed the season with a 9-7 victory. It was a far different outcome compared to the previous two seasons when Haverhill outscored their rival by a combined 99-64.
In this era of spread offenses, both teams extensively relied on the ground game. The Hillies (1-4 MVC, 3-8 overall) rode the rush while controlling the opening half and taking a 7-0 lead. But Lowell (3-2, 5-5) used the same philosophy in the final 22 minutes to eke out the win.
Haverhill ran 33 plays in the first half – 24 more than Lowell – and outgained the Red Raiders 144 yards to 25 while picking up nine first downs to Lowell’s one.
“Our game plan was to just run double-tight (end), double-wing,” Haverhill coach Tim O’Connor said. “We tricked them early on with some Wing-T stuff which we don’t usually run. But they adjusted well to it.”
Kyle Bellemore provided the Hillies a lead with a 9-yard run midway through the first period, while Sergio Martinez’ kick made the score 7-0. It capped a 25-yard drive that was set up when Colum O’Brien recovered a muffed punt return following Haverhill’s game-opening drive.
“We felt good with the lead going in (to intermission),” said Bellemore, a senior tri-captain. “We would’ve liked to have scored more points, but our defense was playing well.”
Lowell, however, took command on the second half kickoff, going 63 yards on 12 plays. And although the Hillie defense limited the Red Raiders to a 22-yard field goal by Michael Menezes, the momentum obviously had shifted.
“Our Achilles' heel all year has been (stopping) the inside run game,” O’Connor said. “And they exploited it to their benefit. ... We fought hard, but in the end they were just a little bit bigger and tougher than us up front.”
The Red Raiders closed out the game’s scoring on their ensuing possession, which lasted more than 6 minutes and covered 58 yards. Anthony Duong did the honors from 3 yards out. Duong, who was held to negative 2 yards on three first-half carries, carried the ball on 29 of Lowell’s 41 second-half plays. Haverhill, meanwhile, was limited to 16 plays after intermission.
“We started to get beat up front,” Bellemore said.
Despite the loss and wrapping up a disappointing season, the Hillies, who returned zero starters from the 2016 championship team, should be optimistic about next year.
“There were only two seniors (starting) out there,” O’Connor said. “I’m proud of the kids, proud of the youth. The future does look bright. (The record) is not what we’re used to the past five, six years here, but I can assure you it will be different next year with 20 coming back.”
Even Bellemore was able to smile, thinking of what he’s leaving behind.
“I wish I could (have another year),” he said. “They’re a great group of kids who have practiced hard all year. Hopefully, next year will be a good one.”
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Football, 11/23/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
CAMBRIDGE - As David Carreiro burst through the heart of the
Cambridge Rindge and Latin defense, he looked over his right shoulder
and then his left, seemingly aghast that nobody was hitting him.
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Football, 11/09/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
HAVERHILL - On a night of wild, long-yardage scoring plays that
Peabody and Haverhill kept trading off, it seemed reasonable to think
that some unorthodox play would finally decide the game.
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Football, 11/03/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
HAVERHILL - All Kyle Bellemore wants to do is win, and for the past two weeks that's exactly what his Haverhill team has done.
Saturday
afternoon, the senior tri-captain anchored a Hillie defense that
completely swallowed up winless Malden, overcoming some offensive woes
in the first half to take a 21-0 victory.
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Football, 10/28/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LAWRENCE — Haverhill captain Kyle Bellemore got a nice surprise and, partly because of it, a nice reward Friday night.
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Football, 10/20/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
ANDOVER — After giving up 114 points while losing twice the previous two weeks, Andover was looking to get back on track last night at homecoming.
Despite squandering much of a 23-point lead built over first three quarters, the Golden Warriors regained some confidence with Friday's 43-26 victory over Haverhill.
"This was great," said Cedric Gillette, who was a big factor in Andover building a 37-14 lead. "The last two weeks have been heartbreakers. We were really disappointed after them. But this one felt great getting an early lead and get a win. These kind of games will give us some confidence."
