When the Lincoln-Sudbury and Barnstable football teams met in the playoffs last season, the Red Raiders found themselves up 13 points at the half before the Warriors fought back to win.
The two squads met last night in a Division 1A semifinal rematch and once again, Barnstable found itself up two touchdowns at the break. This time around, however, there would be no such comeback for L-S, as the Red Raiders run game and defense controlled the play in Barnstable's 28-7 victory at Taunton High.
The undefeated Red Raiders (11-0) will meet the winner of Everett and Masconomet in the Super Bowl on Saturday at Gillette Stadium at 1:30 p.m.
"We got outplayed tonight," Warriors coach Tom Lopez said after his squad finished 10-2. "They ran the ball very well and their defense really stuck it to us. I was disappointed with the way we played on offense. We couldn't get any consistency. Very poor effort on our part offensively, I thought, but you've got to give them credit."
Heading in to this one, the matchup to watch was Barnstable's high-powered offense against L-S's stout defense, which was allowing less than 10 points per game.
But while the Red Raiders offense was still able to be effective, it was their defense that was the real story. Early on, Barnstable's front seven was all over the Warriors rushing attack, which was L-S's bread-and-butter all season.?
Once the Red Raiders took an early lead, it was clear that the Warriors were out of their comfort zone by trying to pass more. The result was L-S tallying just 87 yards of total offense, which included only 16 in the first half.
"They were hitting hard tonight, they played with emotion, and they were big," Warriors senior quarterback/defensive back Henry Guild said. "That's all that they need to win. It hurt being down early. We thought the rain was going to (negatively) impact them more, but it didn't. We just didn't execute on offense the way we had to. They took it home and congratulations to them."
With one of the state's top quarterbacks in Nick Peabody and two dangerous wide receivers in Dylan Morris and Tedaro France, the Red Raiders are known for their vaunted passing attack. But last night, they leaned heavily on the feet of Hayden Murphy, who simply could not be stopped.
Running behind a line of Owen Murray, Tom Harrington, Tom Grimmer, Allen Buckley, and Chris Kennedy, the junior torched the Warriors defense, carrying 31 times for 182 yards and three scores.
"Our offensive line doesn't really get the glory, but what they did for us tonight allowed us to run the ball the way we did," Barnstable coach Chris Whidden said. "Hayden played a great game for us and I keep giving our offensive line credit, but he got a lot of yards after contact. A little snow doesn't really affect our passing game, but this was more about the look that they gave us. That's what we do all year and I've got faith in my kids that we'll be able to make plays."
The Red Raiders took a 2-0 lead with 3:25 left in the first quarter when the snap went over the head of L-S punter Chris Giorgio and out of the back of the end zone for a safety.
On Barnstable's ensuing possession, Murphy found paydirt from 15 yards out, but a failed two-point run left the score 8-0.
In the second quarter, Barnstable was moving the ball when on 4th-and-8, the Warriors jumped offside. The Red Raiders converted the 4th-and-3 via Peabody and four plays later, Murphy scored from 13 yards out.
"We had way too many mistakes tonight," Lopez said.
Peabody and Murphy each scored third quarter touchdowns from a yard out before Giorgio got his team on the board with a 1-yard plunge of his own in the fourth quarter, but by then, it was too little too late.
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