LYNN – The Lynn Tech football team has given the big boys in the Commonwealth Conference fits this season, and on Wednesday night at Manning Field, that experience paid off in a big way.Click here to see a photo gallery of Wednesday’s St. Mary’s-Lynn Tech game.Despite having just 26 players in uniform, the Tigers used a suffocating defense and a punishing rushing attack that played keep away from St. Mary’s en route to a 16-6 win in the team’s annual Thanksgiving Eve clash.”We play in a very tough league,” Tech coach Gary Sverker said. “We lost two games by a total of four points or we would have come in here 5-5. The coaches did a great job of preparing the kids all week and the kids just wouldn’t be denied (Wednesday).”The Tiger (4-7) defense was the story of this game. The unit helped set up Tech’s first touchdown of the game and then came up with a pair of goal line stands in the fourth quarter to diffuse any chance of a comeback by the Spartans.After the game, St. Mary’s coach Matt Durgin knew that his team missed some golden opportunities. “We had some chances and Tech made some big stops,” Durgin said. “Give them a lot of credit, they played well on defense.”St. Mary’s got the ball to begin the game and used its punishing ground game to put together a 14 play drive that took over seven minutes off the first quarter clock.Jordan Harvey and Todd Collier did the bulk of the work on the long drive that saw St. Mary’s convert on a pair of fourth-and-one situations. The march eventually reached the Tigers 32, where the Tech defense put up the first of its three critical stands.After John LaMothe’s pass to Nick Day in the endzone was knocked away by Leroy Davis, two running plays netted only a single yard, bringing up fourth-and-nine from the 31. Harvey got the call, but was wrestled down by the Tech defensive line after gaining only two yards.Yet, as quickly as Tech seized the momentum, it quickly tried to give it away as an illegal substitution penalty was followed by a 14-yard loss by Gerrad Fairwheather, setting up a second-and-29 from the Tech 11.But quarterback Dustin Rooney and wide receiver Connor Bryson turned the seemingly impossible down and distance into a thing of beauty. Rooney lofted a pass down the right sideline to Bryson, who had got behind the defense.After catching the pass, Bryson dashed down the sideline, getting a final block from Wardell Barber atthe St. Mary’s 15 to allow him to complete the 89-yard touchdown play and give Tech an 8-0 lead after Ryan Murphy’s conversion rush.”That was something we worked on in practice all week and the kids came out and did it,” Sverker said.Things seemed to go from bad to worse for the Spartans on the second play of its next drive when Collier fumbled and Davis recovered at the St. Mary’s 38. However, that chance went by the boards, and Tech kept its 8-0 lead after the first quarter.The Spartans put together another long drive in the second quarter, reaching the Tech 33 before LaMothe was sacked for a two yard loss on fourth-and-three. Tech then turned to Steven Caisse and Murphy to get their ground attack going.The two helped move the ball to the St. Mary’s 30 but Richie Warren’s pass was picked off by LaMothe at the two. He returned the ball 26 yards to the Spartan 28 with 3:52 left in the half.St. Mary’s then marched into Tech territory as time ticked down in the half, reaching the 22 in the final moments but LaMothe’s pass to Tim Ray went incomplete on fourth down and Tech took its 8-0 lead to the half.”That stop at the end of the half was huge,” Durgin said. “It let them get the momentum.”The Tigers got the ball to begin the second half and returned the favor to St. Mary’s for its lengthy opening drive that began the game. Tech used the legs of Caisse and Murphy to march 66 yards in 15 plays, taking 6:58 off the clock.Murphy closed the drive with a three yard plunge off left guard and with Caisse’s conversion run, the Tigers extended the lead to 16-0.Desperately