BRAINTREE — Quincy High senior football player Nick Blasi could not have timed his first (and likely only) high school touchdown any better.
In the third quarter of Friday’s season opener, momentum was heavily leaning on the Archbishop Williams side after two Quincy drives ended inside the Bishops’ 10-yard line without points.
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After a fourth-and-goal sack on their final drive of the first half, the Presidents opened the second half with a promising nine-play march that ended when the Bishops recovered a fumble within a few feet of the end zone.
Then came Blasi’s moment. The Bishops muffed a handoff on the next play and Blasi jumped on the ball in the end zone. That score brought Quincy within one (20-19) and sparked a third quarter that saw the Presidents turn three turnovers into three touchdowns. Quincy, which had to hold off the Bishops until the final second, held on for a 39-34 win.
In true lineman fashion, Blasi wasn’t jumping at the idea of basking in his own glory.
“I just saw the ball and I went for it,” said Blasi, a starting defensive lineman and a backup on the offensive side. “We played a hell of a game tonight. I just want to thank all of my teammates. We played together, we played for each other.”
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Blasi’s timing undoubtedly changed the game. Two plays after his score, the Bishops muffed another handoff and that paved the way for sophomore Gabriel Rodrigues to finish a two-play, 20-yard drive with a 1-yard TD to put the Presidents up 25-20, a lead they never relinquished.
“They could have driven the field and who knows what happens,” said Quincy coach Kevin Carey of Blasi’s score. “Instead, very first play (after our fumble) we knock the ball out, recover it in the end zone. New ballgame.”
The Bishops’ next drive ended when a pass sailed too far and Quincy junior Stephen Gallant intercepted it. Quincy senior captain Jarod Walker, on his first carry following a fumble just outside the end zone, capped the ensuing six-play drive with a 22-yard run when he planted his foot, took one cut upfield and was off to the races for his third score of the day. Freshman Alex Martinez’s extra point put the Presidents up 32-20 with 40 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
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Walker was limited for much of the second half with cramps, a side effect of playing linebacker and running back. Still, he found find time to turn 18 carries into 206 yards and three TDs. His 11 first-half carries resulted in 156 yards and two scores.
“It’s all thanks to my linemen,” said Walker. “The linemen were doing everything they could for me tonight. Every yard that I ran, they were right next to me. They were making a block in front of me. The linemen really changed the game tonight.”
As humble as that sounds, it’s not totally accurate. On Walker’s first run of the day, which doubled as Quincy’s first offensive play of the day, no one on the field could keep up with him. Immediately following a Bishops score, Walker took a handoff and exploded for a 67-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7-7.
It wasn’t all rainbows for Quincy, as the Presidents gave up 34 points and nearly had a disastrous finish.
With Walker sidelined battling cramps, Quincy turned to Rodrigues to close out the game. On a 10-play drive that drained the clock from 9:08 to 1:53 left in the fourth quarter, Rodrigues carried the ball on eight consecutive plays (totaling 56 yards). He capped his workload with a 1-yard TD run that, coupled with Martinez’s extra point, put Quincy comfortably ahead 39-26.
Or so it seemed.
Archbishop Williams quarterback Will LeClair (19 of 30 passing, 282 yards, 4 TDs, 2 interceptions) quickly led a seven-play, 55-yard scoring drive. On a third down, LeClair completed a wheel route along the sideline to senior captain Sean Harrington for a 32-yard TD. The 2-point conversion from LeClair to Lorenzo Jackson brought the Bishops within five (39-34) with 25 seconds remaining.
The Bishops recovered the ensuing onside kick (kicked by Harrington) but Quincy picked up a pair of clutch defensive plays to seal the win. A sack from Clayton Corley put Archbishop Williams on the wrong side of the field. On the final play of the game, Quincy junior Corey Chaparro intercepted a deflected pass as the clock hit zero.
“I thought we really shot ourselves in the foot, especially in a couple possessions back to back,” said Archbishop Williams coach Matt Reggiannini. “If we limited the mistakes a little bit more, I think we could have come out on top.”
In the preseason, Reggiannini hinted that the Bishops weren’t afraid to air it out. That was the case on Friday, as the Bishops threw the ball 30 times compared to 14 runs. Many of LeClair’s passes were of the downfield variety.
The Bishops’ air-it-out approach was on full display on the opening drive. On a fourth-and-2, LeClair dropped back to pass and escaped what seemed like a sure sack only to find a wide-open Matt Kowalski downfield for a 48-yard TD. The Bishops’ next drive ended with a 4-yard TD pass with the same two culprits. LeClair had a 55-yard pass to junior Charlie Conners (five catches, 73 yards) on that drive.
Marcus Thurston, a junior, scored the Bishops’ other TD on a 5-yard run in the second quarter.
“I was actually very happy with our quarterback,” said Reggiannini. “For the most part I think he played really well today. There were a few bad breaks on handoffs. We need to limit those mistakes, but I was really happy with his poise and his character. I was really happy with his maturity today. Hopefully we learn our lesson today and kind of limit our mistakes.”
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