Dracut's gamble pays off

DRACUT - No matter how much seventh-ranked Dracut seemed to outplay No. 3 St. John's Prep last night, the Middies could not seem to put away their visitors. What it took was coach Jeff Moore's decision to roll the dice.

Moore's risk helped Dracut (4-1) get its first lead in a game they eventually won, 28-20.

On Prep's 11, with 11 seconds left in the first half and facing a fourth-and-10, the Middies opted to go for the touchdown.

Quarterback Matt Grimard, after missing his two previous pass attempts to Rakeem Shepherd and Christopher Malonis, decided to go to tight end Jordan Murphy, who used all 6 feet 2 inches of his frame to pull in the pass in the corner of the end zone, sending the home crowd into a frenzy.

On the 2-point conversion, Grimard rolled to his left, threatening to run to draw in the defense, which allowed him to find Malonis for a 14-7 lead.

"We've got a powerful team," said Moore, explaining why he refused to settle for a safer play. "We attack, we've got a lot of guys who can make plays. Anything from 5 or 10 yards out, I'm not comfortable kicking."

That sequence was only made possible by a stout defensive effort on the preceding Prep drive.

After penetrating into Middies territory, Eagles quarterback Greg Donahue dropped back and fired a deep ball that died in the air, falling into the arms of Dracut defender Stephen Reardon, who brought the ball back to Dracut's 45.

The Middies' first drive in the second half seemed to be snuffed out early, with Prep's defense causing a three-and-out and forcing Dracut to punt from its 11. However, referees ruled that an Eagle defender made contact with Grimard after he punted the ball, resulting in a fresh chance that was not wasted.

Dracut's offense ran 15 plays on the drive, including a 40-yard run by Grimard (124 yards rushing) on a fake handoff, and scored when Grimard dove in from the 1 for a 20-7 lead.

Prep's Tyler Coppola was able to bring his team within a score on the fourth quarter's first play, taking a handoff 11 yards for a touchdown to bring the Eagles (4-2) within 20-13.

John Rivera seemed to put the game away with his second touchdown run, a 7-yard dash, to give Dracut a 28-13 lead with just over six minutes remaining, but Coppola responded with yet another touchdown run to make it 28-20.