Tag: Jovany Rivera

North Attleboro Comes Up Just Short In State Semis

North Attleboro football Chase Frisoli
North Attleboro sophomore quarterback Chase Frisoli is forced to throw away a pass after being pressured in the first half by Wakefield. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
ByRyanLanigan_2016FollowRyanLanigan_2016
 
 
 MILFORD, Mass. — Despite a valiant effort and a strong second half fight, the football wouldn’t bounce in favor of North Attleboro on Friday night.

A talented and undefeated Wakefield team used a balanced offensive attack to keep the Rocketeers off balance, and jumped out to an early lead that it never surrendered in a 31-24 win in the Division 3 state semifinals.

After each team had a touchdown and a field goal in the first 20 minutes of play, Wakefield cashed in with a touchdown just before halftime to take a 17-10 lead. The second half saw each side score a pair of touchdowns, but it was the Warriors who stayed in front the whole time.

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“They’re dynamic offensively, it’s tough to match their speed,” said North Attleboro head coach Mike Strachan. “They did some really good things offensively against us and we got down quickly in the first half. I think we did pretty well in the second half but I thought they outplayed us in the first half.”

Each time that Wakefield extended its lead to two scores, North had a response. Down two scores, 31-17, with just 5:31 to play, the Rocketeers kept their hopes alive with a 10-play, 63-yard drive orchestrated by sophomore quarterback Chase Frisoli.

Frisoli hit Jovany Rivera for 10 yards and then Ryan Sullivan for 13 more to move the sticks. The drive stalled just outside the red zone after a third down sack, but Frisoli hit Rivera on the right sideline for 16 yards to convert a 4th-and-15 situation. On the next play, Frisoli fired one between two defenders to Nathan Shultz for a 14-yard touchdown. Austin Clemente’s point after made it 31-24 with 3:29 left, and the Rocketeers had all three of their timeouts.

North nearly came up with the onside kick as Clemente’s dribbler bounced up, and Rivera came flying in to push it downfield. Shultz made a diving play along with a pair of Warriors but the ball bounced further down and Wakefield eventually fell on it to keep possession.

The Rocketeers stopped Wakefield on the first two downs to get to 3rd and 2, but a hard count induced an offside call and gave the Warriors a first down.

North’s defense stood tall again, holding Wakefield to two yards on each first and second, and then stopped a screen pass two yards short of the first down. The Warriors milked the clock down and had to punt with 52 seconds to go.

But another unfavorable bounce cut North’s comeback attempt short as the punt sailed towards the sideline, and the ball bounced up and off of a Rocketeer and the Warriors recovered the loose ball to keep possession.

“We bounced back and we had the onside kick chance, just bad luck there,” Strachan said. “With 44 seconds, we’re still in the game. But we just have to look back and see what we can do defensively. I thought the offense did enough to win tonight, we just didn’t do enough defensively.”

The Warriors took the opening drive of the second half 60 yards on nine plays as running back Nathan Delgado (19 carries, 101 yards) burst up the middle for an 11-yard touchdown and Wakefield had its largest lead, 24-10, with 7:22 to go in the third.

North had a crucial response with one of its best drives of the game. The Rocketeers marched 73 yards on 13 plays to get back within a touchdown before the end of the third quarter. Frisoli got things going early with a 22-yard pass to Jack Munley, but it was mostly the ground game from there.

Frisoli kept it himself for a 5-yard rush to move the sticks on third down, Greg Berthiaume (11 carries, 67 yards) plunged forward for a fourth down conversion, and two plays later, followed some good blocking from Zach Gallagher, Lucas Mattson, Danny Locke, Nolan McLaughlin, and Kaiden Leary to muscle in for a 14-yard touchdown to make it 24-17 with just under a minute left in the third quarter.

Wakefield quarterback Javin Willis went 19-for-24 on the day for 214 yards and three touchdowns. All three went to 6’3 tight end Ian Dixon, who was able to win a pair of one-on-one battles on corner fade throws and also hauled in another touchdown against a double team.

