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McCarthy runs wild at Hornets advance

NORTH READING — Shawn Theriault knew how talented Matt McCarthy was by watching the North Reading tailback on film.

But the Danvers High football coach didn’t realize just how dominant McCarthy could be until he had it happen to his team.

“I knew he was good, but I didn’t know he was that good. He was phenomenal,” said Theriault, who watched McCarthy run for a career high 351 yards and score three touchdowns as the host Hornets defeated his Falcons, 35-14, in the Division 2A North semifinals at Kenney Field Friday night.

McCarthy, who averaged an eye-popping 14 yards a carry, had 11 carries of 10 yards or better on the evening, including scampers of 49, 41 and 56 yards (the latter of those going for a score late in the fourth quarter). The mercurial back hopped over would-be tacklers, stutter-stepped away from tacklers and kept his balance are almost every first half, staying upright to keep chugging ahead for more yardage.

“Oh wow, I didn’t realize that, honestly,” said McCarthy when informed of his rushing tally. “I’ve been playing since the fourth grade, and as a running back for that matter, and when you play for that long, you develop the vision skills, the moves. Offseason and in-season training and workouts help to keep (my) balance, too.”

Danvers (7-2) was hurt by the loss of its own stellar running back, Matt Andreas. The senior captain was felled by a right ankle injury with three minutes to play in the second quarter after he took the ball out of a direct snap and ran five yards to his left. Andreas, the North Shore’s rushing leader, had to be helped off the field and did not return; he was on crutches at the end of the game.

“It doesn’t matter (if it’s the) opposing team or your own team; you hate to see an injury, especially to a kid like Matt,” said McCarthy, who has known and been friendly with Andreas since they were youth football players. “He’s a great kid, a great playmaker.”

Theriault admitted that losing Andreas, when the game was tied at 14-14, had a huge impact on his team.

”When Matt came out, we had to start to do some things with some guys we don’t normally do,” he said. “Everything went downhill from there.”

Quarterback Dean Borders threw for an even 200 yards and a pair of first half scores for the Falcons, connecting with junior Tahg Coakley (5 catches, 115 yards) for a 45-yard score in the first quarter, then hooking up with senior captain and tight end Kieran Moriarty on a skinny post for a 43-yard touchdown with 51 seconds before halftime to tie it up, 14-14. In between, McCarthy got his team on the board with a 5-yard run (following a foiled fake punt attempt by Danvers), and quarterback Kyle Bythrow found a wide open Robert Donohue for a 61-yard pass play. Danvers’ David Dzebic and Bob O’Donnell of the Hornets kicked both of their PAT attempts successfully.

But it was all Hornets (8-1) in the second half, as the Falcons couldn’t find a way to bring down McCarthy. His 35-yard TD run up the gut late in the third quarter gave the hosts the lead for good at 20-14, and a Bythrow 17-yard keeper and ensuing conversion rush by John Merullo increased their lead to 28-14 with 3:42 to go. 

McCarthy picked off a Danvers pass inside his own red zone with 2:42 to play, and 24 seconds later found paydirt for the third time on his scintillating 56-yard run.

“Matty’s just a phenomenal athlete. Just when you think you have him trapped and bracketed in, he makes something happen,” said North Reading head coach Jeff Wall, whose second-seeded club will meet unbeaten Marblehead (9-0) for the sectional title next Friday at Piper Field. “It’s field vision, it’s all the work he puts in during the offseason ... he’s just a beast.”

It was the first time all season that Danvers had allowed an opposing running back to gain more than 100 yards against them.

“Defensively, we just weren’t tackling,” said Theriault. “We’d get (McCarthy) in the backfield and he’d slip off and he’d cut back and he’d slip his legs (free). Even if it was a 2-yard loss, he’d make it into a 4-yard gain ... or sometimes, a 25-yard gain. He was really a man on a mission, and he made us look silly.”