Lane carries Medfield to title

ACTON -- To say the Medfield football team plays well under pressure is an understatement.

A touchdown scored by Mike Lane late in the fourth quarter pushed the Warriors to a 28-22 win over Whittier yesterday in the Division 3 Super Bowl at Acton-Boxboro High School.

Lane scored his fourth touchdown of the game on a 4-yard run with 1:15 remaining, ending a drive that started at Medfield's 41. Matt Schairer hit Bud Stevens with the conversion pass and Medfield was on top, 28-22.

But the game was far from over.

Whittier (12-1) took over with 1:07 left at its 38. After an incomplete pass, quarterback Jim Fournier came back and hit Jay Pena. A face-mask penalty put the ball at Medfield's 19 with 31 seconds left.

Joel Penny carried for 2 yards, followed by two incomplete passes, making it fourth down. A false-start penalty moved the ball back to the 22. Now facing fourth and 13, Fournier's pass to Pena fell incomplete.

"If we could get the ball back, we knew we could go down and score," said Medfield coach Mike Slason. "This has to be the night where you make a difference. We've made this dream a reality."

It was simple to Whittier coach Kevin Bradley: "It was the last play. We had the opportunity to make the play but we didn't."

After a scoreless first quarter, the teams combined for 28 second-quarter points.

Lane (20 carries, 97 yards) scored his first touchdown on a 4-yard run to put the Warriors up, 6-0.

Whittier came back and scored on Fournier's 10-yard run and Fournier's conversion run made it 8-6.

Fournier struck again minutes later. After Medfield fumbled on a fourth-and-one play, Whittier took over at Medfield's 39. After a 2-yard loss, Fournier hit Thane Sanford for a 41-yard touchdown pass with 3:28 left in the half.

Fournier ran in the 2-point conversion and Whittier was up, 16-6.

Medfield (12-1) closed the gap with 36 seconds left in the half on Lane's 3-yard run. But again, Medfield missed on the conversion and trailed, 16-12, going into the half.

In the third quarter, Medfield didn't waste any time taking the lead, scoring when Lane returned the second-half kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown.

This time Medfield completed the conversion attempt, adding 2 points on Mike Shabanoff's run to put the Warriors up, 20-16.

Whittier answered quickly, returning the kickoff to its 46. Pena ripped off a 9-yard run, followed by a 45-yard touchdown pass from Fournier to Pena.

A taunting call on Pena (6 carries, 40 yards), whistled as he was going into the end zone, pushed back the conversion 15 yards. The ensuing pass failed, making it 22-20 Whittier, setting up the dramatic final moments.

"We're down every game," said Slason. "I wasn't too worried about that."

Lane, who finished his season with 1,846 yards rushing, deflected praise.

"It was the team's night. I couldn't have done it without them," he said.