Burlington shows might

ACTON -- Burlington ended Natick's 26-game winning streak in spectacular fashion last night at Leary Field, drubbing the Redmen, 45-9, to advance to the Division 2 Super Bowl for the first time in school history.

The Red Devils overcame an early 9-point deficit behind Ted Marmanidis (182 yards and three touchdowns on 36 carries) and Dan Walsh, who was 7 of 11 passing for 130 yards and a touchdown.

"It's amazing," said Marmanidis. "I've never had this feeling in my entire life."

Natick got on the board before its offense even touched the ball. The Redmen pinned Burlington inside its 10-yard line on the opening kickoff, and on the first play from scrimmage Walsh was sacked in the end zone by David Devaney for a safety just 18 seconds into the game.

Natick added to its lead on its first possession, a seven-play, 47-yard drive highlighted by a 39-yard run by fullback Anthony Smalls. The Redmen were looking good, holding a 9-0 lead just 2:40 into the game.

Then Burlington woke up.

The Red Devils marched 64 yards on seven plays to score with 4:43 remaining in the first quarter on a 2-yard run by Walsh. Marmanidis had 48 yards on six carries in the drive.

Burlington's defense then pitched in, intercepting Natick's Theo McCummings with 3:09 remaining in the quarter. James Buckley picked off an underthrown pass that put Burlington on Natick's 13-yard line. Marmanidis scored three plays later on a 2-yard run, and Burlington had the lead for good, 14-9.

The Red Devils dominated the line of scrimmage. Natick had just 19 rushing yards in the first half and only four first downs the entire game. It also committed four turnovers.

"We've watched a lot of film and we just thought we had to approach the game like it was a street fight," said Burlington coach Shawn Maguire. "We had to hit them as hard as we could on every play."

The second quarter wasn't any prettier for the Redmen, whose two turnovers in the quarter led to Burlington touchdowns. Natick fumbled on its first possession of the quarter as McCummings rolled to his left on an option play and turned the ball over when there was no one at the receiving end of his pitch. Buckley recovered at the Natick 16.

The Red Devils couldn't move the ball and settled for a 33-yard field goal by Matt Valley.

Burlington used some trickery for its next score. Walsh threw a backward pass to the right sideline to Kevin Pickette, who set his feet and found Ryan Harrington wide open for a 23-yard score with 2:24 left in the first half.

Natick turned the ball over again on its next play from scrimmage as Smalls coughed up the ball on the 36-yard line. Burlington needed only one play to score again, with Walsh connecting on a pass to Mike Roche to push the score to 31-9 at the half.

In the second half, Burlington was able to run down the clock with its ground game, led by Marmanidis. It wasn't done scoring either, going 55 yards on seven plays, capped by a 5-yard run by Marmanidis. Valley's extra point made it 38-9 with 6:14 remaining.

Marmanidis capped the scoring with a 7-yard run, his third score of the game, with 3:41 left.

"It's probably good [that Natick lost]," said Natick coach Tom Lamb, whose team suffered its first loss since 2004. "You get into these things and it's ridiculous. We put two years of mistakes that we didn't make into one game tonight."