FOXBORO – With a powerful speeding assault and some well timed defensive performs, Cohasset received its second Div. 7 Tremendous Bowl title since 2021.
Senior Mike Wildfire and senior captain Gus Greene had all three speeding scores and several other turnovers on downs have been greater than sufficient as No. 1 Cohasset topped No. 2 Amesbury 22-14 within the state title recreation at Gillette Stadium on Thursday night time.
“It feels unbelievable,” Skippers coach Pepe Afanasiw mentioned. “Granted, it’s occurred a pair occasions, however this can be a nice group of children. They’ve labored their tails off and they’re incomes their simply desserts proper now as a result of they’re such good individuals on prime of fine soccer gamers.”
Amesbury (12-1) had the ball with underneath a minute left and on a third-down play, senior captain Justin Dube pitched it to Ben Wooden, who ended up getting hit and brought down for the ultimate play from scrimmage due to junior Nicholas Aaskjaer.
“We talked about that in pre-game,” mentioned Afanasiw about getting tackles within the again subject. “It’s like offense wins video games, however protection wins championships. We knew it was going to be a dogfight. … We knew it was going to return down to some vital stops and possibly a turnover right here or there. We didn’t get them to show the ball over, however we made these stops.”
Askjaer additionally had a sort out for loss within the first half as he was one in every of three Skippers to get house on the Redhawks.
“That is the perfect feeling I’ve ever had,” Askjaer mentioned about profitable the state title. “I’m going to recollect this eternally like these boys on my crew. That is my household, and I wouldn’t need to win it with anybody else.”
Within the third quarter, Amesbury junior Christian Iandolo recovered a fumble round midfield. The Redhawks then took the ball 50 yards on 10 performs with Dube speeding it in from a yard out on fourth down. Joe Puleo transformed the two-point attempt to tie the competition at 14-14 with 11:53 remaining.
After the groups traded possessions, Cohasset (11-2) obtained the ball by itself 48 and wanted simply three performs as Greene (16 carries, 131 yards) scampered and held his steadiness for a 42-yard rating. The Skippers then went for a two-point conversion after a false begin packed them up. Wildfire rushed it in to make it 22-14 with 5:58 left in regulation.
“(Amesbury) type of contained (Greene) a bit, nevertheless it’s inevitable,” mentioned Askjaer about Greene getting free. “He’s like clockwork. So, it was a matter of time earlier than it occurred.”
The Redhawks then obtained the ball again and turned the ball over on downs with underneath two minutes on the Skippers’ 30.
Within the first half, Cohasset discovered paydirt on its opening drive as wanted simply seven performs as Wildfire ran it in from 12 yards out.
Amesbury answered straight away because it ran it seven of eight performs to go 64 yards with junior Connor Scialdone scoring from 15 yards out. The 2-point conversion was no good for the Redhawks as they trailed 7-6 after one.
The Skippers added to their lead after they pressured Amesbury to show the ball over on downs with underneath two minutes left within the first half, due to back-to-back sacks for junior Will Santacroce and junior Chris McSweeney. 5 performs later, Wildfire saved it from 5 yards out to push the halftime benefit to 14-6.
“I got here in considering, like everybody immediately, that (profitable) that is the perfect feeling any of us have ever had,” Wildfire mentioned about coming away with the victory. “It really is the (the perfect feeling).”
