|
CHRONICLE
SPORTS
CHATHAM |
HARWICH
End Of The Road For Rough
Riders
Heartbroken Harwich Comes Up
Short Against Canton In South Finals
Eric Adler
TAUNTON — If there’s one indisputable
truth that Cheryl Poore has learned over her 40-year, 600-win coaching
career, it’s that the game of field hockey can be very cruel and very
unkind.
Sunday night, that fact was confirmed.
Despite dominating much of the game,
and very nearly scoring the go-ahead goal with a late second-half
flurry, the Harwich field hockey team fell 2-1 in overtime to Canton in
the MIAA Division Two South finals at Taunton High School.
 |
|
Harwich’s Nell and
Fionna O’Connor console each other following the Rough
Riders’ 2-1 loss to Canton in the South Sectional finals
Sunday night. ERIC ADLER PHOTO. |
Ali King waited on a ball hit high in the
air before swatting it into the cage 1:40 into the seven-on-seven
sudden-death extra session, giving third-seeded Canton (17-1-3) its
third sectional crown in four years. Top-seeded Harwich ends the season
18-2-2.
“I always said I’ve given
my heart to a game that breaks your heart all the time,” said Poore. “I
think we had the plain advantage today without a doubt, so to walk away
the loser is really hard. This game is brutal.”
Harwich held a decisive
edge in shots, a 12-1 advantage in corner plays, and did an admirable
job of curtailing Canton’s quick-paced attack.
“Our plan was to mark
them closely so that they couldn’t use their lateral passes, because
they’re a team that plays on turf all the time,” said Poore. “Their
field is a turf field. We did that really well.”
The Rough Riders were the
ones who looked more suitable to the slick surface, drawing first blood
on a flawless four-pass corner play at the 12:38 mark. Sadie Tansey,
Michelle Letendre and Megan Richer each had a hand in setting up Nell
O’Connor, who scored her state-leading 40th goal of the
season with a swipe from the center of the circle.
Canton mounted an attack
and screened Harwich goalie Melanie Hopkins, allowing Meghan McKenna to
notched the equalizer with a long hit 4:46 before halftime.
“When we didn’t clear it
out, I knew we were in trouble, because they’re a big hit from the top
of the circle team,” said Poore. “That’s what got them back in the
game.”
It didn’t give them the
momentum, however.
The Rough Riders spent
much of the second half applying pressure and causing havoc inside’s
Canton’s circle.
Harwich almost potted the
go-ahead goal with 12 minutes left, but Jess Menard’s blast off a corner
hit off the pads of goalie Sarah Healy. Moments later, Richer tried to
sneak her shot in through the left side, but again, Healy stood tall.
Another shot attempt by
Harwich sailed wide right with 3:15 to go, and the Warriors cleared the
ball out following another corner play with 2:40 left.
“In big games, corner
plays haven’t seemed to go our way,” said Poore, whose team came up
short against Canton in the 2004 south semifinals and 2007 south
championship, both times by a score of 2-0.
It looked like Harwich
was finally going to get revenge after controlling play in the opening
minute of overtime. But Michelle McNeil picked off a pass at midfield,
carried it up the sidelines then toward the goal. Her cross was blocked
15 feet up in the air, and as the ball came down, King smacked it in –
but not without controversy.
Harwich’s captains tried
to dispute the call, claiming the ball was batted in shoulder-high, but
to no avail.
“We’ve trained for seven
on seven this year and we’re in such great physical shape that I thought
we’d win,” said Poore. “What can I say. They got one break up the field
and won the game. That’s field hockey. Canton was a great team, but I
feel like they were fortunate and we didn’t get the good luck in
overtime.”
Tears fell fast down the
Rough Riders’ faces, but the family-close club seemed to realize what a
special season it was upon accepting the runner-up trophy with smiles.
Led by its 10 seniors,
Harwich won its third straight South Shore League title, celebrated
Poore’s 600th with a win over rival D-Y on the final day of
the regular season, and claimed three post-season wins (3-0 over
Foxboro, 1-0 over Medfield in triple overtime, and 1-0 over Old
Rochester).
“It was a fabulous
season,” said Poore. “Tonight’s game was hard-fought. Unfortunately,
very often the team that plays best doesn’t walk away the winner. It’s
that simple.”
|
E-mail this story or share it on your favorite social network site. |
Heartbreaker Ends Crusaders’ Super Bowl Hopes
Cape Tech/Harwich Surrenders
Game-Winning Score With Seven Seconds Left In 14-12 Loss To
Bristol-Plymouth
by Eric Adler
TAUNTON — For the better part of four
quarters, Evan Cabral couldn’t do anything against Cape Tech/Harwich.
And then, with a little over two minutes to go, he pulled out a miracle
and broke their hearts.
