For a football game that was delayed 39 days, the wait was more than worth it for Auburn

AUBURN — Casey Shrauger wouldn’t let go of the football Tuesday night.

In a resumption of a game with Swampscott that was suspended due to lightning on Sept. 8, the Auburn High senior found the pigskin in his hands with the contest tied at 21 apiece in overtime.

Needing to run 3 yards to secure a successful 2-point conversion and win for the Rockets, Shrauger took a handoff — from his left guard position — and rumbled his way over the goal line to hand Auburn a thrilling 23-21 victory over Swampscott.

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After a team-wide celebration in the end zone, handshakes at the 50-yard line and postgame chat with his team — Shrauger still had the football in his grasp.

The Auburn High senior captain didn’t want the moment to slip away.

“I’m just shaking (with) so much joy; so much pride for my team,” Shrauger said. “I just can’t even explain the feeling.”

One of those crazy circumstances

Auburn and Swampscott first met on the gridiron for a nonleague contest in Week 1.

The original game was postponed twice due to lightning strikes in the area. The final bolt halted the action all together shortly after Auburn’s A.J. Oliveira hit a 29-yard field goal with 4 seconds remaining in regulation to tie it at 15-all.

Then, 39 days later, the Rockets and Big Blue finally found a time when they could resume the game in Auburn.

“From my understanding, with the new playoff format, the MIAA will not let you end in a tie. You have to finish it,” Auburn coach Jeff Cormier said. “... It’s just one of those kind of crazy things.”

Yet the craziness was just getting started.

Auburn pulls off wild OT win over Swampscott

At 6:59 p.m., Oliveira booted a squib kick up the middle of the field before teammate Nathan Cook and a few other Rockets tackled the Big Blue returner to send the game into overtime. Four minutes later, Auburn and Swampscott captains and coaches concluded a meeting at midfield with officials to discuss OT rules.

Swampscott took the ball first on offense from the 10-yard line, and in two plays scored a touchdown at 7:05 p.m. On the ensuing 2-point conversion, however, Shrauger stuffed the Swampscott rush attempt with a tackle at the 2-yard line to keep the Auburn deficit at six points.

“I just knew we had to make a stop to not give them a bigger lead,” Shrauger said.

Needing a touchdown to tie, Auburn ran the ball three straight times and found itself on the Swampscott 3-yard line on fourth down.

With the game hanging in the balance, freshman QB Brayden Belanger took a shotgun snap, stepped to his left and handed the ball backward to a streaking Cook, who rushed into the end zone for a timely 3-yard score to knot it up at 21-21.

“Easy run,” Auburn senior captain Ian Clayton said. “No one touched him.”

“We just needed it,” said Cook, also a captain. “We made a play, and we got it.”

With OT rules stating that Auburn had to go for two, the Rockets whipped out some trickery to seal the win.

Sophomore quarterback A.J. Callahan took the snap from under center, stepped to his left and handed the ball backward to a streaking Shrauger — who switched from blocker to rusher and plunged across the goal line to set the Rockets off into a team-wide eruption at 7:13 p.m.

“I was just ecstatic,” Cook said. “It was pure joy throughout my body. Excited for him, excited for us as a whole team.”

“It was just a great moment for everyone,” Auburn senior captain Christian Sacco said.

One kickoff, two touchdowns, nine plays and 14 minutes later — Auburn saw its record change from 3-2-1 to 4-2 in the blink of an eye.

“We did it,” Clayton said.

Business is boomin' for the Rockets

Following handshakes with Swampscott and a brief speech from Cormier, Auburn defensive coordinator Sean Sullivan selected Cook and Shrauger as the two players of the game to deliver a “boom” chant and stomp with teammates — a postgame celebration the Rockets started last season.

Right now, business is booming for an Auburn team that’s won four straight games.

“Business is 100% booming,” Shrauger said. “Onto the next one.”

With just a couple of days to prepare for their next game against Northbridge on Friday, the Auburn seniors took a few final seconds to celebrate their wild win on Tuesday. And while posing for pictures with his fellow classmates at 7:25 p.m., Shrauger still had his hands wrapped around the football.

Twelve minutes after he delivered the winning conversion.

“So much happiness,” Shrauger said. “Great teamwork all around. Just really happy we could pull through.”

Said Shrauger’s mom: “I was crying. It was awesome.”

“That was the best 15 minutes,” Shrauger’s dad said. “We should do it more often.”

— Contact Tommy Cassell at tcassell@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tommycassell44. 

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Auburn football beats Swampscott in overtime thriller