There’s an old football expression called, “three yards and a cloud of dust.” It describes a team that uses its running game almost exclusively to march down the field, secure 3-5 yards per carry, and eat up large chunks of the clock in the process. Of course, the dry, dusty fields of the past have been replaced by Astroturf and newer facilities today.
But that was the style of football that Fairhaven (8-1) displayed in its Division 6 playoff game against Winthrop as junior running back Justin Marques rushed for 201 yards and scored four touchdowns as the Blue Devils defeated the Winthrop Vikings, 35-21, Friday night at Dr. Robert Baldwin Turf Field in Fairhaven.
Marques, who is 6 feet and 215 pounds, represented a tough task all night for the Winthrop defense. To the Vikings’ credit, they limited Marques to small-to-medium gains for most of his 38 carries. The longest of Marques’ four touchdown runs was from three yards out.
But despite Fairhaven’s success on the ground, the Vikings were very much in contention until late in the fourth quarter in a one-score (27-21) game.
On Fairhaven High’s time-consuming fourth- quarter drive, defensive lineman Matthew Reardon made a tremendous 1-on-1 tackle on Marques for a loss on third down. But Fairhaven quarterback Jayce Duarte picked up the first down on the next play and Marques sealed the victory on a touchdown with 3:22 left in the game.
Winthrop coach Jon Cadigan said there were a combination of factors that allowed Fairhaven to control the pace. The Blue Devils scored on five of their first six possessions.
“There were times when Fairhaven was driving us off the ball and there were times when he [Marques] just bullied us a little bit,” said Cadigan. “He’s a good football player.”
Quarterback Matthew Noonan threw two fourth-down touchdown passes to Nick Cappuccio, one a sensational, leaping grab by the talented junior running back in the end zone. Noonan also scored on a quarterback sneak.
Fairhaven set the tone with an opening 13-play, 69-yard drive for a 7-0 lead. Robert Rich almost got it all back in a hurry on a brilliant, cut-across-the-field kickoff return that gave the Vikings great field position. Noonan scored from 1-yard out to close the gap to 7-6.
Cappuccio’s leaping touchdown catch late in the first half seemed to set the stage for the Vikings, who would have the football to start the second half. Noonan followed that up with a two-point conversion pass to George Galuris, closing the gap to 21-14. Sophomore cornerback Seth Sacco, who was named the Vikings’ defensive player of the game, intercepted a Fairhaven pass on the final play of the first half.
But the Vikings were unable to produce a first down on its opening drive of the second half.
“I think that was one of the biggest possessions of the game because at that point in time, I was convinced that it would be whoever had the ball last was going to win the game,” said Cadigan. “We had a couple of plays that we felt good about (notably a double-reverse). We just didn’t execute the way we normally do. We had the opportunity to go down and score and make it a tie game and really put the pressure back on them. But I think the story of the game was their offensive line, who got off the ball and took it to us. Fairhaven did a great job offensively.”
Fairhaven head coach Derek Almeida told the media, including the Sun-Transcript, “I thought we beat a very good football team tonight. They challenged us in every way possible. They’re so hard to defend. The way they run their offense is really tough, so I’m really proud of our kids. Winthrop had a lot of good players on that team and they’re well-coached.”
Almeida described his contingent as “a triple-option team, which gets off the football, knocks people back, and runs downhill.”
On Cappuccio’s magnificent touchdown catch, Almeida offered, “That touchdown pass before the half, we practice that a lot, too. We get back in our prevent defense and try to knock it way. He [Cappuccio] made a great play.”
Winthrop (5-4) will host North Reading (5-3) Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Miller Field.