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METHUEN - From nearly the first day of his tenure at Methuen High School, Pat Graham has spoke of spunk, toughness, scrappiness and grit.

After last night's 31-21 thumping of previously-perfect, No. 6 Chelmsford, he can forget it.

METHUEN - From nearly the first day of his tenure at Methuen High School, Pat Graham has spoke of spunk, toughness, scrappiness and grit.

After last night's 31-21 thumping of previously-perfect, No. 6 Chelmsford, he can forget it.

Methuen leads unbeaten Chelmsford 7-6 at half. For Rangers, Ryan Savastano 3-yard TD run. Eric Lacroix key interception.

METHUEN - From nearly the first day of his tenure at Methuen High School, Pat Graham has spoken of the spunk, toughness, scrappiness and grit exhibited by his athletes.

After last night's 31-21 thumping of previously-perfect, No. 6 Chelmsford, he can forget it.

BILLERICA — Methuen quarterback Cal Carroll had no intention of downplaying the Rangers’ huge 36-26 Merrimack Valley Conference win over Eastern Mass. No. 5-ranked Billerica last night. “This puts us on the map,” exclaimed Carroll, whose 52-yard TD run with 40 seconds remaining clinched the win. “Last week was a statement game and this week we showed we can play with anyone.” Carroll had a lot to do with the victory, passing for 194 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 144 yards and two more scores, outplaying highly touted Billerica QB Nick LaSpada, who threw for three touchdowns and 239 yards and rushed for 74 yards (but on 21 attempts) and one score. It was no wonder that one Methuen coach shouted after the game: “I’ll take Cal Carroll (over LaSpada) any day.” But Carroll had plenty of help in the course of a fabulous high school football game that saw, before an enthusiastic crowd of about 1,600, five lead changes and wasn’t decided until the last two minutes of play. In addition to Carroll’s heroics, which included scoring the last two touchdowns of the game: — Methuen senior Raudy Minaya caught four passes for 168 yards, including scores of 64 and 61 yards. — Running back Ryan Savastano kept the Indians honest with a touchdown and 95 yards rushing. — The Methuen defense, led by senior captain Mike Harper, with assists from the likes of linebacker Matt Delmonte and linemen Dan Weightman, Gio Rivera, Phil Barrett and Billy Parker, put steady pressure on LaSpada, forcing him to scramble more than he would have liked. “We had a plan A, a Plan B and a Plan C to stop him and we used them all,” said Methuen coach Pat Graham. “You can’t stop him, but we did a pretty good job of containing him.” It was the defense that made one of the pivotal plays of the night. After Billerica scored in the third quarter on a 9-yard LaSpada run to take a 20-13 lead, the 5-11, 195-pound Harper stormed through the line, blocked the kick, picked up the ball and charged 86 yards in the other direction for two points. Four plays later, a Carroll to Minaya 61-yard bomb gave Methuen its second lead of the night. “Football is a game of momentum and Mike made a great play,” said Graham. “He’s a good player and I’m proud of him. I think he has a bright future.” Billerica began the game with a 60-yard drive culminated by an 18-yard scoring strike from LaSpada to Matt Clifford. Methuen rallied with a 5-yard TD run by Savastano and a 64-yard pass play from Carroll to Minaya, but the Indians regrabbed the lead at halftime, 14-13, on a 9-yard pass to Ryan Donohoe. Just before half, LaSpada made what could have been a Billerica game changer when he outleaped Minaya in the end zone for an interception. And it looked to be the case when LaSpada ran the ball in for the score on Billerica’s first drive of the second half, making it 20-13. But Harper’s return of his blocked extra point changed the momentum and sent the 14th-ranked Rangers (2-1) to one of their biggest wins in more than 20 years. “It has to be big because we haven’t beaten them in 10 years,” said Graham. “Our (MVC) league is so tough, but this is a good start. We had a lot of adversity in the game, and we kept coming back.”

Methuen 36, Billerica 26 Methuen (2-1):    6 7 9 14 — 36 Billerica (2-1):    7 7 6  6 — 26 First Quarter  B — Matt Clifford 18 pass from Nick LaSpada (Steve Trask kick), 5:11  M — Ryan Savastano 5 run (kick failed), 0:57 Second Quarter  M — Raudy Minaya 64 pass from Cal Carroll (Eric Lacroix kick), 9:19  B — Ryan Donohoe 9 pass from LaSpada (Trask kick), 1:14 Third Quarter  B — Nick LaSpada 9 run (kick blocked), 5:56  M — Mike Harper 86 return of blocked extra point  M — Minaya — 61 pass from Carroll (Lacroix kick), 4:37 Fourth Quarter  B — Matt Clifford 56 pass from LaSpada (pass failed), 4:55  M — Carroll 3 run (Lacroix kick), 1:39  M — Carroll 52 run (Lacroix kick), 0:40

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS RUSHING: Methuen (37-239) — Cal Carroll 20-144, Ryan Savastano 17-95; Billerica (27-90) — Nick LaSpada 21-64, Justin Fritz 6-26 PASSING: Methuen — Cal Carroll 7-14-1, 194 yards; Billerica — Nick LaSpada 19-33-0, 239 yards RECEIVING: Methuen — Raudy Minaya 4-168, James Staples 2-12, Kevin Higgins 1-14; Billerica — Brandon Coelho 6-72, Matt Clifford 4-87, Ryan Donohoe 7-78, Cam Slatton 1-5, Byron Ramirez 1-(-3)

METHUEN - Typical of many high school football teams, self-doubt crept in at Methuen High after an unsuccessful opener at Plymouth North.

“Definitely a bit of nervousness was there,” said quarterback Cal Carroll. “We just had to get on guys, remember the assignments, watch films and make plays. Kids have started to step up.”

PLYMOUTH — Keeping Methuen's offense under control, Plymouth North rode out an early fourth-quarter touchdown to take a tight 13-7 opening-night decision yesterday.

Matty Walsh broke free for a 77-yard touchdown jaunt for the deciding points with about nine minutes left in the contest.