The fact that Lynn English battled the best Revere High team in almost 50 years in to overtime is a sign that the English football program is likewise headed in the right direction.
Revere, under head coach Lou Cicatelli, is off to its best start since 1973 when Revere made its only Super Bowl appearance, losing to Brockton. English, under head coach Chris Carroll, is a playoff contender once again, and with super sophomore quarterback Mathias Fowler at the helm and powerful junior running back Sam Ofurie in the backfield, the future looks exceedingly bright.
Ofurie, a 6-foot-1-inch, 240-pound Don Nottingham-style runner, created problems for the Revere defense, rushing for 125 yards and two touchdowns.
Another major contributor to English’s strong effort against Revere was placekicker Tyler Drinan, who booted three PATs and a clutch 31-yard field goal to tie the game with eight minutes left. Drinan is clearly one of the best kickers in the Northeastern Conference.
Fowler displayed his running and passing skills, rushing for more than 100 yards and completing some key passes, notably to Tahj Purter.
But Fowler was also involved in one of the most unsual plays of this, or any season in overtime.
After Revere’s superb running back Joe Llanos rushed for a touchdown and a two-pointer to give the Patriots’ a 32-24 lead, English began its OT possession at the 10-yard line.
On second down at the 2-yard-line, Ofurie appeared to be crossing the goal line for a score when the ball squirted loose and was recovered by a Revere player who started running toward the other end zone. English forced a fumble and Fowler alertly scooped up the ball at the 12-yard-line and rushed in for a touchdown, cutting Revere’s lead to 32-30.
Fowler rolled to his right on a sweep for the two-point conversion, but Revere’s Jonathan Murphy and a host of other players swarmed Fowler on the tackle, ending English’s hopes to send the game in to a second overtime.
“That’s a very good football team and they’re well coached,” said Revere coach Lou Cicatelli. “It was a very physical game.”
Chris Carroll, who’s been involved in some exciting games as a football star himself at English and Bentley University, talked about the unusual ending to an entertaining afternoon of football.
“It was a very good football game, unfortunately we came out on the wrong side of it,” said Carroll. “It came down to a final play of the game. I’ve never seen a play like that in football. I thought the game was over twice. I thought we were in the end zone with a touchdown. Revere had the ball and the game was over and all of sudden we score a touchdown. It was an unbelievable play.”
English (3-2) plays Saugus Friday night in a game with playoff implications. “We have two more NEC games left, but we’re only focused on Saugus right now,” said Carroll.