2 weeks Ago By By Tyler Hetu [email protected]
MANSFIELD — The North Attleboro High football team, ranked third in MIAA Division 3, held off second-ranked Mansfield High 14-10 Friday night to improve to 6-1 this season. The Rocketeers jumped on the board following a squib kick, recovering the loose ball after a Mansfield returner bobbled it, to gain immediate possession. Eight plays later, with only 26 yards to the goal, North Attlboro punched it in on a Ryan Bannon 4-yard score to make it 7-0 with 7:02 to go following the point after.
North Attleboro head coach Mike Strachan said the kick off was by design, crediting the coverage team to getting to the ball after it hit the ground. “It was a really good coverage for our kids,” Strachan said. “Their returner, he had it and bobbled it, and I think he just got nervous.
It was a good momentum swing for us. Those bounces mean so much in these games. We fumbled twice and you almost can’t recover from things like that in games like this.
” Mansfield pulled even early in the second quarter on a drive that spanned both the first and second quarters. Taking over at midfield, Mansfield needed eight plays to reach the end zone on a Sean McCoy 12-yard rushing TD to the outside, making it 7-7 at 10:24 in the second. North answered on its following possession with an eight play drive — all runs, with Bannon carrying the ball seven times and Brady Paradis taking it once for a 47-yard haul into the end zone at 5:54.
North leaned on its running game all night with Bannon and Paradis, typically going for three or four yards a carry to go up and down the field. Strachan credited North’s offensive line for allowing his runners to get yardage. “Our offensive and defensive line, that’s something we’ve been pretty proud of,” Strachan said.
“They took the team and put it on its shoulders. You’ve got Ryan Bannon that led the charge, he’s a beast back there. He’s tough to tackle.
You think about (Paradis) being a senior, Ryan being a senior, and we’ve got multiple guys we can go to. Drew Mingo did a good job coming im/ All the seniors stepped up.” After both team traded punts to start the second half, North took over at its own 1-yard line and gained some room to work with a short Bannon run.
Paradis followed by finding a hole and breaking free, but was stripped of the ball by Riley Sigman, who fell on it for the recovery to give Mansfield the ball on the 23-yard line at 5:03 of the third quarter. Mansfield was unable to get any closer than the 9-yard line, and was backed up into taking a 33-yard field goal from James Warren to bring it to 14-10 with 2:16 to go in the quarter. Mansfield head coach Mike Redding said pass protection wasn’t good enough in the loss, crediting North Attleboro’s defense for making it difficult for the Hornets and quarterback Tommy Vallett.
“They’re good defensively and they covered pretty well,” Redding said. “Our protection was not very good tonight. Tommy was running for his life and when he could set his feet, he would make good throws.
We ran it OK, but we figured we had to throw against them because they’re so big inside. We just couldn’t protect well enough.” It wasn’t the last fumble to go Mansfield’s way in a big spot, as North again was stripped of the ball at the 45-yard line with a little over four minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
Needing to find the end zone to take the lead, Mansfield got to fourth-and-4. but threw it away on fourth down to turn the ball over on downs with 3:31 remaining. North Attleboro took over and ran the clock out, gaining two first downs to put itself in a position to kneel it out.
“You have to make those stops in these games if you want to win,” Strachan said. “I give all the credit to the senior leadership and the captains. I’m proud of all of them tonight.
The resiliency of this group, maybe a year ago we wouldn’t have bounced back from that.” Mansfield (4-3) is on the road next Friday at Canton while North Attleboro will visit Foxboro..
