Won for the ages

FOXBORO - There is no other word to describe it.

Miraculous.

"I don't know if we've ever come back from down 19," Mansfield High School football coach Mike Redding said Saturday evening at Gillette Stadium, "and to do it in the state championship against a great team like Reading, this will go down in the annals as maybe one of the best games ever."

No doubt, Mansfield's 29-26 triumph over the previously unbeaten Rockets in the MIAA Eastern Mass. Division 2 Super Bowl will be recalled for decades to come with awe and amazement by the players, coaches and fans that shared the experience. Down 26-7 at halftime and playing as if all of the lessons of 12 previous games had been forgotten, the Green Hornets (12-1) took stock of themselves during the intermission and resolutely set about the quest of undertaking a near-impossible comeback.

First, the defense had to prove that it could stop Reading's talented senior quarterback, Brian Bourque, who had rushed for 76 yards on 10 first-half carries - most on the same shotgun draw that wasn't disguised in any way - and completed all six of his passes for 74 yards.

That was accomplished when senior linebacker Joe Oram dropped Bourque for a loss of 3 yards on a first-down carry at the Reading 35 on the first Rocket possession of the half. Then two plays later, it was further confirmed when senior Mike Mallon sacked Bourque for a 2-yard loss, forcing the first punt of the game.

Taking over at its own 32, the reborn Hornet offense debuted when junior quarterback George Busharis found senior receiver Jeff Hill all alone down the right side of the field, a play that carried 68 yards to cut the deficit to 26-14.

"In the first half, we weren't playing our style of football," said Hill, who caught five passes for 192 yards despite an injury to his left shin suffered in the semifinal against Walpole. "We were turning it over and the defense wasn't doing so well. But at halftime, we rediscovered our identity as a hard-nosed defensive team, and the offense started rolling."

A three-and-out by Reading, and Mansfield went right back to work - a 55-yard catch-and-run by Hill over the fallen Bourque to the Reading 5, followed by Jamal Marshall's 5-yard TD run and Dave Eberhart's kick with 2:51 left - two plays, 60 yards, just 18 seconds.

And suddenly, it's a five-point game.

"We just played possession by possession," Redding said. "We thought if we could score first, it would be a game. If we could get a second or a third, it was wide open, and it went according to script.

"The key was our defense," added the 23rd-year coach. "We were 0-4 in the first half and they were 4-4 scoring on drives, and in the second half, we held them to a shutout. You wouldn't have predicted that at halftime."

To turn the tide, Mansfield had to stop Bourque from taking the snap and racing for big yardage through gaping holes in the defensive line. Mission accomplished; the 6-foot-5 senior was held to 14 yards on nine carries in the second half.

"We just tried to get more guys in the box and actually blitz less," Redding said. "If they see run, they could rally to it ... pass, get back. A little less blitz, more guys in the box. But I didn't think we could shut them out."

Those last five points would be a huge obstacle to overcome, however. Eberhart's interception with eight seconds left in the third quarter put Mansfield in business at its own 17, and Busharis (8-14, 232 yards, one TD, two interceptions) lofted a 40-yard pass to Greg Donahue to get to the Reading 19.

A face-mask call on Marshall's next run brought the ball to the 9, but the Rockets stopped the senior back on three straight plays and a pass in the end zone for Dylan Finerty sailed long, turning the ball over on downs at the 2 with 5:08 left in the game.

Reading again went three-and-out and Mansfield got the ball back on the Rockets' 45 after the punt, but on a third-down throw, Reading's Sean Gildea intercepted Busharis at the 1 with 1:32 left. Gildea was falling backward and out of bounds, but the officials ruled that he did not go into the end zone for a touchback - a huge break, and crucial to what followed two plays later.

With second-and-10 from the 1, Bourque dropped back to pass and was intercepted by Mansfield junior Dan Gilmore, whose 20-yard return to the Rockets' 2 presented Mansfield with one more opportunity to complete the comeback for the ages. Marshall did not disappoint, running off left tackle into the end zone with 1:07 left and following with a similar conversion rush.

"I knew it was possible," said Marshall (18 carries, 91 yards, two touchdowns). "I never gave up on my team. We have a strong unit and we've been working hard for four years together."

And to further frustrate the Rockets, Mansfield called for its third onside kick of the game and senior Ken Barsomian recovered it, allowing the Hornets to run off all but three seconds of the remaining time.

"We're doing the onside kicks, which may not have been the smartest things, but you have to be aggressive, you've got to play to win and not play not to lose," Redding said.

Mansfield's amazing second-half rally was in direct contrast to a mistake-filled first half.

Marshall, who broke a 42-yard run on the first play of the game, fumbled the ball away two plays later and Reading converted it into a 10-play, 74-yard drive capped with an 11-yard end-around by senior Nick Scali for a 6-0 lead.

Marshall atoned nicely when he fired a 47-yard halfback option pass to Hill for a touchdown with eight seconds left in the quarter.

"The halfback pass, I'm the only receiver that goes out," Hill said. "Jamel is one of the best backs in the state. So if they see him get the ball, they'll be coming up on the run."

