Knights overpower Bulldogs in T-Day showdown

The winless Canton Bulldogs made it interesting on a blustery, cold Thanksgiving Day at Stoughton High, trailing only 7-0 at halftime and surprising everyone on the first play from scrimmage with a 35-yard halfback pass from Dexter Green to Elias Camacho.

But Canton coughed the ball up on the very next play — the first of seven Bulldog fumbles (Canton regained two) — and Stoughton wore down the Canton defense in the second half while revving up its run game en route to a convincing 26-6 victory.

Thursday’s game marked the 85^th meeting in the historic rivalry between these two neighboring towns, and Stoughton, which has now won six in a row and 14 of the past 16, extended its overall series lead to 42-39-4.

The highlight for the Bulldogs on Thursday was the debut of sophomore football phenom Dexter Green, who made an immediate impact after not playing all season due to a series of injuries. Green did a little bit of everything — connecting with Camacho for two deep passes and running the ball well for a total of 38 yards. He also intercepted a pass and fielded punts. Green shared quarterbacking duties with senior Ryan Conrad, who also was injured but returned to play in his final game.

Goff said Green’s talent was evident from his performance, and it gives him a number of options for next year, starting with the quarterback and running back positions.

The Canton defense also played well overall, forcing Stoughton coach Greg Burke to change his offensive blocking schemes for the second half. “Give credit to Canton,” Burke said afterward. “They took away our run and they played well defensively. Canton did take away some things, so we changed some things. We knew they couldn’t stop everything.”

The senior running back duo of Travis Demko and Felipe Fouad Njeim led a resurgent Black Knight rushing attack in the second half, highlighted by a pair of touchdown runs by Demko to put the game out of reach. Stoughton, which finished the game with over 200 yards rushing, clearly benefited from its size advantage up front, anchored by linemen Wayne Reid (6’3”, 290 lbs.) and co-captain Francis Ike (6’5”, 270 lbs.).

The Stoughton defense was tough and stingy as usual, and it focused its game plan around stopping Canton running back Anthony LaRose, who was limited to 32 yards rushing for the day. As a result, the Bulldogs were unable to sustain many drives, and all the turnovers proved costly as Stoughton took advantage of good field position throughout the game.

The lone Bulldog score came with less than two minutes remaining on the clock against the Knights’ second string defense. The drive featured a heavy dose of Green — including a long pass to Camacho and consecutive runs of 11 and 14 yards — and was capped off by LaRose, who pounded it into the end zone from four yards out.

To Canton’s credit, the defense kept Stoughton at bay in the first half, stopping several Black Knight drives and holding Stoughton to just 15 first-quarter yards. Playing well the entire game were LaRose, an all-league defensive team selection at linebacker, junior Logan Cerutti, sophomore Conor O’Brien, and senior Mike Mitton. Junior Brandyn Sparks also had several tackles and a sack, and junior Devin Costa had a few solo tackles.

Stoughton got its first score early in the second quarter after the defense caused Conrad to mishandle the snap and Stoughton’s Brandon Alves picked up the loose ball and ran it in from 13 yards out.

Stoughton then managed to add to its lead in the third quarter when sophomore quarterback Aaron Calixte, on a third-down play, lofted the ball high into the air, and tight end Marcus Middleton snuck in between two Canton defenders and hauled in the 42-yard pass for a touchdown to put the Knights up 14-0.

The Stoughton defense sacked Conrad twice on the next series and the Black Knights took over at the Canton 34-yard line. Canton was called for pass interference at the 18, and from there Demko carried the ball four consecutive times — the final time for a three-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 20-0 with 1:38 left in the third quarter.

After the game, Goff offered his honest assessment of the Bulldogs’ performance. “Turnovers, mistakes killed us,” he said. “When you fumble as much as we did, you can’t win many games. It was a very physical game and I credit the defense. For the most part they played pretty solid.”

Stoughton finishes the season at 4-7 overall and also shares the Davenport Division title by virtue of its 3-1 record in divisional games. Canton ends the season at 0-10-1.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Dec 2 2010. Filed under High School, News, Schools, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.