By Gordon Vincent
LYNN — The Lynn Classical football team drew the unfortunate assignment Friday night of playing an angry Danvers football team coming off a tough loss to Marblehead.
And Dean Borders ran for two scores, threw for another and Matt Andreas ran for 166 yards and a touchdown as the Falcons thumped the Rams, 26-0, at Manning Field.
Danvers (3-1) held Classical (1-3) to just 103 yards of offense, none of which came through the air. The Rams attempted five passes. Four were incomplete and the other was intercepted.
The critical moments came at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second, when Danvers scored bookend touchdowns. Borders threw for a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jack Anderson with 43 seconds left in the second quarter, and the Falcons opened the third quarter with a 66-yard, 6-play drive that gave them a 20-0 lead.
“We talk about getting off the bus and being ready to play, but we also have to have the same mentality coming out of the locker room at halftime,” Classical coach Tim Phelps said. “We’re down by only one touchdown with less than a minute left in the first half, and then all of a sudden we’re down by three touchdowns early in the second half. We need to be better.”
After a scoreless first quarter, Borders put Danvers on the scoreboard 91 seconds into the second quarter with a 13-yard run that capped off a 68-yard drive. Borders also had a 32-yard run during the march.
Classical’s best chance to score in the first half came after Ishmael Johnson picked off a Borders pass and returned it 23 yards to the Falcons 15-yard line. Three plays went backwards, though, and a pass attempt from Matt Lauria on 4th-and-11 was batted down by Danvers linebacker Quintin Holland.
“We have to score there,” Phelps said. “We get outstanding field position after a good return by Johnson and we don’t take advantage. It’s frustrating.”
The Falcons then went on an 84-yard drive that included a 46-yard pass from Borders to Zach Turner, who got behind the defense. Three plays later, Borders found Anderson near the right sideline, in the end zone, to give the Falcons a 12-0 lead.
A 41-yard run by Andreas on the first play from scrimmage in the second half keyed the next Danvers drive, which culminated with a 2-yard run around right guard by Andreas. Borders’ 2-point conversion rush put the Falcons on top, 20-0, with 8:14 left in the third quarter.
Danvers put the game away with a touchdown on its next drive, after Franco Abbatessa blocked a Classical punt to give the Falcons the ball at the Rams’ 9-yard line. Borders scored on a 4-yard run three plays later.
The Rams made it as far as the Danvers 4-yard line in the final three minutes of the game, but a pass attempt from Lauria to Johnson was broken up in the end zone.