Marshfield —
The setting was ideal. The weather was perfect on a field overlooking the water at Mass. Maritime. What more could you want? A Super Bowl victory of course, and the Rams delivered that with a 32-16 victory over the Bridgewater Badgers.
The Badgers took the opening kickoff down the field on six plays to take an early 8-0 lead. The Rams then got their chance on offense. The Badgers, obviously concerned about the Rams return team, kicked the ball out of bounds. With the penalty, the Rams started on their own 42-yard-line. They marched down the field on the back of Jack McNeil to the Badger 22. Jake Paress then ran down the right side line for the touchdown. McNeil converted on the two-point conversion to tie the game at 8-8.
Defense would be the name of the game for most of the second quarter. The Rams stifling defense would not allow the Badgers anything. Led by Paress, Sam Crawford, Chris McLeod, Ransom Horne, Cole Gangi, Neal Parry, Josh Eastman, and Adam Briffet, the run game stalled for the Badgers.
With the Rams moving the ball, the Badgers came up with some defense of their own, a key stop on fourth-and-one gave the Badgers the ball back on there own 42-yard-line.
Despite the swarming defense, the Badgers took it to the end zone for a touch down and conversion for a 16-8 lead with 1:06 left before the half.
Tyler King takes the kickoff out to midfield. Eastman completed two passes to Paress. After a couple of runs and a big interference call, the Rams had the ball at the Badger 11-yard-line. With 10 seconds left, quarterback Sean Nizolek pitched the ball to Paress who found McNeil in the end zone. The two-point conversion is good for a 16-16 score at halftime.
Now for a little déjà vu: turn the clock back three weeks to the first meeting of the season between these two teams. The Rams trailed with 10 seconds left before half time. Eastman connected with McNeil for a 60-yard touchdown to even the score at 16-16 at half time.
The Badgers now pedaling backwards, attempted an onside kick to regain the momentum to start the second half. The Rams special team was up to the challenge with Gavin Admirand recovered the kick and Danny Smith and Brian Parsons making sure that no Badger would get in his way.
The Rams then marched 51 yards on eight plays culminating with a nine-yard run for McNeil, the conversion making it 24-16. Orchestrating the drive was Nizolek who was cool under pressure all afternoon. The offensive line opened huge holes, led by Scott Callahan, Andrew Lomuscio, Neil Ryan (the fastest pulling guard in the league), McLeod, Crawford, Eastman, Gangi, and Smith. On the ensuing Badger possession, McNeil came up big with an interception.
The Rams punted on fourth-and-10 from midfield. A perfect snap by Callahan to McNeil led to a booming 40-yard punt to pin the Badgers in at their own 11.
The Badgers, with the last two Super Bowls under their belt, were not going to go down easy. They drove to the Rams eight-yard-line when the stout defense led by Horne did not allow the Badgers any closer. Admirand intercepted a pass at the Rams six-yard-line with two minutes remaining. Colin Kalwicz and Mikey Morrison played a great game in the secondary.
McNeil then broke for an 80-yard touchdown on some great blocking by the linemen and outrunning the Badger secondary for 32-16 lead with just 1:27 left in the contest. Special teams player Michael Ross was around the ball all afternoon. Mikey Catanoso, Joey Donovan, Chris White, Max Murphy, Vinny Napolitano, and P.J. Edwards also contributed to the big victory. Key contributors during the season that missed the game due to injuries were Michael Moreau and Sammy Camire.
As Coach Galligan said during the post-game interview, “This was a culmination of a lot of hard work and 45 players all heading in the same direction.”
The other members of the championship team include Kyle Osis, Matt Collins, Jake DeCoste, Jimmy Jordan, Ricky Mankavech, Derek Holmes, Mark Walsh, Richard Collins, Dominic Lalli, Myles McCabe, Cole Barros, Joseph Sullivan, Tim Gallant, Matthew Gorman, Justin Smith, Dylan Whittaker, and Trevor Dunn.
A special thank you to the coaching staff – Jim Galligan, Jeff McLeod, Brian McNeil, Martin Horne, Steve Gangi, and Nick Lomuscio, team moms – Sherri McLeod and Kim McNeil, and our wonderful spirited cheerleaders.
