ANDOVER — With a sluggish offense needing a spark, the Greater Lawrence defense provided just that.
In a scoreless battle with Commonwealth Conference rival Whitter, the Reggies appeared ready for a look at the end zone early in the fourth quarter. A lost fumble at the Wildcat 1 on a first-down run, however, ended that hope.
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Football, 11/21/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
HAVERHILL — A.J. Espinal gained 212 yards on just eight carries and scored three times as Whittier whipped winless Triton, 34-14.
Espinal scored on runs of 1, 41 and 42 yards. Tyler Flodstrom had a touchdown run and connected with Josh Rousseau for a 22-yard scoring strike.
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Football, 11/09/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Whittier Tech football coach/AD Kevin Bradley said Brighton is forfeiting Saturday's non-playoff game due to low numbers. He said he was told Brighton had 14 players at last practice. Whittier gets the win by the score of 1-0 to improve to 4-5 while Brighton (2-7) suffers its seventh straight loss.
Bradley said Brighton cited "safety reasons" and that he received the call with the information Friday at 4 p.m.
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Football, 11/02/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
HAVERHILL — Having been delayed 30 hours by a Nor’easter, neither Salem nor Whittier Tech were able to comfortably settle in on a rare Sunday afternoon outing of football.
The visiting Witches, however, did manage to find the end zone on the last play of the third quarter and held on for a 7-0 victory over the Wildcats in a nonplayoff game.
“Every day is a good day for football,” Salem coach Matt Bouchard said. “It was obviously a little different with a 3:30 start on Sunday. But how it all played out for our guys, I thought they handled it real well with all the changes.”
In a game that saw more penalties (19) than first downs (18), both teams had trouble gaining yardage although Salem (4-4) went 62 yards on 13 plays on their first possession which lasted 6:53.
But the Witches were unable to capitalize on a first-and-goal from the 4. A motion penalty on third down left them at the 7 when Jayco Payne hauled in a pass from Jeffrey Holloway but immediately was tackled just shy of the goal line. That’s when a Whittier front led by Josh Rousseau, Carlos Then-Torres and Joe Cahill piled on Salem running back Sam-Lauren O’Furie inside the 1.
“That was awesome,” Whittier coach Kevin Bradley said of the stand. “I thought we could get some momentum from that. But we’d get a first down then go back with penalties. We’d get a first down and we’d go back by penalties. I just couldn’t believe all that.”
Salem would have only one more possession in the half, which stalled at the 28.
“(Whittier) did a great job in the red zone there,” Bouchard said. “We got the ball down inside the 1 and they stopped us … But I think that added a little fuel for the guys in the locker room. I had some leadership guys take over, and their motivation obviously changed there in the second half.”
Salem, which will play at Shawsheen (3-5) this week, would score the game’s only points with 6 seconds left in the third on a 7-yard pass from Holloway to Pena.
“These guys play football because they love the game,” Bouchard said. “We’re trying to develop every day and get a little bit. Today we worked real hard trying to develop and for a lot of these guys, that’s a big deal.”
Whittier (3-5) continued a recent trend of struggling with its usually solid rushing attack, gaining only 113 yards on the ground – 137 fewer than its season average. But it also held the Witches to 127 rushing yards as the teams combined for 299 yards of total offense – only 128 yards more than they combined for in penalties. The Wildcats will play host to Brighton (2-6) this week.
“Playing against a big school like (Salem), that plays against Division 2 teams (in the Northeastern Conference) and our kids came out and played right with them,” Bradley said. “And the kids feel very good and confident about themselves.”
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Football, 10/28/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
WAKEFIELD — Northeast had no problems with Whittier, posting a 51-6 victory. Whittier's lone score came in the first quarter as A.J. Espinal rambled for a 23-yard score.
The Wildcats (3-4) are still waiting to see if they qualified for the North Sectional playoffs.
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Football, 10/19/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
HAVERHILL - Shawsheen didn't do anything that surprised Whittier.
After all, defenses have been stacking the line of scrimmage against the
Wildcats for years.
The Rams, however, just did it better than anyone else has this season.
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Football, 09/29/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
GEORGETOWN — In what was a wild back-and-forth offensive battle, Whittier Tech scored last Friday night.
Led by AJ Espinal and Hector Gomez, the Wildcats piled up 483 yards on the ground and outscored the Royals, 44-34.
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Football, 09/21/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
EASTON — In a game of wild swings, Southeastern best Whittier Tech, 35-24.
The visitors led 21-0 then Whittier reeled off 24 straight points in the second and third quarters. But Southern punched in two scores in the fourth to grab the season-opening win.
Tyler Floodstrom threw a 32-yard TD pass to Josh Rousseau for the Cats' first score then scored on a 21-yard run. A.J. Espinal capped the scoring one a 5-yard run and then the conversion rush. Crisdaudrry Ayala had the other two 2-point rushes.
Floodstroom, a senior, also had a superb game on pass defense while Joey Cahill starred on both sides of the line.
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Football, 09/07/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
