HAVERHILL — Thursday morning Kevin Bradley rang the ‘Good Luck Bell’ at Mass General signaling his final chemo treatment for his tongue cancer.
Later that night, his Whittier Tech football team answered the bell by snapping a two-game losing streak and defeating KIPP Academy 28-20, in a back-and-forth bruising contest.
This marks Whittier’s first win over KIPP in eight tries.
“This win means so much to me. Coach Bradley just finished chemo and we have never beat this team, so it means so much especially in this moment,” said senior Noah Allen.
Allen certainly rang his own bell — to the tune of scoring all four touchdowns and finishing with 140 rushing yards, and a five-yard catch.
A catch?
Whittier doesn’t throw the ball … at all.
With the game tied at 20 and under six minutes left, Whittier faced a third-and-five situation and elected to go to the air for the first — and only time in the game.
“We got the ball and we all looked at each other and said ‘you’re calling that? Like, right now’? and we just said, ‘OK, we’ve got to get this done now,’” said Allen.
He broke to his left and southpaw Dylan Paul tossed a high pass to the back of the end zone.
“I made that break (on my route) and I looked and (their defender) was in front of me so I knew I had to go get it,” said Allen. “I jumped way over him because he’s wicked tall, so I dove over him and I came down with it. I held that ball, I tucked it in and I looked at the ref and it was good. It was so surreal.”
Before that game-winning touchdown, Allen had touchdown runs of 11 and 6 yards giving the Wildcats a 14-8 halftime lead, before adding a 55-yard run down the left sideline with 7:20 to go in the third quarter giving Whittier the 20-12 lead.
“Noah is just such a tough, tough runner. When the lights are the brightest that’s when he likes to shine. He got guys blocking to the whistle and it was just such a great team effort all around,” said assistant coach Chris Valaskatgis.
The Panthers tied it up nine plays later, setting the stage for the game winner coming with 5:26 remaining.
Whittier’s Josh Lasher recovered the ensuing onside kick and Whittier ran out the clock to seal the win and improve to 3-3.
Earlier in the game David Mercier and Dakota Gadd recovered fumbles.
“The big thing is the team just came together and responded this week. We had a fantastic week of practice,” said Valaskatgis with Bradley standing next to him sporting the biggest smile.
“The energy was at a level — you would have thought that we were 5-0 this week. Honestly, they were completely focused. All week they were physical. We stressed physicality, we stressed finishing (plays) and we stressed playing as a team. Our practices all week felt like we were at the Super Bowl. We had kids playing out of position due to some injuries and we had guys making big plays all game. All the kids tonight stepped up,” added Valaskatgis.
Whittier finished the game with 302 rushing yards. Grady Booth, Jazavier Vazquez and Ricky DiChicco combined for 144 yards.
Whittier Tech 28, Kipp Academy 20
First Quarter
KI: Joan Ortiz 11 run (rush failed)
WT: Noah Allen 11 run (rush failed)
Second Quarter
WT: Allen 6 run (Jazavier Vazquez rush)
Third Quarter
KI: Aavian Pena 19 run (rush failed)
WT: Allen 55 run (rush failed)
WT: Elai Machado 11 run (Pena rush)
Fourth Quarter
WT: Allen 5 pass from Dylan Paul (Allen rush)
Individual Statistics
Passing: WT, Dylan Paul 1 for 1, 5 yards.
Rushing: WT, Noah Allen 18-140, Grady Booth 8-62, Jazavier Vazquez 11-50; Ricky DiChicco 6-32; Austin Sachetti 2-21; Dylan Paul 1 – (-4).
Receiving: WT, Noah Allen 1-5.