The Badgers took the opening kickoff down the field on six plays to take an early 8-0 lead. The Rams then got their chance on offense. The Badgers, obviously concerned about the Rams return team, kicked the ball out of bounds. With the penalty, the Rams started on their own 42-yard-line. They marched down the field on the back of Jack McNeil to the Badger 22. Jake Paress then ran down the right side line for the touchdown. McNeil converted on the two-point conversion to tie the game at 8-8.
Defense would be the name of the game for most of the second quarter. The Rams stifling defense would not allow the Badgers anything. Led by Paress, Sam Crawford, Chris McLeod, Ransom Horne, Cole Gangi, Neal Parry, Josh Eastman, and Adam Briffet, the run game stalled for the Badgers.
With the Rams moving the ball, the Badgers came up with some defense of their own, a key stop on fourth-and-one gave the Badgers the ball back on there own 42-yard-line.
Despite the swarming defense, the Badgers took it to the end zone for a touch down and conversion for a 16-8 lead with 1:06 left before the half.
Tyler King takes the kickoff out to midfield. Eastman completed two passes to Paress. After a couple of runs and a big interference call, the Rams had the ball at the Badger 11-yard-line. With 10 seconds left, quarterback Sean Nizolek pitched the ball to Paress who found McNeil in the end zone. The two-point conversion is good for a 16-16 score at halftime.
Now for a little déjà vu: turn the clock back three weeks to the first meeting of the season between these two teams. The Rams trailed with 10 seconds left before half time. Eastman connected with McNeil for a 60-yard touchdown to even the score at 16-16 at half time.
The Badgers now pedaling backwards, attempted an onside kick to regain the momentum to start the second half. The Rams special team was up to the challenge with Gavin Admirand recovered the kick and Danny Smith and Brian Parsons making sure that no Badger would get in his way.
The Rams then marched 51 yards on eight plays culminating with a nine-yard run for McNeil, the conversion making it 24-16. Orchestrating the drive was Nizolek who was cool under pressure all afternoon. The offensive line opened huge holes, led by Scott Callahan, Andrew Lomuscio, Neil Ryan (the fastest pulling guard in the league), McLeod, Crawford, Eastman, Gangi, and Smith. On the ensuing Badger possession, McNeil came up big with an interception.
The Rams punted on fourth-and-10 from midfield. A perfect snap by Callahan to McNeil led to a booming 40-yard punt to pin the Badgers in at their own 11.
The Badgers, with the last two Super Bowls under their belt, were not going to go down easy. They drove to the Rams eight-yard-line when the stout defense led by Horne did not allow the Badgers any closer. Admirand intercepted a pass at the Rams six-yard-line with two minutes remaining. Colin Kalwicz and Mikey Morrison played a great game in the secondary.
McNeil then broke for an 80-yard touchdown on some great blocking by the linemen and outrunning the Badger secondary for 32-16 lead with just 1:27 left in the contest. Special teams player Michael Ross was around the ball all afternoon. Mikey Catanoso, Joey Donovan, Chris White, Max Murphy, Vinny Napolitano, and P.J. Edwards also contributed to the big victory. Key contributors during the season that missed the game due to injuries were Michael Moreau and Sammy Camire.
As Coach Galligan said during the post-game interview, “This was a culmination of a lot of hard work and 45 players all heading in the same direction.”
The other members of the championship team include Kyle Osis, Matt Collins, Jake DeCoste, Jimmy Jordan, Ricky Mankavech, Derek Holmes, Mark Walsh, Richard Collins, Dominic Lalli, Myles McCabe, Cole Barros, Joseph Sullivan, Tim Gallant, Matthew Gorman, Justin Smith, Dylan Whittaker, and Trevor Dunn.
A special thank you to the coaching staff – Jim Galligan, Jeff McLeod, Brian McNeil, Martin Horne, Steve Gangi, and Nick Lomuscio, team moms – Sherri McLeod and Kim McNeil, and our wonderful spirited cheerleaders.
