Natick Football Topples Brookline

Natick took Brookline in a 21-7 win Saturday.

Natick put together a 12-play, 56-yard drive to open the game that ended with Troy Flutie (231 yards passing, 70 yards rushing and two touchdowns) rolling left and hitting Brian Dunlap (180 yards receiving and two touchdowns) in the left corner of the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown.

The Brookline Warriors responded with a 13-play drive of their own that included a third-and-18 conversion from Nick Scott to Leon Scott and brought Brookline to the four-yard line. After a holding penalty and fumbled snap that set the tone for the game, however, Brookline was unable to reach the end zone.

It looked as though Brookline was going to finally reach the end zone after Nick Scott (132 yards rushing, 152 passing and a rushing touchdown) bowled over two linebackers for 17 yards and connected for a 21-yard gain with Leon Scott (152 yards receiving) down the right sideline. Nick Scott suffered a bruised rib two plays later and replacement Ben Knopf hit Jeff Pointdexter on a slant for 18 yards to set up first and goal at the one yard line, but lost a fumble on a quarterback keeper up the middle.

“We may have gotten a little lucky on a few occasions, but we made plays when we had to,” Natick head coach Mark Mortarelli said. “You have to give them credit. They had a game plan and followed through with it. Nick Scott is such a weapon, we were trying to balance being aggressive with him and playing it safe.

The Warrior defense kept the Natick offense in check for the most part going into the second half, only allowing a Flutie 22-yard touchdown to Derrick Kane with 1:24 left before halftime to make it a 14-0 game.

Nick Scott returned to start the second have and immediately made his presence felt by hitting Leon Scott in stride down the field for a 53-yard gain that put the Warriors on the Natick 12. Nick Scott finally got the ball into the end zone four plays later on a three-yard quarterback keeper and it remained a 14-7 game until the fourth quarter.

“Losing Stephen hurt us a lot and left us scrambling, but we did a lot of the things that we wanted to offensively,” Brookline head coach Kevin Mahoney said.

On a crucial play, Flutie dove forward and lost the ball but was ruled down before it came out on the 10-yard line and the quarterback hit an open Dunlap on the left side of the end zone on the next play to give Natick a 21-7 advantage.