By Jared Keene
NEFJ Correspondent
MANSFIELD – As it turns out, Bishop Feehan has a bit of a flair for the dramatic this season.
Prior to Friday, the Shamrocks already had four come-from-behind wins, all of which came on the road. Now, that number has increased to five, and this one just so happened to be the most important to date.
Second-seeded Feehan came back from 13 down and showed some real guts and fight to emerge with a wild 31-27 victory over third-seeded Bridgewater-Raynham in a Division 2 semifinal tilt at Mansfield High’s Alumni Field.
With the victory, the Shamrocks (9-1) will meet top-seeded Catholic Memorial in the Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium the first weekend in December.
“I’m just really happy for our players and our coaches, they deserve all the credit,” Feehan head coach Bryan Pinabell said. “We have a very strong senior class. And one of the things I’ve been trying to tell these guys throughout the playoff run is just be you and if something bad happens, just move on, and they’ve bought into it and believed it. We made some big plays (tonight) when we needed ‘em.”
Things didn’t look great for the Shamrocks early in the third, as the Trojans increased their lead from 21-14 to 27-14 following a Dylan Reed 8-yard touchdown catch – his third of the night (PAT fail).
But that’s when Feehan put together its biggest drive of the game. The Shamrocks responded with a methodical 15-play 82-yard drive that Xavier Baker (two TDs) capped by finding paydirt from 4 yards out and Gavin Mooney’s (4-of-4 PAT) point after brought them within six with 3:34 left in the third.
“That was a big drive,” Feehan quarterback Owen Mordas said. “I had a few misses on that drive but we just kept battling. Max (Pennellatore) came up with a huge catch for a third down conversion and X came up big. We even had a couple penalties that set us back but we just kept punching back in the face. That drive was huge.”
B-R moved the ball well on its next drive but eventually turned it over on downs, giving the Shamrocks the ball back on their own 40.
Three straight runs by Andrew Orphanos quickly got the ball down to the Trojan 22 and on the ensuing play, Mordas rolled right before connecting with Pennellatore (two TDs), who made a ridiculous grab over his defender, for the go-ahead score at 28-27 with 8:10 left to play.
“That felt amazing,” Pennellatore said. “I saw man coverage and I was playing the slot. I saw Owen roll out to the right and he was getting pressured from the left. I had an out route, but I had a mismatch with a linebacker on me. I took my chance, turned it upfield, Owen found me, and it paid off.”
The Trojans again turned the ball over on downs – running the ball on 4th-and-3 when the passing game had been quite successful for most of the game.
Feehan ran eight plays before Mooney drilled a 30-yard field goal to make it 31-27 with 2:43 on the clock. B-R had one last chance, starting on its own 25, but on 4th-and-10 from the Shamrock 42, Reed couldn’t control Jack Lambert’s (4 TD passes) pass, and Feehan was able to take a knee to come away with the win.
“That meant a lot,” Pennealltore said. “It all paid off finally. You don’t get the chance to play at Gillette many times, so it’s great to make it count once.
“Just high emotions and I love the game of football.”
