FILE PHOTO
Prince Brown looks for an opening as he carries the football.
By STEVE KRAUSE
This wasn’t exactly how Chris Carroll and the Lynn English football team drew it up last August.
The Bulldogs weren’t supposed to be 2-8 heading into the Thanksgiving against Classical (Thursday, Manning Field, 10 a.m.). But things happened and it is what it is.
“We struggled throughout the year, scoring in the red zone, and getting off the field on defense,” said Carroll. “But what’s great is that it’s Thanksgiving, you’re playing your crosstown rivals, and you can send yourself off with a win.
“Our kids have not stopped working hard,” said Carroll, “and I’m happy about that.”
He would like to forget about the first game of the season — a penalty-filled 11-8 loss to Swampscott. But things seemed so much more promising in Week 2, when the Bulldogs took Super Bowl-bound St. Mary’s into the third quarter before the Spartans pulled away for a 38-12 win.
Then there was more progress as the Bulldogs defeated Winthrop in overtime, and things seemed very promising.
The following week, English was leading Division 2 North champion Beverly, 14-0, at halftime, and a touchdown with no time left in the half seemed to give the Bulldogs the momentum heading to third quarter.
But Beverly roared back with 24 unanswered points. And that, said Carroll, completely flipped the season.
“Beverly’s the game where things got away from us,” said Carroll. “They were a win away from going to the Super Bowl (until losing to Duxbury Saturday) and we almost had them.
“We had two fourth downs, one of them a fourth-and-17, and we couldn’t get off the field. We stop them, and I’m convinced the game turns out differently. The carryover effect might have been different.”
The game sent the Bulldogs into a deep tailspin. First it was Danvers and a 26-0 loss and from there, it was Peabody and then Marblehead.
“We took a step back after that Danvers game,” he said. “I don’t want to make excuses, but we had a pile of injuries and we don’t have a ton of depth. We were down eight starters at one point.”
Among those missing action were Prince Brown, Jon Kosmas and Emile Rossi. Senior co-captain Chris Gomez tore his ACL and missed the rest of the season.
“We went into a downward spiral,” he said.
They didn’t snap out of it until a victory over Lawrence in the second week of the non-playoff schedule. And even though his team is coming off a loss to Revere two weeks ago, the game was competitive.
“And,” he said, “Revere is a good team. We lost with three seconds left in the game. That’s the story of our season. Our kids have not stopped working, and when you’re 2-8 that’s hard to have your kids show up for every practice and every game. I’m proud of them.”
Along the way, he’s received some pleasant surprises. One is the continued growth of sophomore quarterback Matt Severance.
“Also,” he said, “Ishmael Bangura was a bright spot for us at tailback. Miguel Ramos, a sophomore, was a bright spot for us. And Prince Brown, a sophomore, was a real bright spot before he got hurt. And we have a number of freshmen and juniors playing well as of late too.”
Now, it’s onto Classical.
“We’ve been able to see a lot of film on Classical,” he said. “They are very similar to us. And they’re coming off a real high after beating Malden last week. They are physical,, and we’re going to have to be as prepared as possible.”
Carroll said his team has to be particularly mindful of quarterback Matt Lauria.
“He’s a good athlete,” he said. “I’ve seen him play, and he can do a lot of things. He’s a real leader out there. He’s absolutely a guy you have to prepare to stop when you play Lynn Classical.”
Although English has had the better of the rivalry of late (the Bulldogs have won six of the last seven games) Classical still has a wide lead overall of 54-39, with nine ties.
Carroll is 5-0 against the Rams. He never lost to them while he played at English, and the Bulldogs won last year’s game in his first season as coach, 34-21.
Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].