Williams captures first win in historic

first night game at home

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AMELIA KUNHARDT/The Patriot Ledger

Norwell’s Forrest Detwiler (22) celebrates after he catches a long pass for a touchdown, giving the visiting Clippers a 6-0 lead in the first quarter.

By Justin A. Rice

For The Patriot Ledger

Posted Oct 03, 2008 @ 10:35 PM

Last update Oct 03, 2008 @ 11:19 PM

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BRAINTREE — Friday night was an evening of firsts at Memorial Field.

On the first Friday night football game under the lights at home in Archbishop Williams school history, the Bishops (1-4) also collected their first win of the season in an 18-16 thriller against Norwell that came down to Nick Querzoli’s game-saving blocked field goal with 19.2 seconds left in the game.

“I came off the end, I jumped the snap and blocked that thing,” the senior captain said.

Trailing 18-6 with 5:10 left in the third, Norwell senior running back Jamie Waters brought it down to the 7 with a 25-yard run before junior running back AJ DeBenedictis scored on a two-yard run. That touchdown cut the score to 18-14 with 2:17 left in the quarter after DeBenedictis also added the two-point conversion.

Norwell got within two with 10:01 left in the game. After pinning the Bishops at the 12, a long snap sailed over the head of Dan Varasso and out of the back of the end zone for a safety. Then Norwell seemed poised to score the game winner before DeBenedictis fumbled at the 15 to the Bishops’ Tim O’Brien. Two plays later, Williams fumbled the ball back to Dan Regan at the 22 with 5:45 to play.

The Bishops put in a goal-line stand after sophomore Sean Provenzano sacked senior quarterback Mike Lodigiani on fourth down at the 15-yard line. Then Provenzano ripped a 40-yard run that still didn’t clinch the game for the Bishops.

After Norwell regained possession, Lodigiani, who finished with 123 passing yards, completed four huge passes that set up the winning 25-yard field goal attempt. Norwell senior Marshall Haskins, who was kicking the first field goal of his career in place of injured Christian McInnis, was blocked by Querzoli.

“We like to keep them close,” Williams coach Bill Kinsherf said. “You couldn’t ask for a better end to a great night. The crowd was great, the lights were awesome, and the field was awesome.

Besides two huge sacks in the final quarter, Provenzano ran for 105 yards and one touchdown.

He was joined in the backfield by another sophomore, Alex Furtado, who ripped Norwell for 155 yards on 18 carries, including a 79-yard touchdown.

Photo courtesy of Boston College Boston College quarterback Chris Crane took over as QB after Matt Ryan was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons.

By Justin A. Rice, Sept. 25, 2008

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Let’s be clear: Chris Crane has not been benched.

Local kid can still make good and be big man on campus at Boston College. The former Trinity High School star might’ve been booed in the first half of Saturday’s game against Central Florida, but the Mechanicsburg native responded in the second half by leading BC’s offense to 31-unanswered points on the way to a 34-7 victory at Alumni Stadium.

With that said, redshirt freshman and fan-favorite Dominique Davis will also have ample opportunity to make the folks down in Lakeland, Fla. proud of their own native son as well. It is, in fact, official: The Eagles (2-1) will quarterback by committee the rest of the way this season.

“At that position, you get more credit than you should, and you get more blame than you should. That just goes along with that position,” BC coach Jeff Jagodzinski said Sunday during his weekly teleconference. “Yes. We’re going to get [Davis] some more playing time. He had about 20 snaps Saturday, and he made some good decisions. I thought he managed the clock well. It’s all a learning process, and we’re going to continue to get him some snaps. As I mentioned before, I’m not going to be in a position next year where the starting quarterback hasn’t had any snaps at all in a game situation.”

The fact is that neither Crane nor Davis is former BC quarterback and current Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. And Crane is content with that. Crane, who is 46-of-87 passing through three games with two TD passes and five interceptions, is being incredibly mature about the new game plan.

