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Furey-less Owls fall in season finale

Friday, November, 06 By Conor Clancy

HUDSON N.H. — As the Alvrine Bronco marching band played on as its players celebrated a playoff berth for the first time since 2000, the Timberlane Owls across the field huddled together for the final time this season as Timberlane fell to Alvrine 32-7.

Not in that huddle of dressed players was star running back Derrick Furey, the two-time 1,000 yard rusher who missed the win-or-go-home game against Alvrine with an ankle injury. Without Furey in the backfield, Timberlane struggled all game to maintain consitent offense while Alrvrine (led by running back Jesse Hornes 117 rushing yards) featured a balenced attack of runs and passes on its way to the victory.

"We felt good with the personel we had on the field, they just made more plays than we did, " said Timberlane coach Kevin Fitzgerald. "We had some things that were open tonight but we continued to not execute and it cost us."

Going into the game the two teams were tied for fourth place in Div. II at 4-4, with the winner getting the fourth and final seed for the playoffs. Despite the cold weather, the stands were jammed with fans of both squads comming out to see if their team would be the one to advance. 

The action started late in the first when Alvrine marched 74 yards on 14 plays eating up the clock for most of the quarter before Bronco quarterback Patrick Reidy found wingback Vincent Frasco on a 10-yard hook which he turned into a 23-yard touchdown after the cornerback defending the play slipped. 

After the missed extra point Timberlane made another costly mistake, fumbling the first play on the following drive and allowing Alvrine to recover on the Owl 22-yard line. The ensuing drive ended only four plays when Reidy took a QB sneak in from one yard out. A trick play on the extra point put the Broncos up 14.

Timberlane responded immediately however when running back Luke Ouellete (64 rushing yards) took a handoff 52 yards through the middle of the Bronco defense to pull within 14-7. Ouellete made one defender miss in the hole and then turned on the after burners, outracing the enclosing safeties on his way to the TD. 

The back and forth game of momentum shifted back Alvrine for good on the ensuing kickoff when Frasco returned it 51 yards to the Owls 35 which yielded another touchdown for Alvrines Sean Sipsy six plays later, putting the Broncos up 20-7 and never looked back. Un-answered touchdowns in the third and fourth quarter put the game in hand for Alvrine as it moved on as the no. 4 seed in the playoffs.

Despite tough running from Furey's replace Nick Lawrence (35 rushing yards), the Owls could not get the offense on track, instead the offense suffered several three-and-outs and numerous center-quarterback exchange fumbles. QBEvan Bidgood (44 passing yards) could not find many open receivers as Alrine pressured the sophomore quarterback for most of the game.