Scali blunted the Hornets' excitement by returning the ensuing kickoff 72 yards to the Mansfield 17. Four plays later, Bourque ran the shotgun draw in from 2 yards out for a 12-7 lead.

From there, things began to snowball against the Hornets. Busharis was stripped of the ball after a 7-yard gain to the Rockets' 37 with 5:20 left in the half, and a 32-yard pass from Bourque to Scali (followed by that connection on the conversion) made it 20-7 with 1:01 to go.

Reading's Larry Gilligan was no little buddy to Busharis with 19 seconds left, picking him off at the Reading 34 and returning it to the Mansfield 40. Then, after a 22-yard pass to Gildea, Bourque raced 18 yards to the end zone as time expired, building a 19-point lead that would be extremely difficult to overcome.

As it was - but Mansfield proved it wasn't impossible.

"Our seniors are great leaders, a lot of character, and it came through today," Redding said. "If you don't have leadership and character, there's no way you're winning this game today."

Lines pave way for Hornet win

FOXBORO - Reading's 26-7 halftime lead over Mansfield at Gillette Stadium was the glaring number. Sure, your eyes told you that Rockets' quarterback Brian Bourque was orchestrating another sonata on the field, but the 19-point deficit is about enough to erase any shades of gray as to the who-what-where of the first half.

Depending on who you talk to, Hornets coach Mike Redding either delivered an inspirational halftime speech or a very straightforward one. What's not debatable is the effort put in by Mansfield's corps of linemen. While points were needed, the Herculean comeback began in the trenches, where those players with numbers in the 50's and 60's do their dirty work.

The linemen don't appear on the scoresheet, but their success is determined by disrupting those on the opposition who do. For all Reading's talent and ability, target No. 1 was clearly Bourque. After a perfect 6-for-6 first half with one throwing touchdown and two rushing, Mansfield did what no other team could do, get in Bourque's head by getting at his body.

In one key third-quarter stretch, Mansfield sacked Bourque twice in the course of three plays to bring Reading's drive to a screeching halt. On a first and 10 with about seven minutes to play in the quarter, eye-blacked senior Joe Oram dragged down Bourque, spinning him to the Gillette Stadium turf. Two plays later, on third down, center and nose guard Mike Mallon popped the 6-5 quarterback as he looked for running space outside the tackle box.

After a punt, Mansfield began its offensive resurrection with a 68-yard bomb from George Busharis to Jeff Hill. One play, six points. The Mansfield defense couldn't make such a marked difference on a single play, instead having to consistently find a way to stop Reading's larger offensive line. Luckily, it's a task the Hornets have been up to previously.

"We just battled to make plays," said Redding. "Our 11 guys, you put them in a room in street clothes, you wouldn't believe they're our starters. They're small and they're undersized. But they're tough, they're fast and they work hard in the weight room. They came to play in the second half. To shut out that team for 20 minutes is a heck of an accomplishment."

Reading's 25-game winning streak is one to remember, but its second half against Mansfield is one Bourque would rather forget. He rushed for just 15 yards and completed one pass, while having two intercepted.

Oram and Mallon check in at under 6-feet and much of their line mates aren't much bigger, but where size lacks, experience leads. In order to stop the Rockets' balanced offense, Mansfield would need to play its best single half of football of the season.

"I'm really not sure how we shut them out in the second half," admitted Redding. "Bourque and their backs can pound you inside. If you get too many guys inside, they got four good receivers. They're tough to defend."

Three of five offensive linemen and the entire Mansfield D-line are comprised of seniors, including Chris Walker, Sean Otto and two-way starter Kyle McGuire, a Hockomock League all-star, who was among the first in line to accept the championship trophy with tears in his eyes and fresh blood smeared above his nose.

"Our line has been tough all year," he said. "We're always smaller than most of the kids we go up against but we played tough. We have a lot of heart. That's what matters."

The Hornets struggled to score the game-winning touchdown, twice having drive's stall and relying on the defense to get the ball back - a task they happily performed. When the Mansfield offense did get the ball back on the Reading 2-yard line, Hockomock MVP Jamel Marshall was handed the ball in what was Redding's bread-and-butter play on the afternoon, a power run to the left side. Nearly every one of Marshall's 18 carries went to the left, a conscious decision designed to both utilize the blocking of stellar left tackle Anthony Todesco and left guard Carlos Arevalo and to avoid game-changing edge-rusher Jeff Covitz, working against right guard Nick Leonard and right tackle McGuire.

"I have not done a game plan to avoid one lineman as much as we did (with Jeff Covitz)," acknowledged Redding. "He's a great high school player, should be a scholarship college player. We did not want to run to him on a regular basis. That's why all the runs (went) left. We have good linemen over there but it was a mix of utilizing our strengths and avoiding their strengths."

The ability to wash away three first half turnovers and ignore the dismal score staring them down from Gillette Stadium's two large video boards at each end zone turned an inconceivable comeback into a 29-26 storybook victory.

"If you don't have character guys today, you don't win the game," said Redding. "Second half, we held them to a shutout. You wouldn't have predicted that when we went in at halftime."