Gillette ignited Andover (3-3) with a 26-yard scoring pass from Nick Dellatto to begin the night's scoring before returning a kickoff 82 yards that answered a Hillie score.
"I just wanted to make sure we came out and get a good start to get an early lead," Gillette said. "I had one (return) down to the 5 last year against Everett but some kid caught me. So, yeah, that was nice. I made one move and saw a hole and just hit. But yeah, that's my first one."
Andover used Dellatto scoring tosses of 3 yards to Joshua Ramos and 29 yards to Gillette in addition to a 22-yard Shamus Florio field goal to offset David Carreiro's second long touchdown run for a 31-14 advantage at intermission.
"The first half was great," Golden Warrior coach EJ Perry said. "The offense got in sync and scored on the first drive. That's been a big thing. Then the defense stepped up. When we got up (by 17) that was a big thing."
Carreiro did his best to keep the winless Hillies close with three long touchdown runs. The first was from 74 yards out midway through first followed by a 57-yarder in the second that cut Andover's lead to 21-14. Carreiro finished his 236-yard night with an 84-yard blast early in the third.
"Down near the end, we were playing everybody," Perry said. "But we just can't rest like that. Next week, we have to be ready to go full throttle."
Haverhill entered the game averaging 1.85 yards per carry but with Carreiro leading the way, the Hillies finished with 307 yards — 32 yards more than they totaled the first five weeks combined.
"We've struggled mightily the first five games," Haverhill coach Tim O'Connor said. "We decided after the last game to go back to our roots and run the wing (offense). We showed a lot of offensive progress and some young guys stepped up and grew up tonight. But we still have some warts on defense that we need to fix quickly."
Andover, which plays rival Central Catholic next week, picked up touchdown runs of 1 yard by Tommy Duncan to start the second half and 30 yards by Ramos on the game's final play.
Dellatto finished another solid outing with 263 yards to nine different receivers on 23-of-29 passing. He has thrown for 915 yards the past three games. Gillette, who is averaging 7.8 receptions a game, hauled in eight catches for 133 yards.
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Football, 10/13/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LAWRENCE — It was a short day at the office for Max Faro and his fellow Central Catholic starters.
Faro and Co. spent the second half of Saturday’s 41-7 win over Haverhill on the sidelines as spectators, cheering on the stream of reserves that shuttled onto the field.
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Football, 10/07/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
HAVERHILL - Methuen knows that there are no moral victories in football.
The Rangers played well enough to win their last two games against powerhouses Tewksbury and Central Catholic, but came up short.
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Football, 10/02/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Newedit won't load, I think because the internet here is so bad. Here's my story with bo at the bottom.
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WESTFORD — Haverhill's roster is loaded with sophomores and juniors, but head coach Tim O'Connor says that can't be an excuse.
Friday night, the Hillies' youth showed late as they let a win slip from their fingertips. Westford (1-2) scored with 43 seconds remaining for a 20-16 win.
"We're making mental mistakes," O'Connor said. "I thought we came out and we made some great adjustments to start the second half, but we're just making mental mistakes and we can't be doing that.
"We've always been a tough football team and we've always tackled well, but that's not happening right now. We're trying to stick everyone and that's not what we work on in practice."
After Haverhill took the lead on a Kyle Bellemore 1-yard run with 5:40 left in the fourth quarter, Westford got the ball back and methodically moved it down field
After nine runs brought up 4th and 6 with 43 seconds left and the ball spotted at the Haverhill 21-yard line, Trevor Faretra dropped back and found Scott Beattie in the corner of the end zone. It was 20-16 Gray Ghosts following the extra point.
"It never should have gotten that far," O'Connor said. "It should have ended a lot earlier than that but we weren't tackling well and we were making mental mistakes."
Faretra ran for 202 yards on 34 carries.
After going scoreless through two games, the Hillies (0-3) did find their offense.
On the opening drive of the second half, the Hillies, who trailed 7-0, marched the ball 57 yards on six plays to score their first points of the season on a 9-yard sweep to the left side by David Carreiro.
