ENGLISH II
Bulldogs earn a 2-point
victory over Concord-Carlisle and advance to semifinals
Any idea that a No. 2 seed was a ticket to the second round of the Division III North MIAA playoffs was frighteningly erased last Friday night, Oct. 26, as 6-1 Lynn English barely escaped with a 35-33 win over the unrelenting Concord-Carlisle Patriots, the tourney 7-seed. The win advances the Bulldogs to a second-round showdown against the third-seeded Danvers Falcons (5-2) Friday night, Nov. 2, at Manning Field.
Quarterback Matt Severance led the undermanned Bulldogs, who were playing without starting running back Ishmile Bangura and receiver Prince Brown. Severance threw a touchdown pass to Mathias Fowler on the Bulldogs 49-yard drive off the opening kickoff and ran for a pair of touchdowns. Miguel Ramos picked up the slack in the running game as he scored a pair of touchdowns.
The game surprisingly was knotted at 14-14 at halftime, but the Bulldogs seemed to return things to normal as they scored twice to end the third quarter up 28-14. But Concord-Carlisle Concord Carlisle quarterback Christian Gemelli pulled the visiting Patriots to within a point as he ran for one score and threw for another.
Only a missed conversion separated the teams until Severance ran for his second score with just under a minute left on the clock, and Tyler Drinan’s fifth point-after gave the Bulldogs a comfortable 8 point lead, or so it seemed.
Concord-Carlisle was not ready to get on the bus for the long ride home. With the clock ticking toward zero, Gemelli hit receiver Cam Ladd for a score, and the fired-up Patriots lined up for a game-tying two-point conversion that would tie the game. Mathias Fowler broke up a Gemelli’s pass and the Bulldogs lived for another playoff week.
Friday’s opponent, Danvers, outlasted Belmont 50-35 in their first round encounter.