Stoughton edges Canton in T-Day thriller

Senior captain Matt Bagley, wearing Ricky Shannon’s #27, carries the ball for Canton.

The Canton High School Bulldogs staged a near miraculous comeback against rival Stoughton in the annual Thanksgiving Day finale, surging back from a 28-7 deficit to come within 13 yards of tying the score in the waning minutes of the game.

Unfortunately, Stoughton’s Jovani Pires intercepted a pass from quarterback Brian Hagan intended for Derrick Harris in the end zone, and the Black Knights came away with a hard-earned 28-20 win over the Bulldogs.

Stoughton ended the season at 10-2 — its highest single-season win total in school history — and came within one win of a trip to the Division 3 Super Bowl after being edged by Plymouth South in the state semifinals. The Bulldogs ended the season at 3-8 but finished strong, with three consecutive wins prior to the Thanksgiving Day game.

Stoughton now leads the all-time series at 44-40-4 in this historic rivalry dating back to 1926.

Canton started its fourth-quarter comeback bid with an 83-yard drive, capped off by a Sterlin Garvin 16-yard touchdown sweep to cut the deficit to 28-14 with 3:45 remaining in the game. Canton then recovered an onside kick at the Stoughton 33-yard line, and two plays later, Hagan found a wide-open Harris for a 30-yard touchdown to make it 28-20.

On the next play, Canton tried another onside kick and nearly regained possession; however, the Bulldogs recovered it without the ball going the necessary 10 yards. Two plays later, Canton’s Joe Bires recovered a Stoughton fumble at the Canton 47-yard line and the Bulldogs had a chance to tie the game with 2:26 left in regulation. Hagan connected with Harris on back-to-back receptions, and a Kevin Wing run brought the ball to the Stoughton 13 with 1:36 remaining.

After the game, CHS head coach Dave Bohane said he should have tried a running play and he credited Pires for making a good play on the interception.

The game started well for the home team, with the Bulldogs executing four consecutive plays of 12 yards or more, culminating in a 33-yard touchdown run by Garvin, who finished with a team-high 129 rushing yards. But while Canton went into the locker room at the half with a 7-0 lead, Bohane lamented a missed opportunity to put more points on the board in the first quarter after a long drive ended at the Stoughton 10-yard line.

Stoughton came out in the second half with a new strategy and new blocking assignments and proceeded to dominate play behind running backs Lennox Green and Joe Girolamo — scoring 14 points in the third quarter alone. The Knights then scored again early in the fourth quarter, aided by the recovery of an onside kick, and then added another score to go up 28-7 with less than eight minutes left in the game.

The common denominators in all of the Stoughton scores were large, gaping holes across the middle of the field with many Stoughton runners either breaking tackles or going untouched on the way to the end zone.

Statistically, the Bulldogs finished with 331 yards of offense, with 231 coming on the ground, led by Garvin, Wing (65 yards), and Bagley (35 yards). Harris caught five passes for nearly 100 yards.

Defensively, Bagley, James Bourikas, and Yanni Papadopoulos each had five tackles, and defensive lineman Wavol Prentice recorded a quarterback sack.

After the game, Stoughton head coach Greg Burke said the adjustments his team made at halftime ultimately made the difference, but he felt relieved that the Knights were able to overcome a furious Canton rally.

“We’re just happy we got more than they did,” said Burke. “Hats off to Canton. They were tough.”

“We got our trophy back, which we had for a long time, and Canton took it away from us last year,” he said. “Again, I say hats off to Canton. They’ve got good players, great coaches, and I don’t want to see them next year. They’ve got a lot coming back.”

Burke said he was surprised when Canton decided to throw late in the game, but he was impressed by the execution of Hagan and Harris on several passing plays.

He added that his team was delayed in its game preparation against the Bulldogs because of the state semifinal game.

“We started preparing on Monday (November 25) and it hurt us,” he said. “Canton was ready for us.”

Bohane praised the resiliency of his team but agreed that Stoughton’s adjustments in the second half were the difference in the game. “I wished we could have converted on a couple fourth and twos and got another score in the first quarter and tackled better, especially in the third quarter,” he said. “But Stoughton is a great team, a team which almost went to the Super Bowl. I do believe we competed well against them and the kids played very hard.”

Game Notes:

* This was the last high school game for eight CHS seniors: Dominic Bires, Seleem Elkadi, Matt Bagley, Tommy Glynn, Waleed Chakir, Trevor Ruane, Frankie Powers, and Selwyn Rogers.

* Bagley was chosen to wear No. 27 in honor of Ricky Shannon, a former star player who died tragically in a house fire in 2008.

* The honorary captions were Recreation Department worker and former CHS star football player Billy Cravens and Canton Pop Warner C team captain Jack Dicalogero, who helped lead his team to a Super Bowl.

* Prior to the game, there was a moment of silence to remember the late Jim Duggan, a former CHS quarterback who recently passed away and whose family has contributed much to Canton and CHS athletics.

* The game was played in sunny, windy and cold conditions with a temperature of 36 degrees at kickoff at 10 a.m. It was the coldest Thanksgiving in many years. The stands for both CHS and Stoughton were full.

* Burke, who helped engineer the new MIAA playoff system, said he was pleased with the overall implementation of the system in its first year and said it was the best thing for high school football. He said it gave teams a greater chance to compete for a playoff spot in each division and allowed teams like Canton to regroup and play teams with similar records and similar enrollments. “There are glitches and we will work on them for next year,” he said, “but I believe it was the best thing for high school football.”

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Posted by Mike Berger on Dec 5 2013. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.