METHUEN — Fiercely hungry, and in need of a statement, Methuen High put the ball in the hands of their dynamic running back duo.
Shane Eason and Josh Kwakye combined for 311 rushing yards and five total touchdowns as Methuen held off Chelmsford for a wild 38-36 victory that saw each team punt just once.
“This means a lot us,” said Eason. “This was our first MVC game of the season, and we took it very seriously. We wanted it so much. After the big loss two weeks ago, we put in a lot of work and a lot of study. We wanted it so bad.”
Two-time Eagle-Tribune All-Star Eason rushed for 180 yards — 132 of them in the second half — and completed a huge halfback pass to Gage Silva for a 44-yard touchdown.
“I’m glad I could make some things happen, and I’m so happy we got the win,” said Eason. “The halfback pass was a great call by our offensive coordinator (Ryan Dugan). We’ve been working on it all week. Actually, it’s funny, I threw the same exact pass to Gage Silva in the seventh grade. It was exactly the same. We have a connection there.”
Meanwhile, Kwakye — who split his time between running back and receiver — carried just five times for 131 yards and a pair of scores.
“It feels great to get a good win,” said Kwakye. “We were hungry. In the rushing game, we were going outside, outside and outside. Chelmsford has a big defensive line, so we just kept going outside and it worked.”
It was Kwakye that twice gave Methuen (2-1) the lead in the first half. He opened the scoring with a 4-yard score, then after Chelmsford (1-3) took the lead, he took a reverse pitch and broke free for a 74-yard touchdown.
“The first one was a little jet sweep, I made a move and went in for the touchdown,” said Kwakye. “I came in, the offensive coordinator called the play, and I knew I had to score. I had to! It felt so good.”
The second half was all Eason. On the first possession after the break, he broke a 22-yard touchdown. A possession later, he sprinted for a 35-yard score. The drive after that was his TD pass to Silva. and the next possession, he broke a 45-yard run that appeared to be a touchdown, but he was called down at the 3-yard line.
Kwayke then added a pair of big runs, setting up a 3-yard QB keeper score for Josh Danella for the winning points with 3:03 left.
Pesky Chelmsford refused to go away, though, and cut the deficit to 38-36 with 1:50 left. But a Lions onside kick was recovered by Adrian Blake.
Linebacker Vinny Demaio was a force on defense for the Rangers, making 10 tackles. Alex Santiago added an interception, and Jaiden Rodriguez recovered a fumble — both stopping potential scoring drives for Chelmsford.
Next up for Methuen is a clash with Andover High.
“That should be a great matchup,” said Kwakye. “They beat us two years ago, we beat them last year. It’s always a great rivalry.”
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Methuen 38, Chelmsford 36
FIRST QUARTER
M — Josh Kwakye 4 run (kick failed), 7:13
C — Jake Brooks 22 pass from Anthony Mauriello (Patrick McConnell kick), 3:24
SECOND QUARTER
M — Kwakye 74 run (kick blocked), 9:59
THIRD QUARTER
C — Nate Duggan 62 pass from Mauriello (McConnell kick), 10:02
M — Shane Eason 22 run (pass failed), 7:40
M — Eason 35 run (Hicham Aboutoui kick), 3:26
C — Nolan Smith 5 pass from Mauriello (Smith pass from Mauriello), 0:00
FOURTH QUARTER
M — Gage Silva 44 pass from Eason (Aboutoui kick), 8:52
C — Dillon Dulong 100 interception return (McConnell kick), 4:56
M — Josh Danella 3 run (kick failed), 3:03
C — Brooks 40 pass from Mauriello (McConnell kick), 1:50
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING: Methuen — Shane Eason 16-180, Josh Kwakye 5-131, Josh Danella 11-71; Chelmsford — Anthony Mauriello 6-60, Dillon Dulong 15-11, Nate Duggan 2-(-6)
PASSING: Methuen — Eason 1-1-0, 44, Danella 5-10-1, 15; Chelmsford — Mauriello 17-25-1, 271
RECEIVING: Methuen — Gage Silva 1-44, Adrian Blake 1-10, Nolan Smith 1-4, Kwakye 1-1; Chelmsford — Gable Gray 5-102, Jake Brooks 4-81, Duggan 3-31, Dulong 2-26, Nolan Smith 3-31