HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Duxbury holds off Scituate late but playoff rematch seems possible
Chris McDaniel
DUXBURY — There were two prevailing thoughts from Friday night’s battle between the Duxbury and Scituate High football teams.
One, what a game.
And two, hopefully this isn’t the last time these two teams meet this season. A potential rematch would have to wait until November or December, when the Dragons and Sailors could square off in the Division 4 playoffs.
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The Dragons, who never trailed despite several close calls, led for the entirety of the second half thanks in large part to the connection between junior quarterback Matt Festa and senior captain Brady Madigan (six catches for 187 yards, four touchdowns).
“It’s ridiculous the amount of stuff we’ve got to work on,” first-year Duxbury head coach Matt Landolfi said after watching his team hang on for 27-26 win. “They deserved the win, we deserved a win. Two great teams, but we made a lot of mistakes out there that we can’t make in the future because it won’t work.”
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The Sailors rallied back from deficits of 21-7 and 27-20 in the fourth quarter, but both times when Scituate got within one of Duxbury they couldn’t convert. Each missed chance was a little tougher to swallow than the last. Down 21-20 with 7:22 remaining, the Sailors' attempt at tying the game with a point-after try was blocked. After marching down the field in the final two minutes to get into the end zone, a muffed exchange between the QB and center on a 2-point try resulted in a Duxbury recovered fumble that denied Scituate the chance to take a last-minute lead.
As if there needed to be more salt rubbed in the Sailors' wound, the ensuing onside kick deflected off Duxbury’s Chris Walsh and went behind the Scituate players trying to recover the ball. Somehow Walsh rebounded to recover the ball in a sea of Sailors, allowing Duxbury to take one final kneel to kill the clock.
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“I’d love to see these guys again,” said Scituate coach Herb Devine. “I think everybody would love to see another game like this, because this was a fun one tonight.”
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“We played to win (knowing we could see them again) but we made a lot of mistakes and I know they’re going to be ready for us, for sure,” said Landolfi of a potential rematch. “They’re going to be super motivated, so we have to try to raise our energy level and preparation to try to match what they’re going to do.”
The connection between Madigan and Festa was money all night. Their two pass plays in the first half resulted in TDs of 58 and 24 yards.
Madigan’s personal favorite of the four scores came in the third quarter. Festa showed his trust in his favorite receiver of the night when he rolled to his right and heaved the ball into double coverage. Madigan won a jump ball in a crowd, stayed on his feet and then switched directions to race the final 25 yards to the end zone before juking one last tackler near the goal line. That put the Dragons up 21-7.
“I kind of paused for a second, because I thought they hit me, but then they flew by me so I took it to the end zone,” said Madigan. "Good ball by Festa, too."
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The Sailors scored the next two TDs to seemingly grab momentum, but Duxbury recovered a fumble and marched 62 yards on 12 plays to build a 27-20 lead. One of Madigan’s two catches that didn’t go for a score helped set up his final TD of the night. On a third-and-13, Festa connected with a sliding Madigan right at the line to gain for a first down. Six plays later on a third-and-goal, Festa rolled to his right and hit Madigan for a toe-tapping catch right behind the front pylon with 1:58 remaining.
“He’s an animal,” Madigan said of Festa (249 yards passing, 58 rushing). “We go out, we practice every single day. We work on our stuff and this summer we were out together like every single day throwing on the turf.”
Scituate’s comeback trail started on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Sailors faked a handoff to Andrew Bossey, instead giving it to Keegan Sullivan, who shook off one tackler and coasted for a 10-yard TD run.
Scituate’s defense forced a turnover on downs on just four plays on the next drive. The Dragons attempted a pass on a fake punt, giving Scituate the ball at the Duxbury 21.
With 7:22 remaining, QB Henry Gates brought the Sailors within one (21-20). He rolled to his left and jumped to get a throw off while taking a big hit to find a wide-open Jamieson Hodlin for a 10-yard TD. The Dragons blocked the ensuing point-after kick that would have tied the score.
Scituate’s defense responded with another three-and-out, and a short punt gave the Sailors prime field position at the Duxbury 35. However, on the first play of the drive Duxbury recovered a Sailor fumble and turned it into a touchdown just over four minutes later on the Festa-Madigan 5-yard TD.
With 1:51 remaining, the Sailors trailed 27-20 and Gates led a seven-play, 74-yard scoring drive. With 35 seconds remaining, Sullivan took a pitch and scored his third TD of the day on a 2-yard run.
“There have been other teams that I’ve had that have been in awe of Duxbury and probably knew that they were going to lose the game walking in to it, but not this group,” said Devine. “They felt going into this game they were the better team and I’m not saying we are, but I know it’s two teams that are very, very competitive, so the team that makes the least amount of mistakes and least amount of penalties is going to win the game.”
“Herb and those guys, their coaching staff does a great job,” said Landolfi, whose team has not lost to a Patriot League opponent since 2008. “They’re getting closer and closer, so that makes me nervous.”