Sutton High football storms back to upend host Monty Tech

FITCHBURG – In front of a large crowd at home on Friday night, the Monty Tech Bulldogs were up by a point, 8-7, over visiting Sutton early in the second quarter, but the Sammies stormed back with a couple of unanswered touchdowns and notched a 21-8 victory.

Monty Tech dropped to 1-4, while Sutton, which co-ops with players from Douglas High, won its third straight and improved to 3-2. Despite the loss, Bulldogs coach Anthony Secino, thinking about future games this fall, was optimistic.

“We played hard to the end and didn’t give up, that’s for sure,” said Secino. “I think we’re going to continue to get better. We have a lot of kids in new spots this year, so we’re still continuing to build.”

After stopping Monty Tech on its first possession, Sutton drove for the first TD of the game led by talented junior quarterback Cam Benedict who was a threat to run or throw every time he was snapped the ball. With a knack for eluding tacklers, Benedict quickly found open receivers.

After the Sammies pushed deep into the Bulldogs’ territory, Benedict raced 15 yards on a keeper and then zipped a TD pass of 4 yards to senior Bo Grier for the 6-0 lead with 5:56 left in the opening quarter.

Junior Wes Gopfert booted the extra point for the 7-0 lead which held through the end of the quarter.

Early in the second quarter, Monty Tech’s tough-to-tackle senior running back Ryan Quinn picked up sizable gains on off-tackle slants, leading the Bulldogs inside the Sutton 20.

From the 19, Bulldog junior quarterback Dylan Huntoon fired a TD pass into the end zone, caught by junior Aiden LeBlanc, pulling Monty Tech to within a point. On the conversion pass, Huntoon found sophomore Ethan Chaput open on the flat and the Bulldogs had the lead, 8-7 with 9:43 left to intermission.

The Monty Tech front defensive line of Mike Duddy, Conor Fuller, Cam Begnoche, along with hard-charging linebackers Kayleb Fayard and Quinn swarmed together on tackles, thwarting the Sutton offense, giving hope that the Bulldogs would maintain their lead.

“We came to play defensively in this game. Our kids played tough and hung in there and that’s something we can build on as a positive,” said Secino.

But just when the Bulldogs seemed in defensive control, Benedict pulled the Sammies out of trouble on key passes and his own keepers, sustaining drives on key third down plays. After star running back Landon Dulmaine bolted on a long gain to the 9, he added a TD run from there for the 13-8 lead. Benedict’s conversion pass attempt fell incomplete.

That score stood up to halftime, and the Bulldogs were still hopeful of a rally after the break, but couldn’t orchestrate a comeback.

The Sammies sealed the game with a 61-yard drive during the final three minutes of the third quarter. The march ended with a 12-yard scoring pass from Benedict to Josh Farrell, who made a terrific leaping catch in the left corner of the end zone while under close defensive pressure with 40 seconds left in the quarter.

Another strike to Farrell by Benedict for the two-point conversion lifted the Sammies to the 21-8 lead before the start of the fourth quarter, which ended scoreless.

The Bulldogs’ Quinn continued to pick up substantial yardage on the ground with effective rushes late into the game, but Monty Tech couldn’t add to their point total.

Sutton pushed into the red zone once again in the final minutes and were stopped there as the game ended.

Monty Tech travels to Worcester on Friday night for a 7 p.m. game against Abby Kelley. The Bulldogs will host Worcester Tech in their Homecoming game on the following Friday night, Oct. 20.

“We’ll keep grinding and see what we can do to get some wins and I think we can,” Secino said.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Sutton High football storms back to defeat Monty Tech