Reprinted From October 3, 2009 Salem News

Bulldogs knock off resilient Danvers
By Matt Jenkins
staff writer

LYNN — Lynn English football coach Peter Holey couldn't find any friends when he had to make the big decision last night at Manning Field.

Facing a fourth-and-5 short of midfield, Holey wanted to go for the first down late in the fourth quarter instead of punting, even though his team was clinging to a three-point lead.

Holey turned a deaf ear to his assistant coaches' pleas to kick, and the Bulldogs came through with a 16-yard gain. Ten plays later English scored the insurance touchdown in its 28-18 victory over Danvers.

"I was on an island by myself," Holey said. "All my coaches wanted to kick it and I just said, 'No guts, no glory. If we want to be in the mix for a championship, we gotta be a team that can make this play.'"

Danvers had done an excellent job keeping English's go-to receiver, Travonne Berry-Rogers, in check, but junior quarterback Tyllor MacDonald found him open on a slant on fourth-and-5 from their own 46-yard line.

"Travonne was frustrated all night. They did a helluva job on him, but he came up and made a big play," Holey said. "He makes a big play every game."

English (3-1) came into the game with a reputation for throwing the ball, but Danvers forced the Bulldogs to win with their ground game for most of the first half.

The first three possessions of the game resulted in touchdowns, two from English.

Jermaine Patterson capped an 11-play, 60-yard drive with a 1-yard plunge to put English ahead. MacDonald added the rush for an 8-0 lead.

Eric Burgos had the answer for Danvers (3-1), scoring on a 3-yard run and Nick Valles contributed the Falcon two-point conversion for an 8-8 game with 2:36 to play in the first quarter.

MacDonald pushed English's lead to 14-8 with a 2-yard TD run, and Danvers cut it to 14-11 on Greg Ladd's 20-yard field goal with 56 seconds left in the half.

MacDonald threw for 62 yards before intermission, but at one point Danvers forced him into missing on eight straight throws.

MacDonald and Patterson each pitched in with another TD rush in the second half to help the Bulldogs pull away.

Burgos scored on a 7-yard run to finish a 17-play, 71-yard drive that made things interesting in the fourth quarter. Burgos' second score — followed by Ladd's kick — trimmed English's lead to 21-18.

The Danvers defense just couldn't make a stop when it mattered most.

"We just didn't take advantage of some of the opportunities that we had," Danvers coach John Sullivan said. "We missed out on a fumble recovery, and we had a chance to stop them on the first drive of the second half. We just didn't stop them."