Hand it to Bishop Feehan

Linehan's late INT saves Shamrocks

Bishop Feehan's Chris Paine (65) did some heavy lifting during and after the game - in the form of the championship trophy. (Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff)

FOXBOROUGH - The EMass Division 2 Super Bowl crown was sailing toward Walpole's Marc Carrie's open arms, but Bishop Feehan's Nick Linehan stretched out and snatched the title away from Carrie and the Rebels.

With less a minute left, Walpole's Sonny Mastromatteo took the snap at the Bishop Feehan 22 and threw toward Carrie in the left side of the end zone. As the ball was sailing toward Carrie, Linehan twisted his body and snatched what could have been the decisive score away from the wide receiver, preserving Feehan's 26-20 lead.

"We call him 'sure hands Linehan,' " Feehan running back Nick Schwieger said. "He made a great play on that ball."

The interception cut short Walpole's fourth-quarter comeback. Down, 26-13, with 3:30 left in the game, the Rebels cut the deficit to 6 when Ryan Izzo took a cross-field pass from Mastromatteo 41 yards into the end zone with 2:31 left. The Rebel defense forced a three-and-out, using all three timeouts, on the ensuing possession, turning the ball back to the offense at its own 38 with 1:55 left.

The Rebels moved down the field quickly on three passes by Mastromatteo, two to Izzo. But his final pass of the drive fell into the wrong hands.

Linehan may have sealed the game, but Schwieger won it for the Shamrocks. The senior running back ran for 146 yards and three scores on 26 carries and caught a 25-yard pass for another score.

The win completed an improbable run for Bishop Feehan.

"I'm so excited for the players and the assistant coaches," Bishop Feehan coach Anthony Wood said. "The only thing I do is argue with the refs."

The teams went into halftime deadlocked at 13, but two Walpole fumbles doomed the Rebels early in the second half. Izzo's fumble on the opening drive of the half was recovered by the Shamrocks at the Walpole 49. Four plays later, on fourth and 6, Schwieger hauled in a pass over his right shoulder to put Feehan up for good.

Walpole fumbled on its next possession as well, but the Shamrocks couldn't turn it into points. But on Feehan's next possession the team drove 78 yards on 13 plays, capped by a fourth-and-goal touchdown run by Schwieger from the 1.

"They have a good defense, we had to work for everything," Wood said.

Schwieger's four touchdowns topped Izzo's three. Izzo, a sophomore, ran for 139 yards on 19 carries and caught four passes for 70 yards. He is the leading scorer in Division 2, but Schwieger one-upped him.

Both offenses came out firing on all cylinders after the opening kickoff, as the teams scored on the game's first three possessions. Bishop Feehan took the opening possession 80 yards in 13 plays, converting on third down three times before Schwieger drove a Walpole defender into the front corner of the end zone with him on a 10-yard run.

Walpole answered on its first drive. The Rebels drove 63 yards to tie it, as Izzo took a direct snap from the shotgun on third and goal at the 7 and went through the middle of the line untouched.

But the Shamrocks regained the lead when Schwieger took a pitch right on third and 14 and weaved through his blockers, winding his way into the end zone from 33 yards. The teams traded punts on the next possessions, before Niccolo Mastromatteo returned a Shamrock punt 44 yards to the Bishop Feehan 33.

Izzo took over from there, taking the next snap 26 yards for a score. The star sophomore left a defender frozen along the left sideline with a shake at the 10 and cruised in for the tying score.

But Izzo couldn't score enough to keep the Rebels from going home empty-handed, as the Shamrocks won their fifth Super Bowl in seven years.