MINUTEMEN ESCAPE FROM CONCORD 31-26
The explosion that is Lexington High School quarterback Sal Frelick went off again last Friday night as the Minuteman football team escaped from Concord with a 31-26 win over the Concord-Carlisle Patriots.
Frelick amassed just under 400 yards of total offense with 162 yards and one touchdown on the ground and 222 yards passing on 18 of 28 for three more scores.
With the score tied at 14 midway through the third quarter, Coach George Peterson called what must be his favorite play, a quarterback draw, which Frelick executes perfectly. The senior co-captain faked a pass, waited for the hole to open in front of him and emerged into the CC secondary. It appeared that two Patriot linebackers and both safeties had a shot, but Frelick’s quick acceleration is shocking and 74 yards later the Minutemen had the lead at 21-14.
A 33-yard field goal by the dependable junior Duncan Hewitt built the lead to 24-14.
Then with 6:10 left in the game, Lexington faced a third and goal from the CC 5-yard line. At his most dangerous when the play breaks down, Frelick was forced out of the pocket, scrambled to his right and just before going out of bounds found senior end Noah Monzillo in the back corner of the end zone. Hewitt’s extra point brought the Minuteman lead to 31-14, a seemingly safe margin with just 6 minutes left.
Not so fast. Reminiscent of Brockton’s fourth quarter against Lexington last week, the Patriots would not go quietly and behind senior quarterback Jack Easterday and two solid running backs, senior Robert Doherty and sophomore Christian Gemelli, mounted a furious comeback.
Easterday started the late game drama with a 20-yard touchdown pass over the middle to a crossing senior receiver Trevor Hoffman to make it 31-21 with 2:14 left. The drive was saved a few plays earlier by Doherty who delivered a brilliant 13-yard scamper on fourth and 10 from the Lexington 39.
Then the game turned bizarre as CC executed not one but two onside kicks and recovered them both. The first resulted in Patriot possession at the Lexington 32. Four plays later Gemelli burst up the middle for 8 yards to bring the Patriots within five31 -26. Lexington stopped the two-point conversion try.
Incredibly, CC’s second onside kick in less than a minute of play worked again, and the Patriots took possession at the 50 with plenty of time left, 1:30.
With the outcome now totally in doubt and their backs to the wall, the Minuteman defense answered the call. First, senior defensive end Sean Sullivan sacked Easterday for a 6-yard loss. On the next play junior Matt Pusatere blitzed from his free safety position to throw Easterday back 5 more yards forcing the Patriots to use their last time out with just 29 seconds left and facing a deep third and 22 hole.
The game ended with Easterday launching a 50-yard prayer that was knocked to the ground at the goal line by a host of Minutemen.
“We were so lucky to get out of here with a win,” said a relieved coach Peterson, and added, “We’ll be doing some work on onside kicks this week. It’s hard to believe that the season’s just 2 games old and we’re 0 for 3 on onside kicks.”
Junior Tony Bianchi had another big game snagging nine Frelick throws for 144 yards and the first Minuteman touchdown.
Senior co-captain Ben Quint scored Lexington’s other touchdown on a pass from Frelick with only 6 seconds left in the first half to bring the Minuteman even at 14. It capped an impressive, 9 play drive that covered 74 yards in just 1:54. Frelick was Brady-esque on the drive completing 6 of 8 throws for 72 of the 74 yards while managing the clock to perfection.
Friday night the Minutemen open league play hosting Reading at 7.
Peterson said “We have a target on our backs after winning the league title last year, and we’ve got to start defending it against one of the toughest opponents we’ll see all year. They’re a great team. Very tough and one of the best-coached teams in Massachusetts. We’re looking forward to it.”