Running Game Leads Attleboro Past the Stoughton High Football Team

Trailing 12-7 with two minutes left in the third quarter, the marched down the field and faced a 4th and 1 from the Attleboro 2-yard line. The Black Knights were looking to score, or at the very least move the chains, but the Blue Bombardier defense came up with the stop, as Alex Fernandes’ quarterback sneak came up two ball-lengths short of a first down.

On the ensuing drive, Attleboro faced a 3rd and 11 from their own 1-yard line. Malique Clark broke a 46-yard run and the Blue Bombardiers proceeded to convert three more third downs on the drive, before Clark scored from 4-yards out to give Attleboro the 18-7 lead halfway through the fourth (They missed the two-point conversion attempt).

The outcome of those two back-to-back drives arguably was the difference in Friday night’s game, as Attleboro came away with the 18-7 win at home, improving to 5-2 on the season and bouncing back from last Saturday’s loss at . Meanwhile, Stoughton falls to 4-3, but still sits atop the with Oliver Ames.

“We score, we’re winning—of course it’s huge,” Stoughton coach Greg Burke said of Attleboro’s fourth down stop.

“This game is a thing of emotion. Everything changes in high school with emotion and we don’t score down there, we don’t get a first down there, it sort of kills you,” Burke continued.

Attleboro relied heavily on its ground game. Clark had more than 200 yards on the ground and JJ Jolaoso added 47.

“I’ll tell you what went into the win—a lot of heart and soul, a lot of believing in each other,” Attleboro coach Kevin Deschenes said. “The offensive line did a real good job [Friday night]. They were able to give our running backs room to run...We were able to pound against a very physical football team.”

Attleboro scored on its opening drive, marching 74 yards on seven running plays. Jolaoso scored on a 14-yard run with 7:40 to go in the opening quarter. The Blue Bombardiers missed the extra point attempt, however.

Trailing 6-0, Stoughton tied the game up on its second possession. Stoughton put together an 11-play drive, which included a 3-yard run from Frankie Morris on a 4th and 2. Morris capped the scoring drive with a 26-yard run with 8:49 left in the second quarter. The extra point put Stoughton on top 7-6.

On the next Attleboro drive, the Blue Bombardiers moved the ball deep into Stoughton territory, but faced a 4th and 3 from the Stoughton 23-yard line.

Quarterback Chris Walsh was flushed out of the pocket, chased by multiple Stoughton defenders, nearly stepped out of bounds at the Stoughton sideline, but managed to heave a pass towards the end zone.

Stoughton’s Aaron Calixte was there and almost came up with the interception, but the ball bounced out of his hands, and was tipped to Attleboro receiver Cleveland White. White then tipped the ball to himself, bobbled it, but came down with the 23-yard touchdown catch, putting Attleboro up 12-7 with 4:41 left to go before the half. Attleboro’s two-point conversion attempt was stopped short.

“It should have been a knockdown…That hurts, of course it hurts, that’s huge. What can I say?” Burke said of the touchdown catch. “It goes through someone’s hands—that’s a fluke play.

But the fluke play gave Attleboro the lead going into the half, instead of facing a one-point (or more) deficit.

On Stoughton’s third quarter drive that stalled at the Attleboro 1, Aaron Mack came up with a 9-yard run on 4th and 2 from the Attleboro 49, and followed that up with a 29-yard run on the next play to advance Stoughton to the Attleboro 11.  Mack (71 yards) and Morris (52 yards) combined for 123 yards on 23 carries Friday night.

But, four plays after the Mack run, Stoughton came up a few inches short of the first down and Attleboro got the ball back.

After Attleboro got the ball back and Clark broke his 46-yard run on third down, Attleboro converted three more third downs (all on Clark and Jolaoso runs). On a first and goal play from the Stoughton 4-yard line, Clark was initially pushed back, but broke a tackle and got into the end zone with 5:56 left in the game, putting the Blue Bombardiers up by two scores.

“We just didn’t get it done when we had to,” Burke said.

“Our goal is to stay on the field and to keep them off the field,” Deschenes said. “They have very talented running backs and we just wanted to make sure that we sustained drives, drove the ball, ate up as much clock as possible, and we were able to do that tonight.”

On Stoughton’s next drive after the Clark score, a pass interference call, a 20-yard screen pass to Malachi Baugh, an 11-yard Fernandes run and a 9-yard pass to Mack got Stoughton in scoring range.

But Attleboro stopped two Fernandes runs short of the first down marker on third and fourth down, as Stoughton turned the ball over on downs at the Attleboro 21 with 3:04 left in the game.

With Stoughton needing a turnover or a defensive stand, Clark came up with a 28-yard run for Attleboro, and later added a 12-yard run on 4th and 4 with one-minute left to seal the victory.

“We played hard against a good team,” Burke said, “We got some work to do, but the only thing is its non-league, so we’ll learn from it.”

Stoughton hosts Franklin next Friday on Homecoming night, while Attleboro hosts Sharon.

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Ryan Lanigan contributed reporting.