Oliver Fox
NEFJ Correspondent
BROOKLINE – It’s not easy to play a team twice in one season. It’s even harder to avenge an October loss on the road with a championship on the line.
“We don’t like to do anything easy. We like to do things the hard way and my team is very resilient,” said Cheshire head coach Bill Mella.
Cheshire football likes it the hard way. After losing by six earlier in the season to fellow NEPSAC opponent Dexter Southfield, Cheshire traveled the two and a half hour drive from Cheshire, Connecticut to Brookline, Massachusetts to compete in the Danny Smith NEPSAC Bowl.
They made the drive worth it too, winning 31-20.
Both teams finish their seasons at 7-3.
Things didn’t start great for the Cats after Dexter took the opening kickoff down to the 10-yard line. A bruising one-yard rush by junior runningback Lamarri Sanchez-Coleman opened up the scoring making it a 6-0 ball game.
On the next possession, Cheshire junior QB Keegan Croucher put a little too much air under a deep pass resulting in an interception by Michael Thomas.
“I made a little mistake there but my guys picked me up. I know what I can do. We all huddled around each other and stepped on their [Dexter] throat and didn’t let up,” said Croucher.
Step on their throat they did. After a defensive stop in the red zone, Croucher was able to connect with senior wide receiver Ryan Smith for a 30-yard touchdown pass to make it 7-6.
Cheshire went on to score 24 straight points including a touchdown catch from senior wide receiver Jovon Williams [20-yards] and a touchdown rush from junior running back Michael Caulfield [seven-yard rush].
It wasn’t until midway through the third quarter that Dexter was able to find its way back into the endzone. Again it was Sanchez-Coleman punching it in from four-yards out. A successful two point conversion made the score 24-14.
Cheshire didn’t let up and responded with a seven-play touchdown drive of its own, capped off by an eight-yard rush by junior running back Jacob Macarz pushing its lead to 31-14 entering the fourth quarter.
While Dexter was able to find the end zone once more with sophomore quarterback finding senior receiver Charlie Hanafin for a seven-yard score, time was the biggest challenge trying to overcome a three score lead.
This is Cheshire’s second bowl win in three years.
“Give a lot of credit to my guys,” added Mella.
“We kept getting better every week and this week of practice was really cool to watch how our attitude was and how we slowly got a little bit better each day.”