“Coach wanted Dominique to take some of the pressure off so I could step back and see things, not from the first person perspective, just to get an overview,” Crane said Wednesday. “And the coaches have done that all throughout their past and said it usually helps and it did. So it was the game plan going in and it ended up working out by the end of the game. You kind of get to take a look at the defense, you get to see what they’re doing exactly. You can only see so much when you’re in the quarterback position, but when you’re on the sideline you get to see everything that’s happening. It helps in that sense and it just slows the game down. You’re not actually under duress so you get to see how much time you have to throw the ball.

“It helped. We opened it up a little bit more (in the second half). I got, almost, into a groove and a rhythm. It felt good to air it out a lot in the second half and not just short passes, but throw down the field.”

After collecting two touchdowns on short runs in the second half, Crane ripped off a 27-yard third-down scramble. Then he connected with senior Brandon Robinson on a 48-yard score — also on third down for the longest touchdown pass of Crane’s young career to give the Eagles a 24-7 edge.

“I really needed that just to build my confidence,” said Robinson, who also praised Davis’s debut drives in which he managed the game well and was 4-for-7 passing with 30 yards.

Crane finished the game 16-of-34 for 207 yards and three interceptions.

“I told him before the game, ‘Go play this game like you’re playing in your back yard. Just go out and throw the thing around. Just have fun with it,’ “ Jagodzinski said. “I think sometimes he wants to be perfect and there’s no quarterback that’s perfect. You’re going to make mistakes.” All Crane has to do to figure that one out is look down the road at Foxboro, Mass. to Matt Cassel, who was thrust into the New England Patriots’ starting lineup when Tom Brady went down with a knee injury.

“When the year started we had Tom Brady as the other quarterback in New England,” Crane said, referring to himself as the second quarterback in town. “That’s a tough act to be right next to. Matt Ryan did alright with it but I’m a new quarterback. When he went down we had two fresh quarterbacks and our offensive coordinators wanted to go out and just manage the game. And it’s tough. The Patriots have seen how tough it can be. But everyone has to rebound and pick each other up.

“It was a tough game for him last week and I liken that to our Georgia Tech game,” Crane continued, speaking of the Patriots 38-7 loss to Miami and BC’s 19-16 loss to GT. “Even though we only lost by three and we were in the game the whole time, it was heart breaking. It’s the adversity that you experience in the season and it’s the way you bounce back and I’m sure the Patriots will bounce back next week. I’m sure Matt Cassel will do great too. You can’t have too bad weeks in a row. You consciously and subconsciously practice and play so that you don’t have two bad performances in a row.”

And while Crane didn’t necessarily have a bad or a great week against Central Florida, he said most of his family and friends from back home are still holding out for the Virginia Tech (Oct. 18), Clemson (Nov. 1) and Notre Dame (Nov. 8) to ask him for tickets.

“It’s been mostly family that has been up so far but you can bet for the Notre Dame game, Virginia Tech and Clemson I’ve gotten quite a few requests,” Crane said. “Which will be tough but I’ll do my best to help.”

After all, fulfilling a few ticket requests is the least he can do to repay everyone who has supported him throughout his five seasons in Chestnut Hill.

“They realize the situation I’ve been put in being behind Matt for four years,” Crane said. “Now that I’ve gotten my opportunity, my friends, family, supporters, they’ve been there for me and I can’t thank them enough.”

Patriots defenders admit Miami Dolphins offense caught them by surprise

Patriots defenders tried to adjust to Miami's spread offense but failed. 'They were always a step ahead,' Richard Seymour said.

Posted on Mon, Sep. 22, 2008

BY JUSTIN A. RICE

Special to The Herald

HECTOR GABINO / EL NUEVO HERALD

Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams protects the football as he rushes for a first down during the fourth quarter against the Patriots on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass.

FOXBORO, Mass. -- The New England Patriots went back to school Sunday afternoon.

The franchise that prides itself on preparation, in-game adjustments and overall football scholarship got schooled by the type of option offense NFL players normally only see their collegian counterparts run.

The result: A 38-13 trashing at Gillette Stadium that ended New England's NFL-record, 21-game regular-season win streak.

''That's something you usually see in college,'' defensive lineman Ty Warren said of the Dolphins' spread offense that featured running back Ronnie Brown taking direct snaps while quarterback Chad Pennington lined up as a wide receiver.