“Two fade balls to 18 (Dixon), who’s a really good football player for them, and I thought their quarterback played really well, he’s fast and shifty,” Strachan said. They converted well on third down (6-for-8), it’s hard to combat that. I thought we settled down really in the second half but it was almost too late, you can’t give them [three scores] in the first half. They’re a good football team.”

North got on the board first, marching down the field on the opening drive with 13 straight run plays. The drive stalled inside the red zone and Clemente booted a 33-yard field goal to make it 3-0.

Wakefield put together back-to-back scoring drives: the first a 6-play, 59-yard touchdown drive and then an 11-play, 63-yard drive that ended in a 33-yard field goal.

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North tied the game up with its third drive. needing just five plays to cover 71 yards. Shultz was the main reason that North covered so much ground so quickly, as he broke free to the right side, cut back left, and galloped away for a 40-yard touchdown to make it 10-10 with 3:17 left in the second quarter.

“This senior class has been awesome to be around, these captains,” Strachan said. “It’s surreal, we didn’t want it to end like this. This is a team I want to go see at practice every day, they are kids you want to be around. They work hard, they take to coaching, and are just awesome kids. We’ve got one left on Thanksgiving, which is very meaningful for us, and we’ll get ready for that.

North Attleboro (7-3) will host longtime rival Attleboro on Thanksgiving at Community Field to end the season.

Clemente Boots North Attleboro Past Taunton

North Attleboro football Chase Frisoli
North Attleboro sophomore quarterback Chase Frisoli releases a pass just before being tackled by Taunton junior Bryan Joanis in the second half. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
ByRyanLanigan_2016FollowRyanLanigan_2016
 
 
 TAUNTON, Mass. — You never know what to expect in a Hockomock League game.

North Attleboro sophomore Austin Clemente booted a 24-yard field goal with 9:33 left in the fourth quarter and senior Ayden Delaney blocked Taunton’s potential game-tying field goal attempt with 3:08 to play and the Rocketeers walked away with a hard-fought 3-0 win over the Tigers.

Taunton entered the contest averaging over 30 points per game while North Attleboro averaged just a hair under 22 points through its first five contests. Both teams had scored at least two touchdowns in every game this season.

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But Friday night the spotlight belonged to the defenses — and special teams — as the Rocketeers earned their first shutout in three years. North limited the Tigers to under 200 yards of total offense, while Taunton kept the Rocketeers in check by doing the same.

“We knew this was going to be a grind,” said North Attleboro head coach Mike Strachan. “Our defense played really strong. I thought we stopped the run up front by mixing up a lot of fronts. It’s a great win on the road like we’ve done all year so I’m really proud of our defense and our kids.

“They’re physical and this Taunton team is a legit team. You saw a battle up front with the lines tonight. I thought [Greg] Berthiaume and [Ryan] Bannon played phenomenal and our secondary played great. I knew it’d come down to the wire but if you told me it was going to be a 3-0 game, I wouldn’t have believed you because they have athletes everywhere so I’m super proud of our kids.”

On top of Delaney’s key block, senior Greg Berthiaume blocked Taunton’s 37-yard field goal attempt in the third quarter. North also forced four punts and one turnover on downs, which was a pivotal stop in the fourth.

Taunton’s defense certainly played well enough to win as well. Senior Ethan Harris had a pair of interceptions, and the Tigers forced a turnover on downs in the second quarter and forced three punts. Even North’s only points came after Taunton stood tall with a stop inside their own 10-yard line.

“Our kids came to play on defense,” said Taunton head coach Brad Sidwell. “We had that turnover on downs in the red zone, add in two interceptions…we just couldn’t quite get it going offensively. We couldn’t get a manageable third down, it was always a long one. We executed but they made some plays against us there at the end.”

Fast forward to the drive that resulted in the only points of the game. North’s defense forced a quick three-and-out after a third down sack from seniors Kaiden Leary and Zach Gallagher.

