SCITUATE - With his team facing fourth down at its 37-yard line, Scituate coach Herb Devine instructed quarterback Tyler Park to run out of the back of the end zone, thinking that it would waste the 11 seconds left on the clock. However, one second remained after Park took the safety.
“It was crazy at the end,’’ said Devine. “We didn’t want to get into punt formation where anything can happen.’’
The Sailors squibbed the kick. Whitman-Hanson tried to recreate the Music City Miracle but Scituate overwhelmed the Panthers’ return team, securing a 21-16 victory.
Minutes before the safety, the Scituate defense held against the renewed energy of the Panthers. Whitman-Hanson drove to the Sailor 41-yard line, but the Scituate secondary stifled the Panther passing attack, forcing incompletions on third and fourth down.
“We knew that [Kyle Daigneault] was going to get the ball,’’ said Devine. “We knew we had to make them earn it and wanted to keep them in bounds so they would have to use timeouts.’’
The Panthers seemed to wrest momentum away from Scituate at the end of the first half. Out of the wildcat formation, Daigneault (148 yards rushing), ran around right tackle where he juked a Sailor defender and turned on the afterburners, trotting in for a 26-yard touchdown to bring Whitman-Hanson within 14-7.
However, Matt Stewart returned the ensuing kickoff 75 yards to give Scituate a 21-7 lead at intermission.
“Matt made a great play,’’ said Devine. “That kickoff return was really the key play of the game because momentum was on Whitman-Hanson’s side.’’
Daigneault added a 12-yard touchdown scamper in the fourth to make the score 21-14.
The Sailors jumped out to an early 14-0 lead on the strength of their ground game. Scituate scored on the game’s first drive when Morgan Billings (40 yards rushing) rumbled in from 4 yards.
After the Scituate defense forced a Panther fumble deep in Sailor territory, Scituate’s Billings delivered again, pinballing his way into the end zone from 5 yards to cap the 79-yard drive.
The Scituate defense was very opportunistic, forcing three turnovers while Whitman-Hanson was on long drives.
“We have a lot of athletes on defense,’’ said Devine. “We bend but don’t break and those turnovers came at key times for us.’’
The Sailors did a good job of containing Daigneault, who had only one run of more than 20 yards. “We game planned to stop him,’’ said Devine.
