By Tom O’Brien
NEFJ Staff
MILFORD – An old rivalry was renewed a week ahead of another meeting when top-seeded Uxbridge and fourth-seeded Northbridge met in the MIAA Division 7 semifinal on Saturday.
In this one with so much on the line, the Spartans took down the Rams 28-7.
Uxbridge (11-0) will now face Mashpee in the D7 Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium. Northbridge (8-3) will get ready to see the Spartans again in five days, not knowing if it’ll see the same faces or different ones with Uxbridge also thinking about a state championship game.
“It was good to have a powerful run game in the backfield,” said head Uxbridge coach Matt Blood. “It’s equally as important and beneficial to have a line. They were able to settle in the second half and figure things out, so credit the line for stepping up and blocking for Cam (LaChapelle).”
The first quarter was all about stout defense as neither team could really move the ball until Rogan Devlin made a big 22-yard catch to jump start the Uxbridge offense.
“Well we knew that our effort would have to be a total sideline to sideline effort,” said Blood. “Credit Northbridge they gave us quite a bit to handle for a little while.”
Uxbridge was aggressive early going for it on two of its first three drives, and failing both times.
The defensive slugfest continued until Joel LaChapelle started picking apart the Spartan defense with a pass for 29-yards, a run for 11-yards, and then he finally broke the scoring open on a 32-yard passing touchdown to put Northbridge up 7-0 with 5:37 left in the half.
Uxbridge and Northbridge both three-and-out on its next drives.
Uxbridge finally got the offense going after Camden LaChapelle broke off a 36-yard touchdown run to send both teams into halftime tied at seven apiece.
“My message at halftime was you gotta stick with the process, let the coaches figure it out, believe in each other and good things happen,” Blood said.
Northbridge received the second half kickoff and went three-and-out. After an illegal block in the back penalty on the punt. Camden LaChapelle took off for another long 37-yard touchdown run to give Uxbridge the lead at 14-7.
After another three-and-out, Uxbridge started to create a little more separation as Cam LaChapelle had runs of 37 and 11-yards, setting up a one-yard run by Rogan Devlin to go up 21-7.
After a Northbridge fumble and Uxbridge recovery, Camden LaChapelle opened up the fourth quarter with a 47-yard run, setting up Devlin for his second touchdown of the day to extend the lead to 28-7.
A Joel LaChapelle sack forced the Rams to punt with 7:35 left in the game. Uxbridge went on to run out the rest of the clock, officially booking a trip to Gillette.
“We felt like we had a handle on their game plan. We see Northbridge on Thanksgiving every year,” said Blood in regards to the defensive performance. “The wind certainly helped. It affects both teams, but in terms of what they want to do, they’ve got some really strong receivers and a quarterback with a really strong arm, so the weather here today played a really big factor.
“This is the goal you set out for in the offseason and I’m proud of our players and our staff for putting in the work over the last 11 weeks…and here we are again,” Blood added.