Despite a first down sack from Tanner Brannon, North Attleboro sophomore Chase Frisoli delivered a perfect third-down pass to Jovany Rivera to get the drive going. An offside gifted North a first down and then Frisoli dropped a perfect pass down the right sideline — a split second before pressure from Taunton’s Bryan Joanis — into the hands of Bryce Kiser for a 35-yard completion down to the Taunton 7-yard line.

A holding call backed North up, but Frisoli hooked up with Kiser again to get back to the 7-yard line, but good defense on third down by Taunton’s MMckyen Gonsalves forced an incompletion. With a good hold from Kyle Conroy, Clemente split the uprights for a 3-0 lead with 9:28 to play.

Taunton moved into North territory quickly on the ensuing drive as Malachi Johnson returned the pooch kick to the 43-yard line. A 10-yard pass and catch from Jacob Leonard to Jose Touron moved the sticks, and Johnson rattled off a 19-yard gain. After back-to-back short gains, Ryan Bannon swatted down a third down pass attempt and a fourth down pass play fell incomplete for a turnover on downs at the North 24-yard line.

But on second down of North’s ensuing drive, Harris wrestled away his second interception of the game on a short pass to the right sideline and returned it all the way to the 9-yard line for a first-and-goal scenario. A jet sweep only got a yard, and back-to-back runs up the middle totaled four yards.

Taunton’s attempt at a 21-yard field goal to tie it was blocked by Delaney, who came up the middle and got his hand to it. North took over at the 20-yard line and fed Nathan Shultz (14 carries, 74 yards) to a pair of first downs to run out the clock.

“With five minutes left to go and they have first and goal, and four tries against this Taunton team and how athletic they are…I thought our defense played tremendous,” Strachan said. “We practice that, and I tell the kids every day we have to practice the way we play. Those are the things that we practice and we executed, I was really happy to pull that out.”

Taunton considered going for it on fourth but elected for the field goal attempt from Sete Deletoile, which was essentially the same distance as an extra point.

“I thought we were playing tough and that’s an extra point, we have to be able to make an extra point,” Sidwell said. “If we scored, we would have had to kick it from there too. The fact that it was blocked was frustrating, [Deletoille] has done great for us, I don’t blame him. I’m proud of our kids, we just have to keep fighting. It’s a playoff atmosphere for the rest of the games we have left, it has to be.

North’s defense started strong by forcing a punt on Taunton’s opening drive, but the Rocketeers’ ensuing drive was cut short when Harris read a dump off and picked it off. Despite starting at the North 38-yard line, the Tigers went backward and had to punt.

“They are a good team, they ran the ball hard,” Sidwell said of North. “When we had to, we bowed up but offensively we just couldn’t quite punch it in. They were good inside and they covered our receivers, they made it hard for the quarterback to get the ball to them. We didn’t make too many mistakes, just couldn’t get the ball to them.”

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North advanced into the red zone on its third series of the game and hurried to the line on 4th and short at the Tiger 9-yard line but a QB sneak was stuffed by Ryan MacDougall and Elijah Prophete for a turnover on downs.

Bryan Batista and Johnson helped move the Tigers down the field, a 17-yard catch and a 24-yard catch both from Touron moved the sticks twice but the drive stalled and a 47-yard field goal attempt with a minute left in the half was short.

North Attleboro football (1-2 Hock, 4-2 overall) returns to Community Field next week to host first-place King Philip. Taunton (0-3, 4-3) hits the road with a visit to Attleboro.

Franklin Holds On In Last Minute, Earns Win At North

Franklin football
Luke Davis caught a first half touchdown, helping Franklin pull out its first win at North Attleboro since 1992. (Josh Perry/HockomockSports.com)

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NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. – When Cole Sidwell intercepted a pass inside his own 30 with 36 seconds remaining, the Franklin bench exploded onto the field assuming that the victory was sealed. But, two penalty flags sat on the Community Field grass and, after a lengthy discussion between the officials, off-setting penalties meant that North Attleboro would have one last chance.

