Lexington was going for their third straight win. This was a battle between the old fashioned 3 yards and a cloud of dust from legendary Woburn coach Rocky Nelson and the offense of the new generation. No contest.
LEXINGTON, MA. September 23, 2016
The Lexington High football team extended their unbeaten season to 3-0 last Friday night at home with a convincing 49-21 win over the Woburn Tanners in another solid offensive display.
For the second straight week the visitors won the coin toss and deferred only to watch Lexington march quickly on a 4 play 59 yard drive to put Woburn in an immediate come-from-behind hole where they resided for the rest of the night.
Note to opposing coaches: It’s probably best not to give the Lexington offense extra possessions.
Happy to open the game with the ball, the Minutemen exploded on their very first play with senior running back Ben Quint going off the right side, breaking two tackles in the secondary and rumbling 54 yards to the Woburn 5. Two plays later junior Sal Frelick scored on a quarterback draw up the middle after just 90 seconds of play for a lead the Minutemen would never relinquish.
After forcing a Woburn punt in 3 plays, Lexington launched their second possession, a scoring drive of 11 plays. On 3rd and 8 from the Woburn 25 Quint took a misdirection hand-off 20 yards for a first and goal at the 5 where the Woburn defense stiffened. Tanner senior Tyler Hayden, a 2-way beast all night, stopped Frelick for a 6 yard loss, one of the few times all year that an opponent has been able to corral the slippery Minuteman QB. A penalty then moved the Minutemen 15 yards further in the wrong direction all the way back to the 26 facing 4th down and goal from there.
Frelick, who seems to thrive on 4th and long, found senior receiver Spencer Kendall outrunning the Tanner coverage in the right corner of the end zone to rescue the drive. It was the first of three scoring receptions for Kendall on the night.
Wanting to maintain momentum and keep possession, the Minutemen surprised Woburn and recovered the ensuing on-side kick-off at midfield. From here Lexington launched a 10 play scoring drive that was assisted by a timely encroachment penalty on Woburn which converted another 4th down (and 5) situation on the Tanner 36. At the Tanner 13 Frelick hit Kendall again, this time in the right flat. Kendall did most of the work faking several defenders, weaving back to the middle and into the end zone making it 21-0 in just under 8 minutes of play.
Woburn finally answered with a most unusual 9 play scoring drive. It started with sophomore QB Ryan Qualey connecting with wide out Tyler Parrish on a 33 yard bomb to the Lexington 44. Then they promptly lost all that ground on a snap over Qualey’s head that the quarterback recovered but for a big loss. Then Woburn was flagged for a 15 yard personal foul penalty which put them in an unheard of 1st and 39 situation. On the next play junior running back Kyle Massey-Chorlton got almost all of that lost ground back, breaking off right tackle and down the right sideline all the way back to the Lexington 39. From there it was Hayden up the middle for 2 plays followed by a 28 yard pass from Qualey to Hayden for Woburn’s first score with 2:40 left in the half.
Unfortunately for the Tanners 2:40 was more than enough time for the Minutemen who moved quickly from their own 37 to score in just 7 plays. Frelick kept the drive going on a 3rd and 5 with a 25 yard escape when it looked like the Tanner defense had him trapped in the backfield. The drive ended with Frelick rolling to his left on the Tanner 20, a difficult throw for a right-hander that Frelick seems to make easily, hitting wide out Anthony Bianchi at the 10. Bianchi broke 2 tackles in the remaining 10 yards to the end zone. With the score 28-7 at the half this affair was decided.
Woburn opened the second half with renewed energy marching 69 yards in 6 minutes with Hayden and Massey-Chorlton carrying the load to close the margin to 14. But Lexington, who again scored on 7 of their eight possessions in this game, came right back to score 3 minutes later on a 9 yard Frelick strike to Kendall in the right corner.
Lexington’s final two scores were accomplished in the most spectacular fashion. Quint began the 4th quarter smashing over the right side running through tacklers and cutting back to the middle on his way to a 56 yard touchdown.
Then with 7:01 left Frelick rolled to his left decided to run and continued untouched for 55 yards into the Woburn end zone.
For the game, Frelick was 9 of 18 passing for 117 yards and 4 touchdowns along with 12 rushes for 140 yards and 2 more scores. Quint rushed 13 times for 147 yards and one touchdown. The receivers had big games too: Kendall with 4 receptions for 60 yards and 3 touchdowns and Bianchi with 5 receptions for 57 yards and a score.
Next week the Minutemen will be challenged at Reading on Friday night. The 13th ranked Rockets come into the game with two straight wins and their own high scoring offense.