By DAN PAWLOWSKI
BEVERLY — A “shootout” is a phrase often used in football and rarely warrented. What qualifies? Two offenses so unstoppable that they combine for astronomical stats.
And so for official review we present Wakefield vs. Beverly: 81 points, 844 yards from scrimmage and 12 touchdowns (8 passing, 4 rushing).
Case closed.
The Warriors ended up on the wrong end of a thrilling, 41-40 shootout on Friday night at Hurd Stadium.
Junior QB Westin McNeilly threw for 230 yards and 3 TD’s while also adding a 45-yard rushing score. Junior RB Jaden Fullerton rushed for 145 yards and 2 TD’s. Senior WR Will Forbes had 4 catches for 97 yards and 2 TD’s. Wakefield totaled 416 yards.
Still, it wasn’t enough as Beverly countered with 428 yards led by QB Danny Pierce who had 5 TD passes and a rushing score while WR Floyd White racked up 4 TD catches.
“It just came down to big plays,” said Wakefield head coach John Rafferty. “Defensively, we gave up way too many big plays. The offense did everything they needed to do to win it but at the end of the day, it’s a team game.”
An exhilarating first half featured big play after big play with both teams scoring touchdowns on each of their four first half drives, making it 28-28 at the break.
Halftime wasn’t nearly long enough for both exhausted defenses. The second half started with two more scoring drives, the only difference being a missed point after for Wakefield as Beverly led 35-34 with 4 minutes to go in the 3rd.
That’s when the first stop of the day occurred with McNeilly throwing an interception. The Warriors returned the favor on the next play as senior LB Christian DiFlorio nabbed his second pick of the season and returned it 24 yards to the Beverly 49. Five plays and 51 yards later, Fullerton was diving in from 1-yard out for his first score. A failed two-point attempt made it 40-35 at the end of the 3rd.
Wakefield had appeared to make their second straight stop on Beverly’s next possession with DiFlorio getting a sack to force a 4th-and-22 from the Beverly 35. A fake was the last thing anyone expected with that distance and field position but the Panthers executed it perfectly with the punter lofting a pass down the field to a gunner who caught it at midfield and turned to the sideline to pick up the extra 7 yards he needed for a backbreaking first down. Altogether, it went for 40 yards.
“That was certainly the biggest play,” said Rafferty. “We had the lead and all the momentum so that was devastating. Probably the story of the game.”
Beverly turned that drive into a touchdown on another key play, 4th-and-goal from the 7. Pierce’s pass to the pylon was grazed by a Forbes fingertip before White bobbled it and secured the catch for a touchdown. DiFLorio and Brandon Meahl stuffed the 2-point attempt to make it 41-40 Beverly.
Wakefield had 7 minutes left to put together a potential game-winning drive but after moving the chains twice, they stalled with a 4th-and-5 run on the Beverly 43 coming up just short.
The Panthers salted it away on the next series, killing the final 4 minutes with multiple effective runs as the Warrior defense played with the gas meter on empty.
In the end, that was a factor as much as anything for Wakefield. Per usual in this new day and age of limited numbers, the Warriors have a rotation of 15 or so players that put in the majority of the snaps on the both sides of the ball. With so many explosive plays on offense, it actually put more miles on those same players competing on defense.
In the end, the Warriors made enough plays to win, they just couldn’t slow down the Panthers when it counted.
Pierce’s first TD pass to White was an 18-yard connection.
The Warriors countered with a 67-yard scoring drive on their first possession. McNeilly hit senior Juan Jose Flores for a 25-yard TD. Flores made the catch on the sideline, shed a tackle and somehow stayed in-bounds before getting in the end zone.
Pierce then hit White for a 56-yard TD.
Before the first quarter hit zero’s Wakefield answered when McNeilly kept an option for his 45-yard score, making it 14-14.
As it turned out, the heavy punches were yet to come in this slugfest.
The second quarter was identical to the first, with both teams calling and raising with each electric play.
Pierce’s 3rd TD pass went to Cal McCay for 51 yards.
Wakefield made it 21-21 on a 75-yard TD pass from McNeilly to Forbes. It was McNeilly’s best throw of his Warrior career, perfectly dropping the pass over a defender into the waiting arms of Forbes in stride, springing the wideout to take it the distance.
Beverly only needed 4 plays on the next drive before Pierce’s 10-yard keeper made it 28-21.
The Warriors drove 73 yards over the final 8 minutes to even it once more with Fullerton racking up 52 rushing yards in the series.
With 7 seconds left, McNeilly hit Forbes for a 7-yard TD.
McNeilly’s first half stats: 9-for-12, 142 yards and 3 passing TD’s, 45 rushing yards and a TD.
Fullerton’s 10-yard TD run after a nasty jump cut capped a 7-play, 61-yard scoring drive to open the second half.
Pierce and White responded again, this time with a 48-yard TD connection, the extra point making it 35-34 before the Warriors took the lead after DiFlorio’s pick.
Wakefield fell to 2-1 with the loss. They were ranked No. 4 in the first Div. 4 power rankings released by the MIAA on Friday before the game. The Panthers were ranked No. 13 in Div. 2.
The Warriors will now refocus for another tough Div. 2 opponent as they welcome Winchester to Landrigan Field this Friday night at 6 p.m.
“They’re a really dynamic team, one of the best Winchester teams I’ve seen in a long time,” said Rafferty. The Red and Black are 3-0 with lopsided wins over Peabody (42-7), Waltham (42-7) and Masconomet (56-22). They were ranked No. 16 in the first D2 power rankings though that will certainly change in the next one.
“We just have to go back to work,” said Rafferty after Friday’s wild ride. “We have a good group of kids who come in every day with the right attitude so they’ll be ok.”