BIANCHI RESCUES LEX IN FOOTBALL HOME OPENER
By James Baldwin
Lexington, MA. 9/15/18. In what came down to a battle between two smart, athletic quarterbacks, Lexington’s Tony Bianchi, prevailed over Concord-Carlisle’s Christian Gemelli diving into the end zone for his fourth touchdown with just ten seconds left to secure a dramatic 26-20 Minuteman victory last Friday night at Harold Crumb Field.
In a typically tough Battle Road contest, the Patriots from Concord had fought back from a 20 – 6 deficit behind their junior quarterback, Gemilli, who slipped a perfect pass through traffic into the right corner of the end zone to junior receiver Max Easterday, tying the score at 20 with 3:45 left.
Unfortunately, he left too much clock for the Minutemen and Bianchi.
What Bianchi did in the last three minutes was the stuff of legend.
The senior co-captain saved the Minuteman 13-play drive three times in third and long situations, but these were just a prelude to his final five -yard, not-to-be-denied, game winning sweep into the end zone.
With third and five at the Minuteman 40 he moved the pile straight up the middle barely reaching the first down marker.
After an illegal block moved Lexington backwards, they faced third and eight from their own 42 with just over a minute left. Bianchi dropped back to pass, saw an opening and scrambled instead for 22 yards and a first down at the C-C 36.
“That was just a great play,” coach George Peterson reflected. “Tony was able to get outside the pocket and make that play because he’s just a great athlete.”
Two plays later—again on third and eight, this time from the Patriot 16—with just 29 ticks left, Peterson dug deep into his thick play-book, and Bianchi and sophomore receiver Mason Hatfield executed a perfect back door screen. Bianchi, rolled right drawing most of the Patriot defense with him, stopped and threw a laser back against the grain to an open Hatfield in the left flat. The sophomore gathered it in, turned toward the goal line evading multiple tacklers and was finally corralled at the C-C five setting up Bianchi’s last second heroics.
“Yeah, that’s a play we like,” Bianchi said. “Honestly, it hadn’t been working so well before tonight, but in that situation it was a perfect time to hit it, and we did.”
The game had appeared to be secure after Bianchi scored on 9-yard delay up the middle and hit Hatfield for two more on the extra point to put Lexington up 20-6 with only 2:30 left in the third.
But the resilient Patriots answered with a 15 play, 77-yard drive. Gemelli accounted for 40 of the yards including the final two and added the extra point to bring his team within a score at 20 – 14.
Then ghosts from last year’s game appeared.
C-C had effectively used two consecutive, successful on-sides kicks to almost steal last year’s game. Surely C-C would try another one this year in this situation, down one score with six minutes left. Lexington anticipated it bringing two rows of five and four players up close to midfield and leaving two returners deep.
But Gemelli, (who else?) gently lofted a perfect lob wedge into the vacant space on the left sideline around Lexington’s 30. Naturally, C-C covered it, setting up their game tying score and Bianchi’s dramatics that followed.
“Yeah, that whole situation brought back memories of last year,” Peterson admitted. “They’re just a very resilient group, a very tough team. They don’t wear down. They’re physical. It’s just one of those things. Every year when we play them, it’s a grind. Big time.”
Gemelli finished the night with 96 yards rushing on 20 carries and one touchdown, threw for two more scores, kicked off, punted, kicked the extra points and drove the team bus back to Concord.
But Bianchi, who ran for 125 yards on 19 carries and scored all four Minuteman touchdowns, was his equal and more coming through for the Minutemen virtually every time they needed him.
“My guys come out here and work so hard every day. Last week was very upsetting for us (a loss at Brockton). We thought we were ready but we weren’t,” Bianchi said. “But we came out here tonight ready to play. I’m just so glad I could get it done for them.”
Lexington’s defense was critical to the win as well. Senior free safety Gabe Van Emon recovered a bad snap on a C-C punt at the visitor’s 30, leading to Lexington’s first score.
Senior co-captain Luke Butler and senior defenders Mesay Merseth, Johnny Bachman and Matt Pusatere harassed Gemelli all evening. The game ended fittingly with a Merseth sack of Gemelli as the C-C quarterback attempted to launch a last ditch Hail Mary with no time left.
Peterson summarized the evening saying, “It was a big win for us. Any time we can beat Concord, we’re really happy. They’re always a quality opponent for us.”
It doesn’t get any easier for the Minutemen next week, when they travel to Reading Friday night for the 7pm opener of their league season.