ATTLEBORO, Mass. - History was made at Tozier-Cassidy Field on Thursday, as for the first time in the Thanksgiving Day series between Attleboro and North Attleboro overtime was needed to decide a winner.
The Rocketeers (8-3) got two extra points after returning a blocked extra point and then Justin Gallagher hit a wide open Ridge Olsen to pull out a dramatic 29-27 victory and bring Hilda back to North Attleboro.
With the score tied at 21-21, Attleboro had an opportunity to win the game. Brian Letourneau picked off a Gallagher pass and returned it to the North 43. Ross Killion hit Brenden Massey for a 17-yard completion on the sideline to give the Bombardiers the chance for a 42-yard field goal with only three seconds left.
Elijah Lewis had his kick blocked and for the first time in the 94-game series that extends back to 1921 the game headed to overtime.
Attleboro (4-7) got the ball first and on third down Ross Killion (12-26, 154 yards) hit Matt Elliot for an eight-yard touchdown to give the Bombardiers their first lead of the game. As with the game-winning field goal attempt, the extra point was blocked by Andrew Hanwell. The ball fell to Kyle Chretien on the goal line and he raced 100 yards for two points to make it 27-23.
There was some controversy, as it appeared that Massey had chased Chretien down and tackled him short of the end zone, but the officials said that the North player had reached the pylon.
North coach Don Johnson said, “I think a lot of people didn’t know what that meant at the time. Kids were thinking we had won the game and I’m looking for my offense. It’s a great one and these kids will have a great memory.”
With the chance to win the game, the Rocketeers took over and on second down from the 12, Gallagher dropped back and found Olsen in the left corner of the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.
“Ridge was coming across the back of the end zone and coach says get the ball up there and he’ll catch it,” said Gallagher. “I threw the ball towards the corner of the end zone and hoped that he’d come down with it.”
Attleboro coach Mike Strachan said, “We can’t give up a block in that situation. We have to look at that and we have to get better at those things. We’re a young football team and hopefully we can learn from this. North Attleboro is a great team and you can’t make mistakes like that against them.”
North Attleboro jumped into an early lead with an 11-play, 79-yard drive on its first possession. Gallagher (8-15, 126 yards and 11 carries, 57 yards) capped it off with a 14-yard run straight up the middle. He would add a second touchdown with 1:29 left in the half on an almost identical play to make it 14-0.
Attleboro had its chances in the opening half, but hurt itself with penalties. Early in the second quarter, Elliot picked off a Gallagher pass, one of three interceptions by the Bombardiers, and he raced down the sideline to the North one only to have it pulled back to midfield for a block in the back. Soon after junior Brendan Nunes appeared to have a 60-yard punt return touchdown only for another penalty to take it off the board.
Prior to the second North touchdown, Attleboro attempted a fake punt, but Elliot was stuffed for a loss. Strachan admitted that the Bombardiers mistakes cost them in the first half.
“Penalties were huge; I think we had two touchdowns in the first half,” Strachan said. “Refs don’t make or break a game, but in a game like this they can be huge calls.”
North let the Bombardiers back in the game in a wild final 20 seconds of the half. Pat Munley, who was named the game’s Defensive MVP, sacked Killion to end an Attleboro drive and give North the ball back with 21 seconds on the clock. Rather than take a knee and run out the half, the Rocketeers elected to throw the ball and Owen McKenna picked off Gallagher and returned it to the North 28.
On the next play Killion, who was the game’s Offensive MVP, hit Massey in the front corner for a 28-yard touchdown.
North Attleboro extended the lead back to two scores with 3:40 left in the third quarter. Nick Rajotte finished a drive with a three-yard run and seemingly put away the Bombardiers. But, in the final seconds of the third quarter, Attleboro blocked a punt and recovered at the North 22. On the final play of the quarter, Killion picked out junior Alex Silva for a 22-yard TD and it was 21-13 heading to the fourth.
Elliot would provide the Bombardiers with another lift in the fourth quarter when he stripped the ball from Bobby Mylod (14 carries, 76 yards) and recovered the fumble at the Bombardiers 48. Attleboro took advantage with Killion throwing his third TD pass of the game, a 23-yard strike to Elliot, and then he found Massey for the two-point conversion to tie the game at 21-21 with 2:17 remaining.
“I felt we should have put the game away in the first half and scored the third time or certainly not let them score,” said Johnson. “I thought in the second half we had a few chances where we could’ve put the game away and we just didn’t do it.”
He added, “We kept handing it to them and I thought down the stretch we had been pretty good about that…but you can’t do that against good teams and let them hang around like that.”
Gallagher was also disappointed that the Rocketeers allowed Attleboro to come back into the game.
He said, “We were too satisfied. Attleboro is a very good team and they can make great plays at any time. We knew that we had to come back and finish the game off.”
Despite the defeat, Strachan highlighted the resiliency of his young team and especially the play of Elliot, who he said had a “spectacular game.”
“I’m pretty proud of the team. We’re going to learn from this and get better,” said Strachan.
Even though this is the second meeting between the two rivals this season, Johnson believes that the Thanksgiving tradition continues to bring out the same emotions and energy from the players and the crowd that was packed into Tozier-Cassidy.
He explained, “Especially when you get knocked out of the playoffs early, like both teams did, you still have something to play for and it still means a lot to the kids and the communities.”
Josh Perry can be contacted at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.