After a false start penalty moved the extra point back five yards, Nicholas Skafas was set to hold on the kick but he instead ran the ball in for the 2-point conversion, giving the Hillies the 8-7 lead.
After Haverhill scored, Westford went 66 yards on 12 plays to re-take the lead. Faretra scored on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 13-8 after failing to convert on the 2-point conversion.
Haverhill had a touchdown from Carreiro called back for an illegal block in the back after he ran the ball 65 yards down the left sideline.
The Hillies were then plagued by penalties, getting whistled for a false start on the very next play to move the ball back to the 25. Two plays later, Haverhill was again whistled for a false start to move the ball back to the 27.
Two plays later, Skafas found Bellemore in the backfield and he scampered to the five, but the play was moved back 10 yards on a holding penalty.
Not to be denied, however, Skafas completed a 33-yard fade to Dante Cadeus on 3rd and 24 to put the Hillies at the 1-yard line with 6:25 to go, trailing by five.
Bellemore would push through the pile two plays later to give Haverhill the lead back with 5:40 left; Skafas would roll right on the two-point conversion and hit the end zone to make the score 16-13.
"It was good to see our offense not give up and get the ball in there," O'Connor said. "Our offense is coming around, that's good to see, but losing the game in the final seconds like that is going to sting. We need to be a tougher football team."
Haverhill hosts Methuen Saturday at 2 p.m.
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Football, 09/22/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
HAVERHILL — Brian St. Pierre wasn’t sure what to expect.
So the St. John’s Prep head coach was pleasantly surprised when his young and inexperienced team opened their season with a solid effort in a 27-0 victory over host Haverhill Saturday afternoon.
“I’m proud of the effort,” said St. Pierre. “Our youth showed on offense, but the defense was very good. We were hard to block, which is always a positive.
“I know we’re going to have growing pains, but I’m proud of our competitiveness,” added St. Pierre. “It’s always good to start the season off with a win.”
The closest the Hillies came to getting on the board was on their opening drive, when they marched to the 2-yard line before quarterback Brady Skafas was sacked by Matt Duchemin on fourth down. Skafas, who carried the ball 20 times, had eight runs for negative yardage because of the pressure from the Eagles’ swarming defense all game.
The Eagles got on the board midway through the second quarter on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Mike Yarin to Cole Rinklin, who caught the ball at the 5-yard line and dove into the end zone. Junior tailback Aise Pream rushed for the 2-point conversion and an 8-0 Prep lead.
St. John’s fumbled three times and lost two, but each time the defense dug in to stop Haverhill from mounting a drive.
James Hanley’s QB sack pinned the Hillies back and forced a punt to set up the visitor’s next score. Yarin moved the team 76 yards in seven plays, barreling in on a 1-yard keeper in the final minute of the half.
“Our offensive line is really young and they did a good job,” said St. Pierre. “We didn’t do anything fancy, but tried to execute. It wasn’t always perfect but we got better as the game wore on.”
Tim O’Connor, the Haverhill head coach and St. John’s Prep graduate, felt his team was very much in the game until the Eagles’ third touchdown with four minutes left int eh fourth quarter. That came when Yarin’s fourth down pass was deflected before Michael Slattery came down with it between two Hillie defenders for a 5-yard score and a 21-0 lead.
That was the killer,” said O’Connor. “It was on fourth down and that ball was up for grabs.
“I want to play the Preps of the world. It’s good for our program, but I knew what I call ‘The Prep Lean’ was coming. They had the size and used it, while we had some injuries and had to shift the pieces around.”
St. John’s Prep defenders Alex Lane, Cullen Zampell, Hanley, James Taylor, William Moulton and a host of others disrupted Haverhill’s running game.
Trent Tully broke tackles for a 6-yard run to pay dirt for the final Prep score.
In all, the Eagles had 14 first downs while holding their opponent to six, including only two after intermission.
“Across the board, team defense was the key,” said St. Pierre. “All 11 of our guys, and even the ones we subbed in, played well.”
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Football, 09/09/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
