WOBURN — The Gloucester High football team was beat at its own game Saturday afternoon in the Division 4 North semifinals against Nashoba.
The Fishermen advanced within one win of a Super Bowl appearance by playing a physical brand of football that wears down opponents late in games. But on this instance, it was the Central Mass. champions from Nashoba that wore Gloucester down, thwarting the North sectional champs in the second half en route to a 32-14 win at Woburn High School.
"Credit to them, they were great tonight," Gloucester head coach Tony Zerilli said of Nashoba. "They out-muscled us for a good part of the game. Our kids played tough, they hung tight for a while, but it got away from us at the end. (Nashoba) was just physical, fast and athletic."
The teams traded scores in the first half, with Nashoba (10-1) hitting halftime with a 15-14 lead. The Chieftains, who are heading to the Super Bowl for the second season in a row and the third time in the last four seasons, came out and set the tone for the second half right away.
It took just two plays for them to go 59 yards after receiving the second half kickoff from Gloucester. Alex Childs (104 yards rushing) raced 26 yards on a rush around the left end on the first play of the half, and quarterback Sam Bolinsky (145 yards and 4 TDs passing) hit Will Danby for a 33-yard scoring catch-and-run on the following play to extend the lead to 22-14.
Gloucester (9-2) drove to midfield on the ensuing series but turned the ball over on downs, and Nashoba followed with a six-play drive that culminated with Bolinsky hitting Childs for an 11-yard score.
Childs added a late 19-yard field goal to cap the scoring.
"They completed passes when they needed to and ran the ball at will in the second half with (Childs)," Zerilli said. "They were well balanced and they play tough football."
The Fishermen had success on the ground over the first two quarters, gaining 178 yards led by fullback Daylon Lark (127 of his 135 yards rushing in the first half). In the second half, however, the Chieftains shut off the inside runs and keyed in on Gloucester's leading rusher, Jan Pena-Ortiz, on off-tackle and sweep plays all night, holding him to 52 yards on 18 carries.
"All three of those backs are tough to stop," Nashoba head coach Jamie Tucker said. "Lark really hurt us in he first half, but we made a few adjustments and the kids just made plays. Gloucester was super physical, but our guys responded."
Gloucester only gained 67 yards of offense in the second half and could not penetrate deeper than the Nashoba 39-yard-line.
"We were searching a lot on offense," Zerilli said. "They took away off-tackle and sweep and we had to go to other stuff. They shut down our offense pretty well."
The Fishermen got off to a great start as Lark raced 44 yards on a fullback trap to give Gloucester the early lead. Marc Smith added the 2-point conversion to make it 8-0.
Nashoba responded with an 11-play, 81-yard march, which ended with Bolinksy finding Matt Johnson for a 3-yard touchdown and a Childs 2-point conversion to tie the game.
Lark again found the end zone in the second quarter, restoring the Fishermen's lead at 14-6. But Nashoba took back momentum at the end of the half.
The Chieftains forced a three-and-out in the final two minutes before halftime and scored with under 30 seconds to go when Bolinksy hit Danny McNulty on a swing pass. Childs drilled the extra point to give Nashoba a 15-14 edge at the break.
"That was a big momentum swing for us," Tucker said. "To get that quick stop after they moved the ball on us and then the late score, it really had us going into the half feeling good."
Nashoba moves on to the Division 4 Super Bowl against Dighton-Rehoboth. Gloucester will finish up the season on Thanksgiving morning on the road (10 a.m.) at rival Danvers, a Division 3 North finalist.
Gloucester put together its deepest tournament run in the current playoff format and made its first state semifinals appearance since 2010.
"This team deserves a ton of credit; they're tough and resilient," Zerilli said. "A lot of kids stepped up and they were banged up, but they gutted it out. We went from offense to defense and only substituted one kid, but they fought through it the best they could."
Division 4 State Semifinals
Nashoba 32, Gloucester 14
at Woburn High School
Nashoba (10-1) 8 7 14 3| 32
Gloucester (9-2) 8 6 0 0| 14
G- Daylon Lark 44 run (Marc Smith run)
N- Matt Johnson 3 pass from Sam Bolinsky (Alex Childs run)
G- Lark 10 run (run failed)
N- Danny McNulty 14 pass from Bolinsky (Childs kick)
N- Will Danby 33 pass from Bolinsky (Childs kick)
N- Childs 11 pass from Bolinsky (Childs kick)
N- Childs 19 field goal
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing-Nashoba: Alex Childs 14-104, Sam Bolinsky 2-19, Danny McNulty 5-13, Brendan Lee 5-12, Troy Barksdale 1-3. Gloucester: Daylon Lark 16-135, Jan Pena-Ortiz 18-52, Marc Smith 6-34.
Passing- Nashoba: Bolinsky 13-22-145-4-0. Gloucester: James Nelson 2-7-19-0-0.
Receiving: Nashoba: Will Danby 2-40, Barksdale 4-39, John Foney 4-38, McNulty 1-14, Childs 1-11, Matt Johnson 1-3. Gloucester: Smith 1-19, Pena-Ortiz 1-0.
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