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Facing fourth and 13 from the Franklin 49, North quarterback Chase Frisoli dropped back one more time and fired a deep ball to Jovany Rivera down the right sideline. The North receiver had a step on the corner, but he just wasn’t able to haul in the pass.

After a giant exhale, the Franklin sideline exploded into life again, knowing that all it would take was one kneel down and the win was theirs. The Panthers survived Friday’s league opener 21-20, earning their first win at North since 1992.

“It’s two top 10 teams, Franklin coach Eain Bain said. “I don’t care if we won by half a point, as long as we get out of here with a win. We knew coming in here there would be adversity tonight, fortunately we took advantage of some things in the first half. As a team effort, I thought it was a great win.”

“We were there,” North coach Mike Strachan. “We had a good look at it on fourth and it didn’t go our way. I said at the beginning of the game it was going to be penalties and turnovers and we didn’t win that battle. At the end of the day, in a one-point game, that is what it is. You can’t turn the ball over like we did.”

North came into its league and home opener off a bye week, but the momentum of the opening two wins seemed to carry over to the first drive of the game. Frisoli (13-of-26 for 146 yards) converted third and eight with a 14-yard pass to Rivera (six catches, 89 yards) and then took off on a 20-yard keeper into Franklin territory. Nathan Shultz took a toss to the left side, broke a tackle, and streaked down the sideline for a 49-yard score.

It wasn’t the ideal start for a Franklin defense that was coming off a tough loss to Duxbury, but the Panthers turned things around after that tough first three minutes. Franklin sacked Frisoli seven times, including four in the first half, and forced a pair of red zone turnovers.

Bain explained, “When you can get pressure with your front then you can start getting creative using our second level guys to try and find a matchup, find something in protection we can go after. When we can do that effectively, it can cover up some mistakes we do on the back end.”

After Jack Nutter stuffed Shultz for a loss of seven. Franklin got great field position for its second possession, starting at its own 49, but a penalty and a Kaiden Leary sack forced third and 16. Jase Lyons was able to hit Derek Dubriske for 23 and the first down. Three plays later, the same combo connected again, this time for a 24-yard touchdown on the left sideline to tie the game.

The defense kept coming after the North quarterback. Emmett Lackey and Julian Rampino both sacked Frisoli and on third down Nick Quintina got into the backfield and batted down a pass.

Franklin again had great starting field position. A 17-yard completion to Luke Davis (four catches, 57 yards) moved the ball into North territory. Following a holding call, Lyons (12-of-17, 188 yards), who completed his first seven throws, found Dubriske (four receptions, 66 yards) for 18 and another first down. On the next play, Davis got the ball on an underneath out route, threw a head fake to lose the closest North defender, and raced down the sideline for 31 yards and a 14-7 lead.

North’s offense was finally able to get things moving late in the second quarter. Frisoli hit Jack Munley on a drag route across the middle for 13 down to the Franklin 38. A 15-yard penalty for too many men moved North even closer. On third and 10, Greg Berthiaume broke through the line for a first down run, but as he pushed for extra yards the ball popped loose and Bobby Padula recovered for the Panthers.

It was a big missed opportunity to get right back into the game. Garrett Portesi’s punt pinned North back inside its own 10. Jay Gulla sacked Frisoli on second down and North was forced into another punt that was returned to the 30. Franklin needed only one play to double its lead. Lyons threw one up for Grayson Hunter at the goal line and the 6-foot-4 tight end out-jumped a pair of North defenders, pulling in the 30-yard score.

North looked ready to mount an immediate comeback when it got into the red zone on its first third-quarter drive, but Sidwell was able to intercept Frisoli’s pass at the goal line and keep the hosts off the board.

“They’re very quick,” Strachan said of the Franklin defense. “They did some good things up front, they did a lot more stunting this week than we saw last week. They’re physical. They came to play. They had a chip on their shoulder from last week and it showed.”

