Apponequet gets past Fairhaven

By Buddy Thomas, Standard-Times Senior Sports Editor

LAKEVILLE -- A gutsy fourth down call with less than three minutes left in the game turned potential disaster into an insurance touchdown as Apponequet rolled to a 26-12 South Coast Conference victory over Fairhaven in a battle of football unbeatens last night.

Leading by eight points (20-12) and facing a fourth-and-two from the Fairhaven 44 with 2:44 remaining, Apponequet coach Dave Morgado decided to gamble, shunning a punt for a shot at the first down.

"I didn't want to put my punter (Eric Pepin) into that type of pressure situation," said Morgado, who lost his regular punter to an injury late last week in practice. "He (Pepin) had punted only once before (in the game) and I didn't want to put him in a position where he'd have to think too much about what he had to do."

Instead, Morgado put the pressure on his junior quarterback, Kyle Medeiros who took the snap, rolled to his left and calmly lofted a 40-yard bomb to tight end Sean Hurley, who was downed at the four. One play later, Jason Vigers found the end zone to account for the 26-12 final.

"One of my assistants told me they were playing well off the tight end all night, and all Kyle had to do was get the ball to him," said Morgado of the key fourth-down call. "When we took the time out, I told Kyle to roll to his left and if he (Hurley) was open to get him the ball. If not, I told him to keep running and pick up the two yards."

Simple.

Too simple, in fact.

"If that was me, I would have punted," said Fairhaven coach Dana Almeida. "Our safety was playing run, which left the end wide open, but give them credit for a good call and for making the play."

After being stopped on their first possession and falling behind, 6-0, on Dana Pickup's 25-yard run less than three minutes into the second quarter, the Lakers scored on four of their next five possessions to run their record to 3-0-0 overall with all three wins coming against SCC opponents.

The loss dropped Fairhaven to 2-1-0 overall and 1-1-0 in the conference.

Following the Pickup touchdown that capped a 14-play, 73-yard drive, Apponequet marched to the tying touchdown when Pepin capped a 12-play, 73-yard scoring drive from a yard out with 3:21 left in the half.

The 6-6 stalemate was broken six plays into the second half when the Lakers took the kickoff and marched 66 yards, with Jeremy Procaccini scoring on a 15-yard sweep around the right side. A Medeiros-to-Pepin pass was good for the 2-point conversion and the home team was in front to stay, 14-6.

A 19-yard sneak by Medeiros on a third-and-one from the Fairhaven 28 helped the Lakers extend the lead to 20-6 -- Medeiros diving in following an 8-yard run with 6:32 left in the contest.

The visitors closed to within 20-12 a little over three minutes later when Joe Matteos capped a 59-yard scoring drive with a 1-yard sneak for his fifth touchdown of the season. But, after recovering an on-side kick, the Lakers marched 51 yards in five plays to put the game away on the 4-yard scoring scamper by Vigers.

Procaccini and Medeiros led Apponequet's rushing attack with 98 and 72 yards, respectively. Pickup carried 16 times for 95 yards to lead Fairhaven.

In the passing department Medeiros completed five of 10 passes for 118 yards while Tyson connected on 4 of 11 passes for 49 yards and was intercepted once.

Staff photos by Mike Valeri
Top: Fairhaven's Justin Tyson gets ready to throw one downfield. Middle: Apponequet's Jeremy Procaccini goes downfield for yardage. Bottom: Fairhaven's Joe Matteos just misses the pass from QB Justin Tyson.