RallyNorth.net

'Just amazing': Methuen downs Dracut

Tuesday, November, 25 By Alan Siegel
Staff writer

METHUEN — Matt Bartlett spoke for every Methuen player, coach, fan, parent and alum scattered across the Merrimack Valley and beyond.

“I wish,” he said, “that the standings didn’t matter.”

The Rangers’ titanic 37-33 upset of Dracut didn’t decide a state championship. It didn’t even decide a postseason berth. But to this school, to this program, to this city, it was no ordinary victory.

“To know we beat them,” Bartlett said, struggling to keep his left eye open, “it’s just amazing. I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.”

The senior quarterback played the game of his life on the muddy Nicholson Stadium turf, throwing for 279 yards (2 TDs) and rushing for 66 more. His gutsy, 7-yard touchdown scramble on third-and-goal gave Methuen a 37-27 lead at 2:54 in the fourth quarter. Three plays before, he’d been poked in the eye while getting tackled.

“I couldn’t even see when I scored,” said Bartlett, who danced left and made a bee-line for the corner of the end zone. “I looked (right) but I saw open field on the other side. So I just took off and went.”

Matt Grimard, the 6-foot-4, 235-pound signal caller for the fourth-ranked team in Eastern Massachusetts, quickly led Dracut down the field for a score, but the Rangers recovered the ensuing onside kick. A few moments later, they accepted the Jaycees Memorial Trophy for the first time since 2002.

“Good luck to them in the playoffs,” senior Justin Marsan said of the MVC champion Middies, who take on Acton-Boxborough Tuesday. “But today is our day.”

The win put an exclamation point on Methuen’s best season in a decade. The Rangers won six of their final seven games, and went 7-4 (6-2 MVC), their best finish since 1998 (8-3, 5-3 MVC).

“To get our last win, as seniors, especially against an unbelievable team like that,” said running back Mike Bartlett, who rushed for 79 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. “If they win (the Super Bowl) it’s awesome to say that we beat them.” 

The Rangers were never intimidated. Senior Matt Gordon’s 23-yard field goal on the final play of the first half gave Methuen a 17-13 lead. Dracut (9-2) opened the second half with a five-play scoring drive, but Methuen answered with its own quick strike, a perfectly thrown 61-yard bomb from Matt Bartlett to senior receiver Joenrry Acosta.

“They load the box up, they do,” coach Pat Graham said of the Middies, who struggled to stop Methuen’s passing game. “They do give some stuff away. But they play fast on defense. So sometimes those holes close down very quick.”

Five minutes later, Mike Bartlett’s 2-yard run gave Methuen a 30-20 lead and got the overflow crowd rocking. Dracut’s Jordan Murphy snagged an 11-yard touchdown pass from Grimard late in the third quarter to cut the lead to three points. No one scored again until Matt Bartlett’s half-blind scramble.

“We needed him to have a great day,” said Graham, who also credited defensive players Sean Cairns, Jason Doyle, Dominic Thompson and Gordon for helping curtail the potent Dracut attack. “It’s probably the last game he’s going to play anywhere and I’m proud of him.”

Athletic director Jim Weymouth grinned from ear to ear. “You go,” he said, “as your football program goes.”

Methuen High principal Arthur Nicholson was also in the middle of the celebration.

“How ‘bout them apples?” a passerby asked him.

In the words of Matt Bartlett, “Just amazing.”

Additional stories:

• Methuen can make its season with an upset