After the defense did its job and held the Panthers to a three-and-out, North got the ball back at the Franklin 31. Facing fourth and five, Frisoli was able to hook up with Rivera for six yards to keep things moving. Berthiaume was given the ball on three straight carries, all of seven yards, including the final one that found the end zone to make it 21-14 at the end of three.

North got the ball back at its own 21 with 8:13 remaining and marched 79 yards in 13 plays, taking up six minutes. Again, Frisoli found Rivera for a fourth down conversion to keep things alive and then hit him again for 25 yards to the Franklin nine. After an eight-yard pass to Aidan Conrad, Frisoli punched it in with a one-yard sneak.

The hosts were an extra point away from tying the game with 2:16 to go, but a low snap led to confusion and an attempted pass that Franklin was able to snuff out to preserve a one-point lead.

It came down to one last play to decide which team would get off to a winning start in the Kelley-Rex, and it was the defending champion Panthers that left the happier team on Friday.

“Tell me the easy game in the Hockomock,” said Bain. “We’re just going to take it one game at a time. Records don’t really matter, it’s how you come to play that night.”

Strachan added, “The Kelley-Rex is like the Big Ten, there’s no easy week. It’s something that we’ve got to put this behind us as quick as we can and get ready for Milford.”

Franklin (3-1) will be back on the road again next week to face Taunton (3-1). North Attleboro (2-1) will be back on the road to visit unbeaten Milford (4-0).

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North Makes Goal Line Stand to Win at Mansfield

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North Attleboro senior Greg Berthiaume drags a Mansfield tackler with him for a first half touchdown, one of his two scores in the game. (Josh Perry/HockomockSports.com)

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MANSFIELD, Mass. – With under eight seconds remaining in the second quarter of Friday night’s rivalry game at Alumni Field, Mansfield faced a third down from the one-yard-line. The Hornets had traveled 61 yards in 45 seconds, now they just had to punch it in. North Attleboro senior Jack Munley had other ideas and stopped Rocco Scarpellini short of the end zone.

Having started the first overtime period with a touchdown, North’s defense had the chance to repeat its earlier trick, stop the Hornets from the one, and clinch a second consecutive impressive road victory. Mansfield QB Connor Curtis tried to keep it himself, looking for a hole in the middle of the line, but was swallowed up by white shirts.

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For the second time in the game, North’s defense made a stand, this time sealing a 27-21 win, avenging last year’s double-overtime defeat to the Hornets at Community Field. It was North’s first win at Mansfield since 2015.

“Whether you get the ball first or second, you’ve got to stop them and it came down to that at the end,” said first-year North coach Mike Strachan. “I’m just really proud of my football team, they fought. To beat Mansfield at Mansfield, with this great team, and this great tradition they have here, I’m really proud of my guys.”

Mansfield coach Mike Redding admitted that he will be second-guessing his call on that final play for a while.

“It’s a heartbreaker,” he explained. “I’ll go over this for 10 years on any call that would’ve worked.

“We’re trying to come up with a little bit of a counter to kind of get them overflowing, get Connor back, he’s great off the fake finding the seam to run. Once we get to the one or two, they’ve just got 11 big, strong bodies up front and we’re young up front and we just can’t quite get movement to punch it in.”

The Hornets started the game on top. Aidan Gleavy made a nice read on a screen pass to force a three-and-out. After Munley sacked Conner Zukowski, Mansfield was able to convert third and long with Zukowski (18-of-28, 300 yards) throwing a 20-yard strike to Trevor Foley (five catches, 134 yards) on the near sideline. CJ Bell followed with a nice grab on the far sideline, hauling in a 29-yard reception.

After Zukowski and Foley combined again for another 17 yards, Scarpellini punched it in from a yard out to make it 7-0.

In the second quarter, Kyle Murphy sacked North quarterback Chase Frisoli to force a punt from the three. Mansfield started at the North 30-yard-line but a holding call stalled the drive. North took over possession and took the momentum.

