PHOTO BY MARK LORENZ
St. Mary’s Calvin Johnson pulls away from a Bishop Fenwick defender in the teams’ annual Thanksgiving Day football game.
By GORDON VINCENT
PEABODY – The resumption of the St. Mary’s-Bishop Fenwick Thanksgiving Day football rivalry on Thanksgiving is catching on.
After last year’s thriller, the Spartans and the Crusaders played another memorable game at Donaldson Stadium Thursday that wasn’t decided until the final two minutes, when Calvin Johnson‘s third touchdown of the game put the Spartans ahead, 22-13.
Johnson scored on runs of 14 and 6 yards, caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Marcus Atkins and added a 2-point conversion for St. Mary’s (11-0), which won the Catholic Central League title outright. If the Spartans were overlooking Fenwick (7-4) on their way to the Div. 3A Super Bowl next Saturday at Gillette Stadium, they sure didn’t show it.
Photo gallery: Bishop Fenwick vs. St. Mary’s 2016 Thanksgiving football game
“It’s Bishop Fenwick, on Thanksgiving, with the league title on the line,” said St. Mary’s coach Matt Durgin. “If you can’t get excited for that, you’re not a football player.”
The Spartans and the Crusaders met from 1964-91 on Thanksgiving, but suspended their rivalry until last year, when Fenwick won, 36-30, on Thanksgiving Eve at Manning Field.
The Crusaders’ Cory Bright threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Colin Norton, and added a 59-yard touchdown with 7:20 left in the game to pull Fenwick to within three points. Bishop Fenwick was doomed by three fumbles, two in the first quarter and another in the second quarter when Johnson ripped the ball out of the hands of Cam Eon, who had just intercepted a pass from Atkins.
“You can’t turn the ball over, especially against an undefeated team,” Fenwick coach David Woods said. “St. Mary’s is a great team and we wish them all the luck in the world in the Super Bowl. They’re going to represent our league really well.”
Fenwick’s first fumble came on its second play from scrimmage, with Matt Cross recovering at the Crusaders’ 47-yard line. St. Mary’s made it as far as Fenwick’s 7, before the Crusaders’ defense stopped Johnson for a 1-yard gain on fourth-and-2. The Crusaders turned the ball right back over to the Spartans on the next play, and three plays later, Atkins threw a lob into the right back corner of the end zone that Johnson caught despite excellent coverage. The try for two points was no good and the Spartans led, 6-0, with 3:06 left in the first quarter.
The Crusaders marched to the Spartans’ 16-yard line on the next drive, but failed to convert a fourth-and-7. A 32-yard pass from Atkins to Johnson moved St. Mary’s to the 50-yard line, and two plays later, Eon picked off Atkins at about Fenwick’s 20-yard line. Johnson wrested the ball from Eon, and carried it to the Crusaders’ 7-yard line. One play later, Johnson swept around right end for a touchdown, and his 2-point conversion attempt made the score 14-0, with 25 seconds left in the first half.
The Crusaders got on the scoreboard with their first drive of the second half, an impressive 62-yard, 9-play march that Isaiah Cashwell-Doe kept alive with a 9-yard run up the middle on fourth-and-1 from the Spartans’ 29. One play later, Bright connected with Norton on a fly route down the left sideline. St. Mary’s stopped the 2-point conversion rush and held a 14-6 lead with 2:53 left in the third quarter.
After a St. Mary’s punt, a sack of Bright by Brendon Donahue brought up a fourth-and-18 for the Crusaders from their own 22. The long snap from center was over the head of the punter, who was tackled in his own end zone for a safety that gave the Spartans a 16-6 lead with 8:50 left.
After the ensuing free kick, Fenwick got the ball back when Dan Mastromatteo intercepted a pass at the Crusaders’ 41-yard line. One play later, Bright took a quarterback draw down the left sideline, losing his shoe at about the Spartans’ 5 as he scored. Eon’s point after kick was good and Fenwick trailed, 16-13, with 7:20 remaining.
“He’s a tough, tough kid,” Durgin said of Bright, Fenwick’s sophomore quarterback. “And we’ve got to figure out a way to stop him for another two years.”
Lee Pacheco recovered the ensuing onside kick for St. Mary’s, giving the Spartans the ball at the 50-yard line. With Johnson carrying the ball on eight of nine plays, St. Mary’s moved the ball to Fenwick’s 15, but a mishandled snap from center was recovered by Mastromatteo, giving the Crusaders life with 2:51 left.
Three straight incompletions brought up a fourth-and-10, and Marlon Scott broke up a pass to give the ball back to the Spartans with 2:23 left. One play later, Johnson ambled in from the 14-yard line and though the 2-point conversion pass was no good, St. Mary’s restored its 2-score lead, 22-13, with 1:29 left in the game.
Fenwick made it as far as St. Mary’s 29-yard line, but Joey Silvestri and Nino Echevarria combined to sack Bright for a 15-yard loss on the final play of the game.