SACO — Neither team knew for sure how they would respond to a full 48-minute challenge.
Now, the Cheverus and Thornton Academy football teams know what it’s like – and then some.
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Joe Fitzpatrick scored his third touchdown of the game on a 10-yard run in the second overtime, and Cheverus toppled previously unbeaten Thornton 48-41 in battle of Class A contenders.
Both teams are now 5-1.
After both teams scored a touchdown and added a conversion kick in the first overtime, Fitzpatrick pranced into the end zone on a toss sweep on first down to put Cheverus ahead in the second overtime. Patrick Mourmouras adding his sixth point after to make it 48-41.
“Our team, we play off of character. We’re a heart team,” said Fitzpatrick, who rushed for 197 yards and helped get Cheverus keep pace during a scoring frenzy in the first 13 minutes. “We play with our grit. We play with our heads. And I thought our heart just took it over.”
Thornton Academy quarterback Austin McCrum riddled the Cheverus pass defense in a wild first quarter that ended with the Trojans leading 27-20. The Stags’ defense rose up in the second overtime, however. Dan Baker tightly covered a third-down slant route intended for Corey Hart (five catches, 142 yards), and McCrum overthrew a well-covered Kevin Barrett on fourth down.
“We got accustomed to their speed,” Cheverus Coach John Wolfgram said. “The way they throw the ball is very difficult because they have very good receivers, McCrum is a very good quarterback, and you cannot replicate that speed in practice.”
McCrum finished 15 of 21 for 304 yards and two touchdowns but completed just 1 of his last 6 passes. The Stags converted an interception by Kenny Drelich into a punishing 14-play, 62-yard drive that tied the game 34-34 with 5:25 to play.
Cheverus back Justin Johnston (19 carries, 114 yards) carried seven times on the tying drive, including a 6-yard touchdown run. Cheverus quarterback Isaac Dunn (5 of 6, 47 yards) converted a fourth-and-7 pass to Zordan Holman for eight yards.
“Isaac made the plays when he had to,” Wolfgram said. “I think this might have been a breakout game for him. He definitely made some plays.”
Thornton droved to the Cheverus 33 on the ensuing possession, but on fourth-and-1 the Trojans tried a play-action pass to Barrett up the left sideline. Drelich didn’t bite on the run fake and batted the ball away.
“We thought we had a good play,” Thornton Coach Kevin Kezal said. “We thought they were going to be up tight, and that’s a situation where you want to take a shot and you’ve got Austin throwing the ball to Kevin. (Drelich) made a great play.”
Neither team had been involved in a game where the outcome was in doubt.
Thornton hadn’t allowed a first-half point while outscoring its opponents 264-13.
In its four wins, Cheverus had outscored opponents 170-13. The Stags’ 35-7 loss to Windham was nearly as one-sided the other way.
Thornton jumped out to a 14-0 lead, but Fitzpatrick and Johnston broke nearly identical 54-yard touchdown runs to bracket a lovely 53-yard touchdown pass from McCrum to Hart.
“We just stayed with it until we cracked a couple and climbed back in,” Wolfgram said. “They’re a very good team and ran some really good stuff, and we just climbed back in with our will, I think.”
Holman turned a fourth-and-7 completion into a 20-yard touchdown that tied the game 20-20 with 23 seconds left in the first quarter.
McCrum answered with a quick hitch pass that was taken 60 yards into the end zone by Ben Lambert (five catches, 96 yards).
On the second play of the second quarter, Fitzpatrick bolted 67 yards for a TD. At that point, it didn’t look like either team could make a stop, but then the defenses started to gain the upper hand.
Thornton got one more score before halftime – a 4-yard run by Michael Laverriere from the wildcat formation.
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