By Tony Catalina
NEFJ Correspondent
WORCESTER — In what was supposed to be a matchup between two Worcester heavyweights turned into Doherty flexing its muscles and proving the Highlanders are the real team to beat in the city, in a dominant, 35-0 win.
North High is known for their physical style of offense where the Polar Bears lean on you and break you down in the run game. But North was unable to get anything going all night long. The Polar Bears’ first seven drives on offense resulted in a turnover on downs or a punt, with none of the drives ever touching plus territory until three minutes left in the game with the junior varsity groups in for both groups.
As high powered as Doherty’s offense is, tonight was about their defense and their relentless pursuit to the ball. What tonight proved is that Doherty is for real, and if its defense is able to play like this, the sky is the limit for a complete Highlanders team.
When asked about the North offensive attack and what they present as a unit, Doherty coach Sean Mulcahy understood the challenge the group posed.
“I was really concerned. We haven’t seen this kind of offense in a while and it’s hard to duplicate it in practice,” Mulcahy said. “It’s a physical offense to go against and we tried to rotate a lot of guys upfront and we did that.”
He was very complimentary of his group on all three phases and believes his team played to their strengths all evening long.
“I’m really proud of our football team and their overall attitude of playing together and being unselfish,” Mulcahy said.
After fumbling the snap on their very first offensive play, and with both teams going scoreless in the first quarter, the Highlanders got on track to start the second quarter and never looked back.
Running back Malachi Burke scored twice on the night with the first coming on the ground from 15 yards out, followed by the second shortly after in the air from 34 yards out.
When asked about his team’s performance Burke understood the importance of the win.
“Big win for us, we’re trying to get to the playoffs. We’re working, we’re going to get there,” Burke said. “It’s a big year for us, we’ve been calling it a revenge tour and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
While Burke knows his offense is capable of scoring at will, he too knew the night was about his defense.
“They’re tough man, they’re tough to play against in practice but it makes us all better, they’re the reason why we do what we do on offense,” Burke said.
This Doherty team is as complete as they come with variety and ability to beat you in a multitude aways further evidenced by the fact that three different players scored their five touchdowns.
Wide receiver Juan Reynolds got on the board next for the Highlanders from 38 yards out to push the lead to 21 with 2:54 left in the first half, essentially putting the game out of reach for the Polar Bears.
Doherty went on to add two more scores both by the legs of QB Josh Romeo, the first of which came from two yards out at the three-minute mark in the third quarter, followed by another from 17 yards out on the first snap of the fourth quarter.
Up next for the Highlanders is an away matchup against Fitchburg next Friday. As for the now 5-2 North High Polar Bears, they will look to bounce back on the road next Saturday against Sutton.