In which a gallant bunch of teenaged football players, and the Storyguy among many others, are reminded that life isn't always "fair."
ANDOVER UPSETS LEXINGTON IN OVERTIME; ENDS MINUTEMAN PLAYOFF HOPES
LEXINGTON, MA. October 28, 2016. Mudville. For the second consecutive week that’s what the Harold Crumb Field looked like, but by the end of last Friday night’s game there was certainly no joy there as the visitors from Andover dramatically spoiled Lexington’s perfect season and their play-off hopes 54-48 in overtime.
It was an unexpected and ironic end for the Minutemen.
With the score tied at 48 Andover scored on the first possession of overtime, but Lexington junior James Lane foiled their two-point conversion attempt. Down by only 6, and the ball in junior quarterback Sal Frelick’s capable hands, the Minuteman faithful had to like their chances.
On second and goal from the 6 Frelick rolled to his right but was hemmed in by the Eagle defense. Countless times this season the slippery Frelick had escaped many of these kinds of traps by reversing his field and turning disaster into huge gains. There was no reason to believe he wouldn’t do it again. But this time, just as he was about to escape, Frelick slipped in the mud and went down at the 21-yard line without an Andover hand touching him, and down with him went Lexington’s unbeaten streak and play-off dreams.
A turning point in this game went unseen by most of the full house in attendance except those who saw Frelick limping on the sideline toward the end of the first half then taken to the locker room at half time on the trainer’s golf cart having reinjured his lower back in a pile up. Coach George Peterson called him “severely limited” in the second half and added, “We tried to keep him out of harms way as much as we could.”
Still, Lexington had one last chance, an unlikely fourth and goal from the 26. Frelick looked for towering senior wide-out Spencer Kendall in, of course, the right corner of the end zone. Amazingly Kendall was open. The Andover defender, beaten on the route, ran straight at Kendall, his back turned to the ball and rammed the receiver, it appeared, before the ball arrived. But there was no flag in Mudville on this night, and the Andover victory was preserved.
“This was a tough pill to swallow,” Peterson reflected. “We had so much going for us. We felt in control, but we just weren’t able to continue what we were doing so well in the first half into the second.”
There were many sub-plots in this game, the most interesting being the battle between two outstanding quarterbacks, both of whom are BC commits; Frelick for baseball and Andover’s senior EJ Perry IV for football. And what a duel it was.
Perry was brilliant figuring in all 8 Andover touchdowns; running for 3 and passing for 5 along with several third down conversions. Frelick sparkled as well with touchdown runs of 47 and 14 yards and passes for three more scores, but only one of these successes came after his first half injury.
And there was Andover itself, an underestimated club with a seemingly lackluster 3-4 record coming into the game a full 5 seeds below Lexington. But Andover plays one of the toughest schedules in the state, and Peterson would have none of the “underestimated” talk.
“We knew we’d be in for a tough game because of who they are. They’ve got a kid (Perry IV) going division 1 on a full scholarship at the key position. They have good receivers. They’re bigger than we are from a physical standpoint, so our kids were definitely not overconfident coming in.”
And then there were the flags. “We really haven’t been penalized all year,” Peterson said. “We’ve been very disciplined in what we do. The penalties really hurt us.”
On three separate Andover drives, Lexington was flagged for penalties that kept the drives alive. On each of those drives the Eagles scored.
The last of these was particularly important. With the score tied at 42 in the closing minutes of the 3rd quarter, Perry appeared to be sacked for a 10-yard loss on third and 10 at the Lexington 35. Instead Lexington was called for a facemask penalty resulting in an Andover first down. Four plays later they scored to jump into the lead 48-42.
The game opened in typical Lexington fashion as Frelick broke up the middle, cut to the left sideline then veered sharply back to the middle outrunning everyone on a 47 yard touchdown gallop just 45 seconds in.
Perry answered 2 plays later with an 85-yard strike to his fleet wide out Cedric Gillette. It was the first of Gillette’s 3 long touchdown receptions.
The very next drive saw the Minutemen score on 7 plays in 2:07 with junior running back Ben Quint rumbling in from 7 yards out.
It appeared that whichever team could muster a defensive stop would have an important advantage, and on Andover’s next possession Quint made a diving interception of a tipped Perry pass to give the Minutemen a huge opportunity at the Andover 37.
The Minutemen capitalized on the turnover with the still healthy Frelic darting and dodging tacklers around the left side on his way to a 14 yard touchdown to put Lexington up by two scores 22-8.
A scoring free-for-all ensued with the teams combining for 6, yes 6, more touchdowns, 3 each, all in the second quarter. But at the break Lexington had maintained their two score margin 42-29 thanks to Frelick arching a 31 yard pass to senior Spencer Kendall on a post pattern with 30 seconds left in the half.
Despite the lead Minuteman fans had reason for concern as Frelick left for the locker room in the trainers cart. That concern was well founded as Lexington, after scoring those 42 first half points, their biggest half in a high scoring season, scored but 6 in the second.
Meanwhile Perry and Gillette went immediately to work in the second half, and the Eagles scored 3 straight touchdowns to take the lead at 48-42 with 30 seconds left in the third.
Frelick’s 47-yard pass to Quint at the 7- minute mark in the fourth quarter tied the score. A high snap led to a failed extra point try that proved to be critical and set the stage for the fateful overtime.
Even though the playoffs are over for the Minutemen, the season is certainly not. Tomorrow night they go on the road to play a Lowell High School team that Peterson says, “has nothing to lose.”
As for the Minutemen he declared, “We’ve got to pick up the pieces, rally ourselves and understand that our next goal is to finish our season at 10-1 and have the second best record in school history. We’ll be looking forward to that challenge.”