Hornets finally break through

READING - Manchester Essex knows about postseason failure. After two straight years of making the playoffs, only to get bounced in the semifinals, the Hornets finally got over the hump by defeating O'Bryant, 29-21, last night.

"We had a tough time in the last couple playoff games," said tailback Ben Kekeisen. "[Coach Mike Athanas] before the game was telling us, 'Don't let it happen again.' So we came out [and played] as hard as we could."

O'Bryant (10-1) entered with a spotless record, but showed early nerves. The Tigers took two penalties and Omari Alfred's fumble was recovered by Max Quirk to set up the Hornets on O'Bryant's 16-yard line.

The top-ranked offense in Eastern Mass. - averaging 37.5 points per game - capitalized with Brian Ciccone's 2-yard TD.

The 6-foot-4-inch junior running back was kept quiet the rest of the night - he finished with only 4 yards on five carries - but there was plenty of offense to spare.

O'Bryant took advantage of a Hornets fumble, scoring on quarterback Josh Carrington's 17-yard run. Carrington - six rushes for 50 yards - added a 2-point rush on a fake extra-point attempt to put the Tigers up, 8-7.

Manchester Essex (12-0) responded on the following drive. Dual-threat quarterback Pat Orlando completed two passes, then found room for a 22-yard run to take a 14-8 lead.

On the next play from scrimmage, Carrington completed a 64-yard pass to speedster Chris Perkins to put the Tigers up, 15-14, heading into the second quarter. Carrington completed 9 of 13 passes for 214 yards.

The Hornets had success with screen passes for much of the game. Orlando (8 of 16, 114 yards) connected with Ciccone for a 16-yard gain and they finished the job on an 18-yard pass play. Orlando found Kekeisen for a 2-point conversion to take the lead.

O'Bryant responded with a nine-play, 83-yard drive capped by Carrington's second TD connection to Perkins - a 28-yarder. The extra point kick was blocked, leaving the Hornets up, 22-21, at the break.

Not content with his defense's play in the first half, Athanas made changes after halftime. "We just had to play back a little on the defensive side," he said. "Then we went to go get the quarterback, try to keep him inside the tackles and I think we did a great job of that."

He also turned to Kekeisen on the ground. He punched in from 2 yards for the game's final score and finished with 71 yards on eight carries. Manchester Essex rushed for only seven yards in the first half.

"[In the first half], they were coming at us pretty good," Athanas said. "So, if we could get through that first line of pressure, we had a good amount of room to get through there. We blocked it up nicely and [Kekeisen] ran the ball hard."

The Tigers threatened in the fourth quarter, but were derailed by interceptions by Ciccone and Orlando.

"Sometimes the better team doesn't win," O'Bryant coach Kevin Gadson said. "We'll deal with [the loss] like a family, just like we deal with anything else."

Manchester Essex advances to play Tri-County in the Super Bowl Saturday at Gillette Stadium.