LYNN — The Danvers football team possessed the ball for nearly 30 minutes Friday night, keeping a high-powered English offense off the field en route to a 28-7 win in the Division 3 North semifinals at Manning Field. The No. 3 Falcons used their relentless running attack, led by senior Matt McCarthy, to pound the No. 2 Bulldogs all game long.
“That was our plan tonight, to run the ball and the clock,” said Danvers coach Ryan Nolan. “When you have an offense that can do what (English) can, you keep the ball away from them. We did a great job finishing runs, making third-down conversions and getting tough yards when we had to.”
McCarthy had a big game on the ground despite not scoring any touchdowns, rushing for 141 yards. Senior quarterback Brandon Treacy was mostly responsible for the scoring on the night, throwing for 97 yards and 2 touchdowns while also rushing for 2 touchdowns. Receivers Ezra Lombardi (3 receptions, 27 yards) and Justin DiTomaso (2 receptions, 28 yards) each caught a touchdown pass.
English really couldn’t get anything going on offense after its first drive of the game.The Bulldogs went 59 yards in 11 plays on that drive, which culminated in a 2-yard touchdown run by quarterback Matt Severance. After that, English only ran 20 offensive plays the rest of the game.
“A tip of the hat to coach Nolan and the Danvers Falcons, first of all,” English coach Chris Carroll said. “They came out and played some good football tonight. I think we only had three drives going into the last series of the game when we were down three touchdowns. They took it to us tonight.”
Danvers answered right back after English scored on the opening drive. After a great kick return that set the Falcons up in English territory, Treacy and McCarthy moved Danvers down the field in 12 plays, nine of them running plays. After getting forced into a fourth-and-goal from the seven yard-line, Treacy scrambled out of the pocket and found Lombardi in the back of the endzone for a 7-yard touchdown. The Falcons did miss the extra point, however, putting the score at 7-6 English.
But Danvers wouldn’t be behind for long. The Falcons forced a three-and-out and got the ball right back, moving down the field in a similar fashion to the first drive. After 12 plays, 51 yards and nearly 7 minutes of game time, Treacy threw his second touchdown pass of the game, this one a 15-yarder to DiTomaso. The Falcons converted the two-pointer to take a 14-7 lead, and they never relinquished it.
On the ensuing kickoff, Danvers caught English off guard with an onside kick and the Falcons recovered it themselves to take the ball right back. It only took the Falcons seven plays to score this time thanks to the short field, and after Treacy punched in a run from one yard out Danvers took a 21-7 lead.
Danvers rounded out the scoring in the third quarter, after another long drive that took nearly six minutes off the clock. For the third time in the game, Danvers scored on a fourth down play, this time when Treacy ran it in from two yards out. After the extra point, the Falcons went up 28-7.
While the playoff run is over for English this year, the season is not. The Bulldogs (7-2) still have a game next week against an opponent to be determined, and then a Thanksgiving morning date with crosstown rival Classical.
“The unfortunate thing now is that we have a final end date for the season, especially for these seniors,” said Carroll. “You have a guy like Matt Severance, who started as a freshman and has played every game since. We have a lot of guys like that. So now we’ll just work to get better from this and try to finish the season with a couple wins.”
As for the Falcons (7-2), they will play the winner of No. 1 Tewksbury and No. 5 Beverly in the Division 3 North final, which will be decided on Saturday afternoon.
“We just need to continue to do the things we’ve been doing,” Nolan said. “We had a practice this past Tuesday where all the kids came out and held each other accountable, got after each other and had a real sense of urgency. So I think we need to do that again and keep trying to be the best we can be.”