FANTASY GAME

Brown ripped the Patriots for 113 yards rushing on 17 attempts, including two short touchdowns off direct snaps in the first half and throwing another direct snap to Anthony Fasano for a third-quarter touchdown.

For an encore, Brown ripped a 62-yard TD run off a direct snap in the final quarter to break the franchise record for most rushing touchdowns in a game.

Overall, Brown took six direct shotgun snaps, even handing off two to fellow running back Ricky Williams, who was often running in motion.

''We had trouble with a lot of things. That was one of them,'' Pats coach Bill Belichick said of defending the spread offense. ``We had trouble a lot.''

The head master refused to detail how Brown and the Dolphins befuddled New England's defense, which heading into Sunday ranked ninth in the NFL, allowing 270 yards per game. But safety Rodney Harrison shed a little more light.

''Unfortunately, we had no idea they were going to come out and run those kind of plays,'' said Harrison, who had a combined 12 tackles.

EARLY TROUBLE

The Patriots' first glimpse of the option came with 2:32 left in the first quarter. Brown took the snap and faked to Williams. Circling back right to left, he ran 2 yards for the game's first score. Miami used a similar play near the end of the half, this time resulting in a 5-yard Brown touchdown and 21-6 advantage.

But what the Pats saw next proved to defensive end Richard Seymour that this wasn't a fluke, rather a calculated trend. Taking his first direct snap of the second half, Brown, a lefty, rolled left and threw a 19-yard TD to Fasano halfway through the third.

''I thought that was a game-plan scheme, where they game-schemed us, as far as what they were trying to do,'' Seymour said of Brown's TD pass, which put Miami up 28-6.

``They ran some passes off of it, some different runs, some outside runs, some inside runs. They moved their offensive linemen around and did some things we weren't prepared for. We made some adjustments, and we didn't get the job done. They were always a step ahead of what we were trying to do. Even in our base defense, we didn't wrap up and tackle. It was just a bad day all around.

``We'll probably get the corrections from this film and then bury the film -- bury the tape out on the field somewhere.''

WELKER IMPRESSED

Even former Dolphin Wes Welker, who had 55 yards receiving on six catches Sunday for New England and has been the beneficiary of diverse offensive schemes, marveled at Brown's performance.

''He's got a lot of talent, and he definitely showed how versatile he is and why he was the No. 2 overall [draft] pick,'' Welker said. ``I don't think you ever see a loss like this coming. It's one of those deals where they wanted it more, and they played a lot better than we did.''

Boston College's Donnie Fletcher, right, tackles UCF's Ronnie Weaver in the first quarter. (AP)

September 21, 2008

Greco injured in UCF's loss to Boston College

BY JUSTIN A. RICE
FOR FLORIDA TODAY

In a season known more for flip-flopping politicians than quarterback controversies, UCF and Boston College changed their minds on the QB position so many times that fans of both parties had a hard time voting for one signal caller over the other.

But the 41,267 on hand Saturday afternoon for the 34-7 BC victory at Alumni Stadium didn't need a recount to declare the game sloppy on all counts, from missed field goals (three overall), botched punts (two for BC) and a seemingly infinite number of interceptions (seven total).

More than anything, however, the first meeting between the two programs was marked by quarterback questions. While Chris Crane and Dominique Davis rotated drives in the shadow of legendary Eagles quarterback Matt Ryan, redshirt junior Michael Greco split time with freshman Rob Calabrese after injuring his knee during the Knights' fourth drive of the afternoon.

Despite throwing an interception on his first career pass, Calabrese kept the Knights on the move, engineering a 49-yard drive that ended with a missed field goal.

"I wanted to get him in," UCF coach George O'Leary said of Calabrese, not explaining why he leapfrogged redshirt freshman Joe Weatherford on the depth chart. "I put him in and he did some good things, probably not enough good things.

"(Greco) got hit and his knee blew up and he wasn't as mobile as he was in the first half. But I thought he did some good things."

