DUXBURY – With a key turnover forced on defense late in the fourth quarter, top-seeded Duxbury is making its sixth straight trip to the state semifinals.
Senior captain James Scanlon recovered a fumble forced by senior captain Jack Rees with 3:32 left and Trevor Jones ran it in from five yards out with 1:19 to go to lift the No. 1 Dragons over No. 8 Canton 30-27 at home Friday night in the Div. 4 quarterfinals.
“It feels good,” said Duxbury coach Matt Landolfi about making it back to the state semifinals. “I don’t really think about it, but it feels good. I’m just happy for these guys. The coaches all work really hard for them and they all work really hard for us. So, we’re just happy to go on this ride with them.”
On defense, Duxbury (9-1) then forced four straight incompletions from junior Jack Norton, who finished 9-of-20 for 178 yards and a passing score.
The Dragons took over with under a minute left and Rees ran the ball twice to end the game with 187 yards on 25 carries to go along with two scores.
“It feels awesome especially with the one seed we don’t want to let people down,” said Scanlon about staying alive for a three-peat. “We got stuff to live up to. We’ve got to keep going. It’s not over yet.”
With a 14-10 deficit, Duxbury came out and took their first lead as an 11-play drive, including a fake punt that senior Brett Barr took as a direct snap for a gain of five, was capped by a three-yard rushing score for Jones to make it a 17-14 advantage about midway through the third.
Canton (6-4) answered right back as three plays later Norton found senior captain Kareem Chaplin II for a 64-yard catch-and-run score to go up 20-17 after the PAT was blocked.
After both teams traded punts, the Dragons once again responded with a 27-yard rushing score for Rees for his second of the contest to go up 24-20 with 47 ticks left in the third.
The Bulldogs then put together a 12-play drive to go back in front 27-24 as Chaplin found the endzone from 11 yards out.
In the first half, after receiving the opening kickoff, Canton took the ball 59 yards on eight plays as junior captain Nicholas Crowe took it in from five yards out to put the Bulldogs up 7-0 with 9:01 left in the first.
On the ensuing Duxbury drive, Chaplin picked off a pass in the end zone. The Bulldogs went three-and-out and the Dragons needed just two plays to tie the score at 7-7 as Rees ran it in from 47 yards with 1:15 to go in the first. Rees finished with 13 carries for 118 yards in the first half.
Canton took the lead back two drives later after forcing a turnover on downs as Chaplin scored on a 21-yard run to go up 14-7 with 5:45 remaining in the first half.
Duxbury answered with a 25-yard field goal with 21 seconds to go in the second to cut the deficit to 14-10 at the break.
“I think both teams really deserved to win today,” said Landolfi. “(Canton) is a great team and I think we’re a very good team and we just came out today. They have a really good team over there. Credit to Canton with a heck of a program over there.”
The Dragons will play No. 5 Tewksbury in a semifinal.
