The Rockets hang on for a cold, windy and rain drenched Sunday defensive battle to win their last game by beating a much physically larger Mattapan team 7-6.
Q1 saw the Rockets start out on offense with several drives for short yardage gains thanks to strong O-Line work in the trenches by Sam Alberts, Bryce Hunt, Kaden McNeice, Brendan Boutiette, Max Donegan and Chase Williams. Reading had a big yardage play with a 20 yard pass from Chase Williams to Niko Ullman. Unfortunately Reading couldn't mount a scoring drive for the greater part of Q1 after that play and Mattapan took advantage to break a run for 40 yards and nearly a TD but had the TD called back due to a block in the back and personal fouls calls. At 2nd and 21 Mattapan couldn't not muster a drive and great tackles by Niko Ullman, Jay Turner, Brendan Boutiette and Jacob Bradshaw kept the Patriots at bay along with fantastic play on the defensive line by Nick Marrangoni, Adam Cheverie and Jake Evans.
Q2 started with the scored tied 0-0 but Mattapan quickly struck first with a quick run up the middle bringing the score to 6-0. A missed XP kept it there and Reading took over but quickly had to "punt" on a 4 and out. On the next drive Mattapan moved the chains on a 4th and 2 and then coughed up the ball on 1st and 10 at the Reading 44 yard line. As Reading took over the ball a reverse to Ty Nicholas led to a 44 yard run for a TD pulling the score even at 6-6. The XP by Ty was also good and the Rockets went up by one 7-6 and headed into the half at the same score.
Q3 saw the stout Reading "D" stand firm when Mattapan started the 2nd half with the ball. On 2nd down Callan Mackey shed his blocker to tackle the runner for a 5 yard loss. Reading swarmed the ball on the next play and forced Mattapan back to a 4th and 20 situation and a "punt". Several 4 and outs by both teams proceeded until Reading forced yet another Mattapan fumble at the Mattapan 48 yard line. Bryce Hunt came up with the ball for the Rockets which took us to the 4th Q. Rockets up 7-6.
Q4 saw an increase in unwelcome chirpiness from a couple of the opposing teams parents however the Rockets (and fans) held their composure and again let their defense do the talking. On 2nd and 15 Ty Nicholas again broke out on good blocking from Kobe Johnson for a long TD run but was called back due to a holding penalty on Reading. Unfortunately this forced a 4th down and a "punt" by Reading. Tackles for loss were doled out by Kaden McNeice, Jacob Bradshaw, Jared Frazier and Callan Mackey. With the clock ticking down Mattapan called their final remaining timeout. An attempted pass was broken up down field and as the clock struck zero the Mattapan QB backed up to throw another hail-mary down field only to be smothered and sacked by Kaden McNeice. The game closed out on this high note and our boys celebrated a wet, cold and hard fought 7-6 win