Weymouth High football team's defense slams door on Newton North late to preserve win

WEYMOUTH – A nice, low-stress, two-score win might have been better for the ol' blood pressure. But a nerve-jangling, five-point victory complete with a last-minute goal-line stand is fun, too.

"We'll take the drama," Weymouth High quarterback Tyler Nordstrom said with a laugh after the Wildcats had denied Newton North on a first-and-goal from the 7-yard line to preserve a 19-14 win Thursday night. "If it ends up like that, yeah, we'll take the drama."

The Wildcats, off to a 2-0 start for new coach Michael Donovan, seemed to be in control of this one, riding a couple of Nordstrom touchdown passes and a 1-yard dive from Cam Aieta to a 19-7 fourth-quarter lead. But the Tigers (1-1) crept closer on a 1-yard TD run from QB Hayden Willen with 4:07 left and then stunned the big home crowd by recovering the ensuing onside kickoff.

Moments later, Newton North was knocking on the door.

Willen threw incomplete on first down and was sacked by Anthony Marques for a 2-yard loss on second down. Running back Scott Caissie managed just 2 yards on third down, setting up a fourth-and-goal from the 7 with 1:07 left.

"I almost threw up" waiting for the play, said Nordstrom, who was on the sideline. "I couldn't watch it. But (backup QB) Tom Kelly said to me, 'You gotta watch it! You gotta watch it!'"

Willen was flushed to his left on fourth down, couldn't find anyone open and attempted to run it in. He never got close as he was swarmed by a pack of Wildcats at the 6.

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"Obviously, we were playing for a pass and the QB didn't see anything," said Aieta, who plays safety on defense and receiver on offense. "Us in the secondary, we locked it up and the QB decided to take off. It was a great play by our D-tackle, Anthony Marques."

"That's Weymouth football right there," Nordstrom said. "That's just the toughness and all that offseason work. To be in that shape (late in the game) and bend and not break, especially with them having all the momentum, it's such a huge stand by them."

Weymouth killed off the remaining time as running back Anthony Smith exploded for an 80-yard run to the Newton North 8 on a third-and-4 on the final play of the game.

"So proud of him," Donovan said of Smith. "The whole O-line on that play, they had everybody (on Newton North) down (on the turf). Landry (Ciaccio) made a heck of a block. Anthony runs so hard. He had such a great summer. I'm really proud of him."

Said Nordstrom: "The offensive line was unbelievable – (Matt) Oates, Landry (Ciaccio), Christian Pike, Naheem (Ridore), Alex Smith."

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The win, coupled with Week 1's 27-20 road conquest of Westwood, gives the Wildcats a nice early boost – no small thing for a program without a winning record since 2012, but with a new coach and plenty of optimism.

"This is huge, especially with Coach Donovan coming in," Aieta said. "It's a culture change. (We were) always competing, always working this summer and this was what we were meant for right here – these fourth-quarter stops."

Donovan, a head coach for the first time after many years as a college assistant (at Bentley, Harvard, Delaware, Bryant and Brown), wore a big smile after winning in front of the home fans for the first time.

"Unbelievable atmosphere. Tremendous support from the community," Donovan said. "That was awesome. You can't get a better Thursday Night Lights atmosphere than that, right?"

Newton North struck first on Willen's 17-yard TD pass to Nate Day on fourth-and-2 with 8:33 left in the second quarter.

Weymouth tied it up on Aieta's 1-yard plunge with 3:20 left in the half, capping a 13-play, 75-yard drive. The big play was Nordstrom's fourth-and-8 pass to Cam Fernandez down to the goal line. Andrew DelGallo kicked the PAT to make it 7-7.

After forcing a three-and-out and a short punt, Weymouth took over on the Tigers' 30 and cashed in on the final play of the first half when Nordstrom threw a 15-yard TD pass to tight end Michael Farrow, who caught the ball inside the 10 and dragged a defender into the end zone for a 13-7 lead.

"Pre-snap we had discussed getting the wheel route to Aieta," Nordstrom said. "But I heard one of the Newton North players say, 'It's the wheel route! It's the wheel route!' So I looked off Cam Aieta and I saw that Farrow had leverage over the linebacker. I had to fire it in there. Farrow made an unbelievable catch and an unbelievable play. He made that whole play."

Moments after Weymouth's Dante Tordiglione had an apparent 49-yard punt-return TD taken off the board by a penalty late in the third quarter, the Wildcats cashed in anyway. DelGallo caught a 5-yard TD pass from Nordstrom with 10:43 remaining in the game. It was a bubble screen to the right, and fellow receivers Cam Fernandez and Brendan Farrow blocked it perfectly, creating a seam for DelGallo to dart through.

"They're just tough, gritty kids and that's what they do," Donovan said of his receivers. "They pride themselves on that all night. We knew it was going to be a dogfight and they scrapped it up."

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Weymouth High football holds off Newton North with last-minute stand