Norwood made every play it needed to for a comeback against Holliston football
NORWOOD - Holliston backed Norwood to its own 19 yard line with 3 minutes remaining.
The Mustangs faced fourth and 12, down five. The Panthers didn't leave them many options, so they reached into their bag of tricks. Running back Jack Dwyer received a pitch and immediately sidestepped Holliston's James Givens free on the blitz. He had enough time to double clutch and loft the pass deep down the field to receiver Ryan Conneely. It floated in the air up for grabs, but Conneely worked his way back to it. He avoided the initial tackle attempt and raced up the field until Panthers strong safety Kevin Sahagian obliterated him from behind, forcing a fumble.
Norwood fell on it 44 yards later on the Holliston 37. The Mustangs scored six plays later when quarterback Matty Mahoney ran in the game-winning touchdown from six yards out with 22 seconds left to secure a 25-24 victory. He scored all four Mustang touchdowns.
"They made a boatload of plays when they had to," Holliston coach Todd Kiley said. "Their backs were up against the wall on several occasions, and they made a play every single time."
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The running back pass was the latest. Norwood forced a fumble to get the ball on its own 21 after a 49-yard Holliston pass. The Mustangs also scored on a 64-yard reverse wide receiver pass from Conneely to Mahoney with 5:58 left.
The Panthers (2-3) didn't score over the final 20:45, the entire second half after their first drive. Holliston's Devin Harding (76 yards rushing) rumbled into the end zone from 27 yards to put the Panthers up 24-13.
"We had a couple opportunities there to break the game open, and we didn't do it," Kiley said. "You can honestly go back to so many situations where if one of those situations went our way, then it's a different out come. Unfortunately they made every single play when they needed to."
Holliston couldn't stop Mahoney. He ran for two touchdowns in the first half, ripping off scoring runs of 59 and 66 yards. Mahoney amassed 232 yards on the ground and more than 300 yards of total offense.
Panthers receiver Brad Andreola followed up one of the runs with a 75-yard kickoff return touchdown.
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Holliston went ahead 10-0 after a 32-yard Connor Teague field goal with 8:45 to halftime.
Joey Tomacelli opened the Holliston scoring with a one-yard sneak with 45 seconds on the first quarter clock. Quarterback Kaua Lima (74 yards rushing, 89 passing set it up with a 32-yard run to the goal line.
Contact Kyle Grabowski at kgrabowski@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @kylegrbwsk.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Matty Mahoney conjures late magic for Norwood against Holliston
