BOXFORD — ‘He’s a special kid.’
Those were the first words out of the mouth of Masconomet football coach Pat Sheehan Friday night after hearing that his star running back, Jack Fabiano, had rushed for a whopping 295 yards and all six of his team’s touchdowns in a 41-22 victory over Beverly at Walt Roberts Field Friday night.
“I wasn’t even aware that he had all six touchdowns,” Sheehan conceded. “I know I kept telling our playcallers, ‘Give him a break’. But he’s well conditioned, he doesn’t get tired, and he just keeps going.”
The 6-foot, 190-pound Fabiano, who also stars in the classroom (4.7 GPA) and is ticketed for Williams College to continue playing ball, built upon his North Shore leading totals in rushing yardage (1,075 yards in 7 games), touchdowns (23) and total points (146).
Smiling when a comparison to former Pittsburgh Steeler great Le’Veon Bell was mentioned (“I used to watch him a lot and his patient style; I liked him”), Fabiano scored on runs of 50, 8, 1, 4, 37 and 10 yards, respectively.
“I depends on who we’re playing, but tonight I was able to be a little more patient, sitting behind the line and when they opened a hole, I ran through it,” said Fabiano, who scored all but three of his team’s total points Friday, including a conversion rush.
“Beverly was taking away my straightaway stuff, so I had to be patient,” he added. “I’d bend it back or bounce it outside, and it opened up some plays.”
The Masconomet victory now sets up an epic clash back at Bunker Stadium next Friday night when unbeaten Marblehead (6-0) comes to town, with the winner claiming the NEC Dunn division title.
The visiting Panthers (4-3), whose game plan defensively was having five players defend the run by playing inside out, physically battled with the bigger Masconomet line all night and, at times, appeared to have Fabiano stopped for short gains.
“But he’d just scoot, scoot, scoot, keep moving, wriggle free and be gone,” stated Beverly head coach Jeff Hutton.
“You can’t simulate what Fabiano does in practice leading up to this game. He’s absolutely the best back in the Northeastern Conference; he might be one of the best backs we’ve seen in a very long time. He’s fast, he’s strong, he’s smooth, he’s patient and he’s hard to tackle … and when you get a line like he has, you can be patient.”
Captain Nino Stefanelli, 6-foot-5, 350-pound Cam Bucchiere, Athan King, Evan Velardo and Alex Russo were the beef up front that gave Fabiano the time and space to make his magic happen. Tight ends Lucas Magnifico and Connor Mitchell were an extension of the line, too.
“You’ve got to give praise to the line,” said Magnifico, who at 6-4 and 215 pounds doubles as a defensive end. “It came down to the X’s and O’s, and when the line does its job, (Fabiano) just balls out.”
“Beverly’s linebackers were just playing gaps inside all night long; that’s exhausting thing for an offensive line to go up against all night long,” admitted Sheehan. “But they did it pretty well and allowed Jack to do his thing, certainly.”
Junior running back Sean Okhuozagbon had a fine game of his own for the Orange and Black, rumbling for a season high 139 yards and touchdown runs of 13 and 34 yards. As a team the Panthers ran for 251 yards and made Masconomet play four full quarters of football for the first time this season, said Sheehan.
“Sean needed a game like this and ran the way we thought he could,” said Hutton. “He and (captain Sean) Costa (47 yards) both ran hard and picked up yards after contact.”
Panther senior Floyd White, who had successfully pulled off four fake punts in his squad’s first five games, did so twice more Friday against the Chieftains. The first of those he took off running for a 42-yard score, giving Beverly a quick 8-0 lead.
Two Fabiano scores put the hosts on top before Okhuozagbon scored the first of his two TDs, again putting Beverly ahead (15-14) late in the first half. But five runs by Fabiano moved the football 60 yards into the end zone in just 1:28, giving the Chieftains a lead they’d never relinquish.
Two more touchdowns runs by the Masconomet speedster, including a killer 4th-and-3 score from the 50-yard line, gave his team breathing room entering the fourth and final frame.
Sheehan noted he was proud of how his defensive tightened up in the second half, particularly late when the Panthers tried for one more touchdown in the final seconds deep in Masco territory but were stuffed.
“Keeping us ahead by more than 14 points and what that means in terms of playoff differential, that’s something our players absolutely were aware of going into that final drive,” he said.
While the Chieftains now set their sights on Marblehead a battle of NEC Dunn unbeatens, Beverly will be on its bye next weekend.
Masconomet 41, Beverly 22
at Walt Roberts Field, Boxford
Beverly (4-3);8;7;0;7;22
Masconomet (6-1);6;14;15;6;41
Scoring summary
B — Floyd White 42 run (Jordan Downey pass from Cole Fowler)
M — Jack Fabiano 50 run (rush failed)
M — Fabiano 8 run (Drew Gustafson pass from Cal Weidman)
B — Sean Okhuozagbon 13 run (Lucas Guevara kick)
M — Fabiano 1 run (pass failed)
M — Fabiano 4 run (Fabiano rush)
M — Fabiano 57 run (Nicco Cefalo kick)
B — Okhuozagon 34 run (Guevara kick)
M — Fabiano 10 run (pass failed)
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Beverly — Sean Okhuozagbon 20-139, Floyd White 2-62, Sean Costa 14-47, Danny Pierce 6-37, Stephan Sullivan 2-13, Xavier Auk 1-0; Masconomet — Jack Fabiano 30-295, Drew Gustafson 2-19, Alex Cantalupo 1-6.
PASSING: Beverly — Pierce 7-16-62-0-0; Masconomet — Gustafson 8-16-96-0-1.
RECEIVING: Beverly — Auk 2-25, White 3-20, Costa 1-11, Cal McCay 1-6; Masconomet — Cal Weidman 5-42, Trip Weidman 1-34, Liam Ginley 2-20.