Winchester, MA —
The Lexington High football team led 14-0 at the half and held on to a 20-14 win over Winchester at Knowlton Stadium in Winchester on Saturday.
Running back Kevin Li led the way for the Minutemen rushing for 140 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback, Xander Eriksson ran for two touchdowns from nine and three yards out.
Winchester’s Tim Mangano ran for two touchdowns, one from three yards out in the third quarter and a 73 yard carry late in the fourth.
” It’s tough to have to come back from a 14 point deficit,” said Winchester coach Wally Dembowski. “For some reason whether it’s that we are afraid to make mistakes, trying to do too much, or just not athletic enough we managed to get into a hole like that. We started to play better in the second half, but overall we need to make plays when we need to and not make excuses. Tim (Mangano) played his butt off, and need to get eleven guys to play like that on both sides of the ball we would win these games.”
Lexington opened the scoring after the defense came through with a stop against the Sachems on fourth and seven at the Lexington 26. They put together a 14-play, 74-yard drive led by Li with eight carries for 41 yards. Li ended the drive with a five yard carry up the middle for a touchdown. The kick by Matthew Johnson went off the right upright, but the Minutemen led 6-0 with 57.5 seconds left in the quarter.
They added to the lead late in the second quarter. Lexington opened the drive from the Sachem 42, but was forced to punt on fourth and 21 from the Sachem 42. Quinn Johnson was back for the punt for Winchester, but lost the ball and was recovered by Jovanni Kent at the 16. On second and three from the nine, Eriksson was able to rush up the middle for a touchdown.
Lexington lined up for the extra point, but the ball went to Rhett Adley who ran it in for the two point conversion to give Lexington a 14-0 lead with 46.7 left in the half.
The Sachems finally got on the board after forcing Lexington to punt on their opening possession of the second half. WHS put together a 12-play, 71-yard drive led by Mangano with five carries for 30 yards. He ended the drive with a 3-yard carry up the middle for the score. Alec Davis kicked the extra point to cut the lead to 14-7 with 2:52 left in the third.
Lexington added to its lead with 3:17 left in the game. Eriksson ended the nine-play, 65-yard drive with a 3-yard carry up the middle for a touchdown. Johnson missed the extra point, but Lexington still led 20-7.
Winchester answered right back .
Mangano took the snap on second and eight from the Winchester 27. He broke to his left, and down the left side of the field. He cut toward the middle avoiding two defenders for a touchdown. Davis kicked the extra point to cut the lead to 20-14 with 2:28 left in the game.
The Sachems went for the onside kick, but it was recovered by Lexington. They ran out the clock to preserve the six-point victory.
“We did a great job building the lead, but unfortunately we had to battle to win the game,” said Lexington coach George Peterson. “The kids did a great job taking advantage of the turnover late in the first half after the offense stalled on the previous possession. It was great to see the kids be able to turn it into points, something we have not had a lot of chances to do. The kids have put together a three game winning streak, and have a big game with Woburn next week.”
Courtesy Winchester Star Wicked Local
