PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
James Brumfield (9) runs for a touchdown behind the block of fullback Joey Silvestri (33) during Saturday’s Division 3A Super Bowl loss to East Bridgewater.
By KATIE MORRISON
FOXBOROUGH — St. Mary’s looked like an unstoppable force coming into Saturday’s Division 3A Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium.
But the Spartans were shut down by East Bridgewater, the same team that ended their title bid in 2015, falling, 34-8.
Turnovers were the name of the game, as the Spartans turned the ball over six times and the Vikings threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles.
“It was a tough day. We picked a bad day to have some mistakes,” St. Mary’s coach Matt Durgin said. “It was a very good East Bridgewater team that took advantage of our turnovers, but hey, things happen, and we’re just as proud of them going out as coming in. Prouder, actually, because of the way they handled it. They kept playing until the end.”
In the first quarter, neither team could get anything cooking on offense. St. Mary’s received the opening kickoff and went three-and-out, but Calvin Johnson fumbled the snap on the punt and East Bridgewater recovered at the Spartans’ 1. But the tide turned quickly as the Vikings fumbled at the 1 on second-and-goal, and St. Mary’s Brendon Donahue pounced on the loose ball.
But it wasn’t the Spartans’ Donahue who would steal the show Saturday. Instead it was the Vikings’ Joseph Donahue, who picked up four fumbles and ran two back for touchdowns.
Midway through the second quarter, the St. Mary’s offense finally found a groove and gained some yardage, taking six plays to get from its 25 to East Bridgewater’s 30. But quarterback Marcus Atkins fumbled the snap on first down, and Joseph Donahue scooped up the loose ball, taking it 68 yards to get East Bridgewater on the board.
“We had a bunch of different looks planned for (St. Mary’s), and the first time we gave them a different look, they got about 20 or 30 yards,” East Bridgewater coach Shawn Tarpey said. “The second time we called one of our other defensive fronts was when Joe got that first fumble and took it the other way. I think it pinched their offensive line and caught them a little off-guard. We just played tough and we did a great job today.”
On St. Mary’s next possession, Atkins hit Johnson with a pass for a 39-yard gain, and the Spartans were in business at East Bridgewater’s 25.
Atkins then threw a pass intended for freshman Matt Cross that was picked off by the Vikings’ Kevin Aylward. But the turnover wasn’t the biggest loss the Spartans suffered on the play; Cross, who is a ninth-grader, went down with a broken leg and was taken off the field on a stretcher.
Durgin said Cross, who starred last year as a forward on the Division 4 state basketball champion, underwent surgery Sunday morning.
The Spartans shut down the Vikings’ next drive as Cam Sakowich picked off Liam LeVangie’s pass at the East Bridgewater 30, and St. Mary’s went into the half down by just a score.
The momentum shifted back to East Bridgewater after the half, as the Vikings capped off a 62-yard, 12-play drive with a 2-yard touchdown run from LeVangie, eating up more than five minutes of the third quarter.
Joseph Donahue struck again on the Spartans’ first play of the half. Abraham Toe took the ball up the middle and was stopped after a 5-yard gain, and Donahue stripped the ball. It took the Vikings six plays to score again, as LeVangie hit a wide-open Michael Khoury with a 30-yard touchdown pass to put East Bridgewater up, 21-0, with 40 seconds left in the third quarter.
St. Mary’s got on the board early in the fourth after a Marlon Scott interception as James Brumfield, on his first carry of the day, went 5 yards for the score and also rushed for the 2-point conversion. But East Bridgewater wasn’t done.
LeVangie found Greg Plunkett for a 48-yard touchdown pass with 5:38 left in the fourth, and Joseph Donahue wrapped up his huge day with the dagger, a 32-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown with 3:14 left.
“I know the outcome today and tomorrow, it’s going to hurt,” Durgin said. “But in the long run, in years to come, they’ll remember they went through something with their team, and we got to play in Gillette Stadium. They’re going to take a lot of good things out of it.”
Katie Morrison can be reached at [email protected]