By Tyler Amaral
NEFJ Correspondent
RANDOLPH – Carver came into Thursday night’s game averaging over 47 points per game. The Crusaders didn’t quite get to that threshold against South Shore League rival Randolph, but the offense did enough to prevail, 32-21.
Carver (6-0) set the tone early on a methodical first drive. A couple plays after hauling in a 30-yard bomb from quarterback Tyler Lennox, senior Patrick Attaya found pay dirt on a five-yard scamper.
Randolph (2-3) did a good job controlling the time of possession in the first half. The problem was, their drives stalled after crossing midfield.
“Definitely wasn’t our best effort” said Carver coach Ben Shuffain. “We’re a better team than this, but they had a good gameplan and tried to keep our offense off the field.”
Teagan Zakrzewski added a five-yard touchdown of his own for Carver in the second quarter. A promising Randolph drive was halted when Carver captain Jack Balzarini blew up a Blue Devil toss play.
Two plays later, Lennox connected with wide receiver Derek Lopes on a 59-yard touchdown pass. The score put Carver up 20-0 just before halftime.Randolph outscored the Crusaders 21-12 in the second, but the end result was never in doubt. Carver had an answer every time it seemed like Randolph had stolen the momentum.
Lennox connected with senior captain Robbie Peterson for two touchdowns in the second half. Randolph got a monster game from junior running back Nathanyel Gomes-Correia. Gomes-Correia ran wild for 228 and two second half touchdowns. Gomes-Correia scored from 65-yards out on the first play of the second half and nearly had a 90-yard score later on, but was tripped up at the three yard line by Peterson.
“That’s just Robbie being Robbie. Last week he was phenomenal against Cohasset. We needed him today. He didn’t have a lot of catches, but the two catches he did have were touchdowns” said Shuffain.
Four plays later, Randolph quarterback Abraham Cornet connected with Kaleb Ledbetter for a touchdown.
“A win’s a win. An ugly win is a win, like Belichick used to say, so we’ll take it” Shuffain added.