RallyNorth.net

Sat, Oct 05, 2019 03:00 PM @ Haverhill

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Methuen	0	6	13	0	19
Haverhill	7	3	0	7	17

Methuen rallies behind backup QB Gangi, holds off Haverhill

Saturday, October, 05 By Jeff Hamrick

HAVERHILL - After the first 24 minutes of play Saturday, undefeated Methuen not only found itself trailing at intermission for the first time this season, but also discovered that its starting quarterback would spend the second half with crutches on the sideline.

Junior backup Joe Gangi, however, supplied a couple of touchdowns, and the Ranger defense came up big when it needed to as Methuen rallied to knock off winless Haverhill, 19-17, at Trinity Stadium.

"We were back in the locker room (at half)," said Gangi, who threw for a score and ran for another. "Coach (Ryan) Duggan came over and told me to ‘look at some plays, you need to be ready because you're going in.'"

Gangi took over when senior Connor Bryant went down with an undetermined left foot injury after completing 10 of his 12 passes in the opening two quarters.

Taking the second-half kick, Methuen drove 56 yards with Gangi completing both of his pass attempts - the second for 26-yards to Kareem Coleman for a 12-10 lead with 8:46 left. Coleman finished with nine receptions for 124 yards. Gangi directed a 68-yard drive on the next possession, capping it with an 11-yard run for a 19-10 lead as time expired in the third.

"I was nervous," said Gangi, who completed all three of his attempts. "But we started driving down the field, and when we got into the red zone and scored, I was feeling a whole lot more confident."

"Obviously, you have to pare some things down, that's a natural thing," Methuen coach Tom Ryan said. "But he'd gotten a lot of reps, so we knew what kind of offense we could run when Joe took over, and he did a fine job."

Haverhill, however, came back strong. The Hillies had taken their first lead of the season on a Brady Skafas touchdown run that began the day's scoring and a 28-yard Joe Spero field goal as time expired in the first half.

"These two schools have a different thing going," Ryan said. "We both like to play hard-nosed football, so we knew this was going to be a dogfight, and it was."

The Hillies closed to within two on a 5-yard Skafas pass to Teyshon McGee that capped an 83-yard drive. Jacob Wimmer's extra point made it 19-17 with 8:09 left.

On its next possession, Haverhill (0-4) moved to the Methuen 8. But Ethan Ayala forced a Skafas fumble that Ranger Jordan Duran recovered at the 13.

"We competed today," Haverhill coach Tim O'Connor said. "I'm proud of the boys. I'm proud of the effort. We shot ourselves in the foot one too many times in the second half. I can't have senior captains fumbling late in the game. He had a great game, but that one mistake came back to haunt us."

The Hillies had one more possession that went to the Ranger 25 with 27 seconds left, but a 42-yard field goal attempt by Spero was short and wide.

"We got pushed around for large parts of that game, but we came up big when we needed to," Ryan said.

 

Methuen 19, Haverhill 17

Methuen (4-0):     0 6 13 0 - 19

Haverhill (0-4):     7 3  0 7 - 17

First Quarter

H - Brady Skafas 21 run (Jacob Wimmer kick), 3:03

Second Quarter

M - Zac Bergeron 6 run (kick blocked), 11:26

H - FG Joe Spero 28, 0:00

Third Quarter

M - Kareem Coleman 26 pass from Joe Gangi (run failed), 8:46

M - Gangi 11 run (Bryan Jacinto kick), 0:00

Fourth Quarter

H - Teyson McGee 5 pass from Skafas (Wimmer kick), 8:09

 

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: Methuen (39-180) - Bergeron 19-102, Connor Bryant 8-50, Gangi 6-19, Coleman 5-11, Team 1-(-2); Haverhill (31-199) - Jabari Baptiste 12-99, Skafas 15-62, Disani Houston 2-25, Aiden Alvarado 2-13

PASSING: Methuen (13-15-0, 148 yards) - Bryant 10-12-114, Gangi 3-3-0, 34; Haverhill - Skafas 10-20-0, 94

RECEIVING: Methuen - Coleman 9-124, Bergeron 12-21, Anthony Romano 1-3; Haverhill - McGee 6-32, Nolen Skafas 2-47, Shane McGonagle 2-15