On third and short from the North 42, Frisoli (12-of-22, 180 yards) looked deep down the sideline to Jovany Rivera (six catches, 123 yards). The 41-yard completion put the Rocketeers in the red zone for the first time. Eight yards and three plays later, facing fourth and two Strachan elected to go for it. Greg Berthiaume wouldn’t be stopped, dragging a would-be tackler with him for a nine-yard, game-tying score.

The North defense followed up that score by forcing a three-and-out. A short punt gifted the visitors the ball at the 26 and North took advantage. A timeout before Austin Clemente attempted a 46-yard field goal led to a change of plan, with North electing to go for it and Frisoli finding Rivera for 21 yards to the eight. On the next snap Berthiaume caught a pass in the flat and dove for the pylon to put Big Red in front.

Mansfield only had 53 seconds on the clock but wasted no time racing up field. Zukowski hit Drew Sacco for 15 yards and Bell for 17. He then fired a 30-yard pass to Foley to get the Hornets down to the two. After a false start, Nolan Bordieri took a sweep for six yards but just short of the end zone. An incompletion and Munley’s big stop, left the Hornets down 14-7 at the break.

Strachan said, “I think we were physical up front. I thought we were very physical and controlled the line of scrimmage.”

North added to its lead on its first possession of the third. Frisoli’s quick release to Rivera down the sideline for 25 yards got them into Mansfield territory and a perfectly executed play action left sophomore Ryan Bannon all alone in the secondary for a 26-yard touchdown.

The Hornets were struggling to get the ground game working but Zukowski was having a lot of success through the air. On the first snap of the next drive, he looked down field for Foley, who made a great adjustment to the flight of the ball and pulled in a 47-yard catch. On the next play, Foley out-jumped the defensive back in the back of the end zone, snatching a 20-yard touchdown.

Down seven in the fourth quarter, Mansfield got the ball back at its own 11. A first down got it out to the 23 and Zukowski again looked down the sideline, this time to Brandon Jackman, who made a great catch for 37 yards. Zukowski appeared to get a cramp at the end of the play and had to come to the sideline. Curtis jumped in and immediately broke away for a 40-yard touchdown run that tied the game with under six minutes remaining.

“We let them go up 14 and then we kind of woke up and started playing clean,” Redding said. “Zuk started throwing the ball well, we spread them out. We really started playing great from when they scored to go up 14 until overtime. We showed a lot of heart.”

North had one more chance to win it in regulation. A 10-play drive to the Mansfield 19 gave Clemente a chance from 36 yards out, but his kick was wide left with just 20 seconds to play.

The visitors had the ball first in OT. On first down, Frisoli flipped a pass over the shoulder of Aidan Conrad in the flat and he walked in with the go-ahead score. Ryan DeGirolamo was in tight coverage to breakup the two-point conversion try, leaving North up six.

Mansfield had four plays to try and tie it. Zukowski looked for Foley on each of the first two plays, with Rivera doing a good job in coverage on the second. On third down, Zukowski hit Sacco in the flat and he showed patience to pick a hole but North converged at the goal line to keep him a yard short.

Curtis came in for the final play, trying to force his way through North’s defensive line, but Zachary Gallagher, Bannon, Berthiaume, and others were on hand to keep the Hornets just short and add another exciting chapter to this historic rivalry.

“We practiced all week in the goal line, what to do, we practiced our new formations, and I really think we just executed it like we’re supposed to,” Berthiaume explained. “When you don’t make mistakes, you win football games.”

Strachan said, “We go to work each week, we talk about that, we say we put the money in the bank and the payout is on Friday nights. This was a big check mark for us and it was a really big test for our team. We’re going to try and enjoy this one, but I’m just really happy with our football team.”

Following a bye week, North Attleboro (2-0) will have its home, and Kelley-Rex, opener when the Rocketeers host currently unbeaten Franklin. Mansfield (1-1) will head out on the road for the first time next Friday, traveling to Worcester to face Doherty.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.