Best game in town

WALTHAM -- OK, granted, we're not Texas or Florida, and we're not Arkansas, Nebraska, or Alabama, either. In the grand scope of Football America, what we are is quaint.

Much of the country looks at our high school football as something we sprinkle on the lawn every autumn, so many token bits of leftover Americana potpourri to fill out the far better known New England tableau of fall foliage and white clapboard churches with stately steeples.

Well, guess what, you all. Maybe pigskin isn't what we do routinely around here, but it would be hard to imagine anyone, anywhere, anyhow, playing the game better than Everett and Brockton did yesterday at Bentley College. When it was over, shortly after 3 p.m., the Brockton Boxers -- once the Bay State's Notre Dame-like gridiron machine -- were the MIAA Divison 1 Super Bowl champs, coming from behind for a dramatic 22-21 edging of the Crimson Tide (defending champs from '01, '02, and '03).

For the Boxers, the subtext to a picture-perfect December afternoon (sapphire blue sky, Renoir-like dots of white clouds, some 4,000 fans crammed around a cozy field) was the one-man hunka hunka burning running back that was Richard Johnson. The 6-foot, 180-pound senior sprinter ran across for all three Brockton touchdowns, one a 91-yard bullet-train express up the left side with 5:38 to play, and he topped off that biggest run of the afternoon by smashing over with the 2-point conversion that provided the 1-point victory.

What didn't Johnson do? Nothing worth mentioning. For the first time since 1996, Brockton can claim that it is the class of EMass Division 1 football, and it got there on the strength of Johnson's roadrunner legs and some crafty quarterbacking by junior southpaw Jessy Resende. Johnson finished with 156 yards on 19 carries and Resende, who hooked up with Jerome Edwards for a key 68-yard aerial on the Boxers' first possession, connected on five of eight passes for another critical 148 yards.

"It's a great day," said a composed and triumphant Johnson, who had 18 touchdowns in Brockton's other 12 games this season. "There was a nice, low wind out here, and I'm just excited that we did what we did."

The thrill of the day to watch -- unless you showed up in support of Everett's 49er-like red-and-gold threads -- was Johnson's game-breaker in the fourth. The drive began on Brockton's 1-yard line, after Everett's talented quarterback, Matt Nuzzo, penned in the Boxers with his pinpoint punt from midfield.

"Johnson's broken a lot of runs for us this year," said Brockton coach Peter Columbo, who has fit nicely into the championship ruts put down in Brockton by his legendary dad, Armond Columbo. "But not a lot like that when we've been backed up against the 1-inch line, thank goodness. Figures it was Nuzzo -- a great player -- who put us there."

Two plays prior to Johnson's romp, the Boxers gained a wee bit of breathing room on a couple of grunt-and-snarl carries by senior Sam Besong. Everett in the lead, 21-14, the Crimson Tide no doubt would have forced the Boxers to punt if they could have held them on the next play at third and 2 with the ball on the 9-yard line. Resende handed off the ball to Johnson, who faked to his right and immediately cut back to his left. At that point, ladies and gentlemen, train No. 26 had left the station.

"I shook a tackle out around where their linebackers were," said Johnson, who figures he'd like to try the same sort of magic next season for Boston College or UMass-Amherst, or perhaps South Carolina. "That's where I knew I had it -- I knew they couldn't match my speed. I just ran like hell and never looked back."

In his wake, Johnson left behind Maradona Alcime, Theluxon Pierre, and Roland Claudomir. He was right. No one in that triumverate had a shot at catching him. Not even the extended reach of the Everett band's trombone player could have supplied the hook.

Over on the Brockton sideline, Columbo called for a timeout. His Boxers still trailed, 21-20.

"It's either try to win the game there in regulation," said Columbo, "or try to beat Everett in overtime. Uh-uh. I'll take my shot there."

The shot was Johnson, smashing over right tackle, this time after a fake left. Brockton, 22-21, with 5:38 to go.

"I saw him talking to his quarterback, so it was obvious they were going for the 2 points," said Everett coach John DiBiaso, who, over the last dozen years, has molded the Crimson Tide into the dynasty that once was Brockton. "And then, hey, Johnson does it again. He had a great day. And give 'em credit, Brockton had a great day. On both plays, we had guys there to stop him, but Johnson got it done."

Everett had the ball twice more before it was over, taking possession for the last time with 13.8 seconds remaining after the Boxers turned over the ball on downs. First and 10 on their 37, the Crimson Tide then got a break when Brockton's Woody Romelus pulled down Pierre by his facemask. The foul, with 7.3 seconds to go, pushed the ball to Brockton's 48. One made-to-order Nuzzo Hail Mary pass, and . . .

But there wouldn't be another play. To the surprise of Everett -- and anyone else on the field honest enough to admit it -- the clock began to run as soon as the ball was spotted at the 48. The Crimson Tide's fabulous run ended with Nuzzo, the starting QB since his freshman year and winner of 35 straight games, under center and out of time. He was the very picture of dejection, helmet off, hurt plastered on his face, as he knelt at midfield amid Brockton's wild celebration.

"Some confusion there, because one official started the clock, and another official was saying no, it shouldn't start until the next play went off," said DiBiaso. "But that's not why we lost. We can make all kinds of excuses, but that's all they are -- excuses. Brockton beat us. We've had a good run, and I wish for our seniors that it had ended differently. Like I told our team: Life's got its peaks and valleys. One day this will be just a valley. They'll be married, maybe have kids of their own, and they'll look back, maybe, and have a chuckle.

"But right now, it's a deep valley, and it hurts."

Thrill and agony. Just the same here as everywhere on a day when no one could say two teams did it better.