Greco returned in the final moments of the first half to lead the Knights (1-2) to their only scoring drive of the day. With 32 seconds remaining in the first stanza, he kept the ball on 3-and-4 from the 45. Then the lefty cut to midfield, slipped a tackle at the 20 and scampered to the 1-yard line where he dove for the end zone and was knocked out at the one. Three plays later, Greco rolled 10-yards backwards before regaining ground to set up a goal-line collision that ended in a 1-yard TD.

UCF players were unavailable for comment after the game. While Greco's score gave the Knights a 7-3 lead at the break, BC (2-1) started the second half with Jeff Smith's 56-yard kick return to set up Crane's 1-yard touchdown run.

Down 10-7, Calabrese returned to the game after Greco threw another INT but the freshman couldn't muster much. Then Crane collected another 1-yard TD run to cap a 6-play, 59-yard drive to go up 17-7. Calabrese, -- who finished the day 4-for-8 passing with 37 yards and an interception -- led another short-lived drive before punter Blake Clingan pinned the ball at the 1-yard line.

A few plays later, Crane threw the ball into the hands of UCF sophomore linebacker Lawrence Young at the 10, but senior kicker Darin Daly eventually missed his second field goal of the day within 25 yards. He hit the left upright just as BC kicker Steve Aponavicius did in the first half.

Finally hitting his stride in the fourth quarter, Crane ripped off a 27-yard third-down scramble before connecting with senior Brandon Robinson on a 48-yard score again, on third down. The longest touchdown pass of Crane's young career gave the Eagles a 24-7 edge and the game.

Greco rounded out the game, but his completion to Rocky Ross on 4th and 9 from the BC 31 was overturned on an illegal touching penalty. As BC tacked on 10 more points, Greco threw his third interception and finished 12-of-24 passing for 92 yards. He added 54 yards rushing.

The loss snapped a three-game road winning streak for the Knights, but didn't waiver O'Leary's confidence in his quarterbacks.

"I'll look at the film and stuff, but I think I'm gonna play two quarterbacks," he said. "I have no problem with that. There's no quarterback controversy."

After Saturday's game, it looked like BC would also continue to go with two quarterbacks. Crane finished the game 16-of-34 passing for 207 yards and three INTs while Davis, who fans have been itching to see play all season, was 4-of-7 for 30 yards in his debut.

Maybe both teams will have the quarterback question figured out by Nov. 4.

Marshfield Rams too confident

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By Justin A. Rice

For The Patriot Ledger

Posted Sep 19, 2008 @ 11:07 PM

Last update Sep 19, 2008 @ 11:21 PM

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MANSFIELD —

Marshfield might have beaten Beverly Hills High, but it was no match for Mansfield on Friday.

After a 22-6 loss at Alumni Stadium, senior quarterback Jon Mullen admitted that his team came in a bit too confident after returning from California.

“There was definitely some of that but there’s no excuses, you still have to show up and play,” said Mullen, who scored on the final play of the game for a 10-yard rushing TD. “Mansfield punched us in the mouth. Thank God it wasn’t a league game.

While the Rams have lived on ramming the ball down their opponent’s throats, they could only muster 28 yards rushing in the first half and a little over 100 yards rushing.Mansfield coach Mike Redding couldn’t believe how poor the Rams ran but said his team was prepared to stop it because they run the same offense.

“We really stepped up and played well defensively,” he said.

Marshfield coach Lou Silva agreed with Mullen that the performance was not indicative of the Rams’ capabilities.

“We had a pretty lousy week of practice and that carried over,” he said. “They simply beat us. We had no running game, no passing game. They physically beat us up on both sides of the ball and that hasn’t happened in a while.”

Mansfield took a 14-0 lead into halftime despite throwing two interceptions. First, junior defensive back Stephen Sousa intercepted Busharis only to have the Rams’ drive end with a punt. Then linebacker Jake Russell picked off Nikolas Busharis before Marshfield’s drive stalled on downs.

The Rams finally got their run game going to start the second half, marching the ball from their 27 to the Hornets 36 on 12 plays. But Mullen threw an interception that Mansfield marched the ball to the 1-yard line where they turned the ball over on downs. Mansfield tacked on a safety after Rams punter Brandon Borror-Chapell fumbled the long snap.

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