The clutch
Bristol-Plymouth QB capped a 75-yard drive with a 32-yard touchdown pass
to Wayne DeVaughn with seven seconds left, and Jesse McCartney rushed in
for the go-ahead two-point conversion, lifting the Craftsmen to a crazy
14-12 comeback victory over the Crusaders Friday night.
 |
|
CT/H players react
after allowing the game-tying touchdown and go-ahead
two-point conversion with seven seconds to go in their 14-12
loss to Bristol-Plymouth Friday night. ERIC ADLER PHOTO. |
With the win, B-P (7-2, 5-0) clinched the
Mayflower Large League title and a Super Bowl berth, their second
overall and first since 1989. CT/H, winless on the road this season,
falls to 5-3 (4-2 league).
“That was a tough one, a real tough
one,” Cape Tech/Harwich coach Dave Currid said somberly.
Currid and the Crusaders coaching staff
spent most of the week designing a game plan to stop the high-scoring
Craftsmen, who averaged 35 points over their previous three games, and
Cabral, who came into the contest with 15 touchdowns. By and large, they
did that.
Led by the triple-I power
running attack of tailback Taylor Inkley (161 yards on 33 carries),
fullback Tyler Amato and quarterback Mike Brigham, CT/H dominated time
of possession and total yardage (194-159). Complementing that effort was
the Crusaders’ defense, which forced four three-and-out defensive
stands.
“They took us out of what
we do best, and that’s play offense,” Craftsmen coach John Parris said.
“They’re big and they’re strong and they pounded us.”
Prior to their miracle
march, B-P had just 84 total yards of total offense, and only seven in
the second half. That didn’t faze Parris, who confidently declared with
a few minutes remaining, “If we can get the ball back, I know we can win
this game.”
B-P gave themselves that opportunity by
forcing a turnover on downs and took over from the 25-yard line with
2:05 to play.
“We didn’t panic, we just
kept our heads on our shoulders,” Paris said. “When you have an Evan
Cabral and the game is one the line, you put it in the hands of the kids
who’s brought you here and that’s what we did.”
Cabral ignited the
Craftsmen with a 13-yard scramble. He then completed an 11-yard pass to
get his team across midfield and later connected to convert
fourth-and-seven with 20 ticks left.
On the ensuing snap,
Cabral raced to his right, reversed his field, slipped by a few
defenders, and heaved his Hail Mary pass downfield to DeVaughn, who came
back to the ball and made a sliding catch in the end zone.
“The line blocked for me,
I saw Wayne had his guy beat and I knew he’d catch it,” said Cabral. “He
made a great play.”
CT/H could have forced
overtime after that point, but McCartney caught the Crusaders off guard
on a counter play, and B-P officially sealed the win when they picked
off Brigham’s pass over the middle on the game’s final play.
“We played a lot of teams this year,
and this is the best football team we have played,” Parris announced to
the Crusaders when the teams met at midfield. “This is the hardest
hitting, hardest nose football team we have played all year.”
CT/H showed its grit from
the get go. Inkley’s 40-yard rumble set up first and goal from the two
and Brigham punched it in from there, capping an efficient six-play
66-yard scoring drive.
The Craftsmen landed a
counter punch later in the quarter with Nick Welby’s 11-yard touchdown
run that was set up by McCartney’s acrobatic catch and long run that
went for 49 yards.
Inkley put CT/H back on
top 12-6 just before halftime with a 16-yard bootleg around the left
end, but for the second time, the Crusaders couldn’t convert the
two-point attempt, which came back to haunt them.
At the time, however, it
seemed Tech’s one-score lead would hold up. Led by Brigham, who shot
through the line to stop several plays in the backfield from the
defensive end position, the Crusaders held the Craftsmen without a first
down on its first three possessions of the second half.
All CT/H needed to do was
run out the clock after forcing Cabral into a fourth down incompletion
and taking over on the host’s 41-yard line with 4:26 to go.
The Crusaders moved the
chains once, but on fourth-and-six from the 27, Inkley was stopped four
yards short of the marker, setting the stage for B-P’s deft two-minute
drill, directed by their cucumber-cool signal caller.
The win allowed B-P to
retain the annual Tradesmen Trophy, and though the relic wasn’t on the
field, it didn’t temper the Craftsmen’s celebration. On the other side
of the field, there was only shock, sadness and tears shed.
A CT/H victory would have created a
three-way tie for first place in the league, and according to Currid,
possibly forced a coin-flipping tiebreaker to determine who would move
to the Division Four playoffs.
At the very least, a win would have
earned the Maroon and Gold a shot to play in the Vocational Super Bowl.
As it stands, Southeastern, which won the head-to-head meeting against
CT/H this year, may get to represent the league at the game provided
they win their remaining game against South Shore Voke.
Still, there were no
regrets after the Crusaders gave a lion-hearted effort and arguably
played their finest game of the season.
“The kids came to play and
I couldn’t be more pleased,” said Currid. “They showed a lot of guts and
a lot of courage.”
11/19/09 |
