John Stark football fights through to get win over Souhegan
There were times on Saturday when Rod McQuarrie wondered how his John Stark High School football team was going to respond to adversity.
WEARE – There were times on Saturday when Rod McQuarrie wondered how his John Stark High School football team was going to respond to adversity.
Would the Generals let it get to them and stumble to the finish? Or would they pull together and find a way to win?
McQuarrie had seen the former happen in the past, but on this day, against Souhegan, the Generals found away to pull together.
John Stark rallied in the first half to take a lead into halftime and two rushing touchdowns from Drew McQuarrie in the fourth quarter helped put the finishing touches on a 35-14 win over the Sabers in the Division II opener for both teams.
The win was just the second all-time for John Stark against Souhegan, and the first one for the Generals since the last game of the regular season in 2006.
“I thought we dug in and played tough,” Rod McQuarrie said. “Offensively, I thought we sputtered a little at times, but we got going when we needed to.”
And it was Drew McQuarrie leading the way, as the senior quarterback rushed for 105 yards and three touchdowns, and was also 14 of 27 for 187 yards and an interception.
Kyler Booker also had 72 yards and two touchdowns on the ground and Leif Mailloux caught seven passes for 106 yards, as John Stark outgained Souhegan 410-286.
“That’s a good team,” Souhegan coach Mike Lochman said. “We didn’t underestimate them, but the fact of the matter is, we’re a little younger than they are. It’s tough to draw a really good team out of the gate like that. We did our best to prepare our guys, but at the end of the day, they played better than we did.”
The Sabers (0-1) got most of their offense from Dante Savo, who finished with 186 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. But Souhegan was limited in the passing game and once the Generals were able to make adjustments at halftime, the Sabers struggled to find running lanes.
“We were purposefully a bit run heavy this week,” Lochman said. “We wanted to try to keep the ball out of their hands because their offense is really good, so the game plan was to control the clock. We were watching the play clock and tried to grind it down to the last second. Once we got into tough situations down and distance-wise, you become predictable.”
Souhegan took a 14-7 lead on Savo’s second touchdown of the day with 8:32 left in the first half, but John Stark answered with a nine-play, 65-yard drive to tie the game on a 3-yard run by Booker. After forcing a three-and-out, the Generals needed seven plays to go 51 yards and score on a 4-yard run by Drew McQuarrie to go up 21-14.
“That’s a huge moment for us,” Rod McQuarrie said. “At times, you look at the sideline, and you look at their eyes. I didn’t see any worry. All you can do is go play, things are going to happen, but when you bring it together and play like you’re coached, good things are going to happen.”
The Generals executed a good thing to open the second half, successfully recovering an onside kick to get the ball at Souhegan’s 38-yard line. John Stark got down to the 20, but the Sabers defense held and the offense put together a drive of its own.
Souhegan faced a fourth-and-4 at the John Stark 29-yard line and Kyle Archambault picked up enough for the first down, but fumbled the ball. Noah Bellemore recovered for the Generals, but the Sabers forced a three-and-out.
The Sabers got back to midfield, but another fumble, this time by Savo, gave John Stark the ball at its own 44.
“The fumbles that we had, both were secured first down and then we lost the ball,” Lochman said. “That killed us. It was hard having to go back out there on defense a couple of times when we thought that we were going to get points on the board.”
While John Stark wasn’t able to capitalize on either fumble, the offense kept Souhegan’s defense on the field long enough to wear it down, and Drew McQuarrie scored on a 28-yard run with 9:52 to left to put the Generals up 28-14.
“To me, that’s a team that overcomes adversity,” Rod McQuarrie said. “We got the onside kick and got the turnovers, and we had nothing off that. You could fold after that and these guys didn’t. It didn’t seem like it fazed them.”
The Generals forced a three-and-out and got the ball back at their own 39. Four plays later, Drew McQuarrie scored from 19 yards out, running over a couple of Sabers and tiptoeing down the sideline, to make it 35-14 with 6:26 remaining.
