RallyNorth.net

Fri, Oct 13, 2017 04:00 PM @ Whittier

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Essex Tech	0	7	0	8	15
Whittier	0	20	14	7	41

Bradley accounts for five TDs as Whittier blasts Essex Tech

Friday, October, 13 By By Mac Cerullo

HAVERHILL — Whittier Tech had the game well in hand. The Wildcats were leading by 19 points with under three minutes to play and had driven deep into Essex Tech territory. But after failing to score on 3rd and goal from the 6-yard line, Whittier did something very unusual.

The Wildcats lined up for a field goal.

Going back more than a decade, Whittier Tech has almost never utilized any sort of kicking game, but after an impressive showing in practice, coach Kevin Bradley sent out senior Carl Brown to attempt the 22-yard field goal.

What happened next was even more unusual.

Brown's kick was blocked at the line, but the ball wound up disappearing into a scrum as players from both teams fought to come up with the loose rock. Senior receiver Mark Iamele, who had already caught two touchdown passes in the game, lingered at the back of the pile when suddenly he heard a teammate shouting for him.

"I heard some kid yelling pitch, pitch, pitch," Iamele said. "I saw [Josh] Rousseau's hand come up underneath, and I saw the ball and I grabbed it like 'I'm getting another touchdown!'"

Iamele pulled the ball into the end zone, and just like that Whittier had six points instead of three. Brown came back on to kick a perfect extra point, and Whittier finished off a dominant 41-15 home win over winless Essex Tech.

Iamele scored all three of Whittier's second half touchdowns, but the star of the day on offense was quarterback Kevin Bradley Jr. The senior signal caller accounted for each of the team's first five touchdowns, rushing for a 2-yard score to break the ice before throwing for four more touchdowns the rest of the way.

After the run made it 6-0 early in the second quarter, Bradley made it 12-0 on a 31-yard touchdown pass to Michael McAuliffe. Essex Tech got a 20-yard touchdown from Hunter Lane to Nick Sauvageau late in the half to make things interesting, but then Bradley hit Thomas O'Mahony for a 60-yard bomb on the very next play to make it 20-7 going into halftime.

Whittier scored twice more in the third quarter on 11-yard and 17-yard touchdowns to Iamele, and then in the fourth quarter Essex Tech briefly made things interesting after the team scored on a 4-yard rush by Alec Bolstad and then recovered the subsequent onside kick.

But on the ensuing possession, Whitter's O'Mahony intercepted Essex Tech's Lane, setting up the final clock-killing drive that ended with the strange blocked field goal touchdown sequence.

Whittier (4-2) hosts Northeast next Saturday at 10:30 a.m.