WOBURN – The season opener for Woburn on Friday night quickly turned into the Bryan Ferreira Show.
Ferreira accounted for 22 of the Tanners’ 28 points during an impressive 28-8 win over a good Longmeadow team. The Lancers hung tough defensively, but the offense couldn’t do much aside from some aggressive, downhill running from Lucca Marino. Marino had Longmeadow’s only TD and was hard to bring down all night long despite the loss.
For Woburn head coach Jack Belcher, the win was even more impressive because of the hot and humid conditions.
“A lot of courage, a courageous win. Guys are cramping, it’s nasty hot,” said Belcher. “We came to the school this morning at 10:30 and gave everybody Pedialyte. We tried to get ahead of it, but…it was what we thought it might be…we were into our third and fourth guys at positions. We don’t have that many kids here at Woburn High. There was a point in the game where I said ‘I need a tackle’ and I didn’t have a name. Or, I said ‘I need a tailback,’ we’re moving guys around. Marc Cutone had the best football game of his life. We were just putting bodies in places and he was just one example.
“I’m very happy with the courage the kids showed, and Longmeadow too. My goodness. They have – I’m guessing – probably close to a two-hour bus ride and then they’ve got to get off (the busses) in this ugly weather type of day and play a football game. To their credit, they played hard…they’re a class group of guys and we get to do that ride next year.”
Longmeadow won the toss, deferred and went three-and-out. On the first offensive snap of the season for Woburn, Ferreira took off for a 53-yard touchdown run and added a two-point run. On the first ensuing snap of the Lancers’ second drive, the Tanners recovered a fumble. Both squads traded punts until an eight-yard TD run by Ferreira and another two-point attempt for the senior back made it 16-0 seven seconds into the second quarter.
Longmeadow had its best drive of the game following the TD, with Marino doing most of the heavy lifting, including a 4th-&-1 conversion during the 52-yard, 10-play march. Eventually, Marino rumbled in from five yards out with a little help and added a two-point run of his own to cut it to 16-8 with 6:28 left in the half.
Woburn embarked on an 11-play, 71-yard drive that ended with exactly a minute to go when Ferreira busted out for a 35-yard TD run. The two-point attempt was no good. Longmeadow got down to the Woburn 30 and had a chance at a Hail Mary to end the half, but it fell incomplete.
“New offensive line all around the board this year…one returning starter actually, Jayden Castriota, but I always trust my big boys,” Ferreira said when asked about the job the guys in front of him did on Friday night. “Every year it’s the same thing, they’re always going to bring us to the promise land, you know what I’m saying?”
In an odd third quarter that saw heat lightning before the kick off and a one-minute downpour that came and went, each team had just one possession that both ended in a turnover on downs right around the other team’s red zone. Early in the fourth, a 55-yard touchdown run for Ryan Lush (failed PAT) made it 28-8.
A big hustle play from behind by Evan Kolodko on a long Lancer run by Sam Caron ended with a forced fumble and a Tanner recovery along the home sideline with 9:29 remaining. Woburn had to punt on the drive, but chewed up clock. Longmeadow got down around the Tanners’ 25 late, but turned it over on downs, leading to a kneel down from Caeden Davis and a celebration.
After losing in the first round of the D2 playoffs a year ago, the Tanners are using it as motivation to hopefully people them in 2023. Friday’s performance from the guys up front and Ferreira was a good start.
“It’s pushing the team a lot this year,” Ferreira admitted. “We plan on bringing it all the way to a Super Bowl, Middlesex League…everything this year.”
