Photo: Belmont High kicker John Townsend lines up the winning field goal vs. Lexington High.
After being blown out (and shutout) in three of its first four games, Belmont High Football finally put together just enough offense to support an outstanding defensive performance to walk off of Lexington High grass field with its first victory of the season, 9-6, over hosts the Minutemen.
A 80 yard kick off return by junior Casey Regan to start the second half and a clutch 26 yard field goal from senior John Townsend with just under five minutes remaining put Belmont in the win column (1-4) and gave Belmont Head Coach Francois Joseph his first career varsity victory.
“It feels great,” said Joseph, with what was left of his voice, after the game held on Thursday night in windy and cold conditions that included a rare peek of the aurora borealis.
“It’s our first year with a whole new group and we didn’t want to go 0-for. I just wanted to give the seniors an experience and just wanted to win one game for them. I want them to remember this game and how they gutted it out,” said Joseph.
While there were several candidates for “player of the match”, the honor would certainly be handed out to the four defensive linemen – seniors Daniel Martins and Zak Zaddem and juniors Enzo Passos and Seamus Murphy – that made the night a Halloween-like nightmare for the Minutemen offense.
The match itself wasn’t pretty in any manner of speaking. The first half resembled a reenactment of a medieval battle with both sides ramming into each other in between the 20s, ending in a characterless 0-0 stale-mate. But all that changed when Regan gathered the second half kick then sprinted down the right sideline untouched, giving Belmont its first lead of the season and scoring for only the second time since the final minute against Cambridge.
Belmont would show streaks of offensive punch with senior QB Wyatt Sclafani at the helm including flipping the field when a quarterback scramble picked up 28 yards to the Minutemen 39 yard line in the third quarter.
Belmont experienced some anxiety in the final quarter after Sclafani left the game suffering from an acute calf injury. But replacement signal caller junior Kyle Curtis produced a timely 15 yard pass over the middle to junior Andre Chavushian placing the ball on the Lexington 9 yard line with 7 minutes to go. Four plays later, Townsend – an outstanding kicker on Belmont’s top-ranked rugby squad – coolly drilled the ball through the uprights to increase Belmont’s advantage to 9-0 with 4:48 to play.
“[Townsend] is one of the best kickers in the state and we haven’t been able to get him close enough to make kicks like that,” said Joseph, who says Townsend routinely kicks 40-45 yard field goals in practice.
Lexington quickly cut the Marauders’ lead back to one possession with a 79-yard pitch and catch to wide receiver Amari Mow to cut Belmont’s lead to 9-6 after the missed PAT. And the Minutemen would have one final opportunity after blocking Townsend’s attempted punt with 2:23 to go. But the D line would come up big keeping the Minutemen in check. A 4th down pass was knocked down to seal the W.
“With the win, the team can now look ahead for a second win and then a third,” said Joseph.
Belmont will travel to neighboring Arlington on Friday night, kick off at 6:30 p.m.
