By RICK SPRUNGER
If you went to Norwell Friday night expecting to see a close game, you didn’t get what you paid for.
Depending on which color shirt you were wearing, it was either a rude awakening or a pleasant surprise.
Norwell’s 59-7 beatdown of New Haven certainly put a smile on coach Josh Gerber’s face.
“We were ‘on’ tonight,” Gerber said. “We focused all week on intensity, and we got that from them.”
The irony was that on a night when Norwell put 59 points up on the scoreboard, it only had 244 yards in total offense and 10 first downs.
It’s not that the offense had a bad night, mind you. It’s just that the defense and special teams never gave the offense a chance to flex its own muscle.
The Norwell defense had three touchdowns of its own plus a safety.
Drew Graft had two pick-sixes of 20 and 27 yards and Drew Ringger picked up a fumble after a strip-sack by Trey Bodenheimer and raced 55 yards for another touchdown.
“Max Babcock had two really nice punt returns that set up two scores,” praised Gerber.
The special teams were just as effective.
Austin DeLeon booted a 25-yard field goal and blasted eight of 10 kickoffs through the end zone to pin New Haven at its own 20.
Brody Bolyn bombed one punt 63 yards, and then saw his coverage team recover a New Haven muff at the Bulldog 10.
His “shortest” punt all night was 38 yards, and that was only because that was all he needed to put it into the end zone.
All of that combined to keep the ball out of the hands of Mylan Graham, New Haven’s flash-and-sizzle wide receiver/return specialist.
Graham has reportedly been offered scholarships by Alabama, Ohio State, and just about every other A-list program in the country. In the open field, he is a mismatch against pretty much anyone in the state.
But he couldn’t do much without the ball.
Quarterback Donovan Williams did find him down the right sideline for a 75-yard lightning bolt in the first quarter.
But he only caught one other pass all night and was largely silent.
“It was a three-phase win for us,” said Gerber. “We were ‘on’ in every phase of the game tonight.”
And, yes, the offense was effective when it was on the field.
Luke Graft rushed for 108 yards on 22 carries, 102 of those yards and all but three touches coming in the first half.
And quarterback Lleyton Bailey connected on a 48-yard touchdown bomb to Kline Neuenschwander, making something out of nothing on a scramble.
Actually, the Norwell offense was nothing but Luke Graft in the first quarter.
He carried the ball on every Norwell play in the opening 12 minutes except for two incomplete passes in a here-it-is, stop-it-if-you-can approach.
He rushed for 81 yards in the period.
And his touchdown and Drew Graft’s first interception return sandwiched around Graham’s big grab put the Knights on top to stay, 14-7.
The second quarter was when things got out of hand.
Luke Graft’s second touchdown and DeLeon’s field goal boosted the margin to 23-7 with 4:24 left.
With Norwell set to receive the second half kickoff, most Norwell partisans present would have been very happy to take that lead into the dressing room.
The fans, yes; the players, no.
They found time to score not one, not two, but three more touchdowns in the remaining time.
It started with Bodenheimer’s strip-sack of Williams that left the ball bounding on the turf behind the New Haven offense and Ringger picking it up and scooting into the end zone with a three-man escort.
After a New Haven three-and-out, Bailey found Neuenschwander in the end zone on that third-and-10 play from the Bulldog 48.
That play came with just 0:58 left in the half.
But then Drew Graft picked off another Williams pass and dashed into the end zone for a 44-7 halftime score and a running clock in the second half.
“That’s the way Norwell plays,” said a gracious New Haven coach Kyle Booher after briefly addressing his team. “Their defense was aggressive and attacking us from all over. We just couldn’t get into any sort of rhythm on offense.”
The second half saw Norwell recover that 63-yard fumbled punt and score on the next play on a 10-yard run by Aydan Rusu.
The Knights also got another interception by Cale Mallery deep in New Haven territory and a 17-yard touchdown run by Timothy Bonjour two plays later.
And then there was the safety when a snap from center went over the head of backup quarterback Dominick Wallace and through the end zone.
But …
“Next week is a new week,” warned Gerber. “East Noble will be ready for us. We’re going to have to stay on top of our game.”
NORWELL 59, NEW HAVEN 7
at New Haven
Score By Quarters
New Haven 7 0 0 0 — 7
Norwell 14 30 6 9 — 59
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
NOR-Luke Graft 3 run (Austin DeLeon kick), 7:28.
NH-Mylan Graham 75 pass from Donovan Williams (Husa Mar kick), 6:04.
NOR-Drew Graft 20 interception return (DeLeon kick), 4:47.
Second Quarter
NOR-L. Graft 1 run (kick failed), 9:32.
NOR-FG DeLeon 25, 4:24.
NOR-Drew Ringger 55 fumble return (DeLeon kick), 3:12.
NOR-Kline Neuenschwander 48 pass from (DeLeon kick), 0:58.
NOR-D. Graft 27 interception return (DeLeon kick), 0:45.
Third Quarter
NOR-Aydan Rusu 10 run (kick blocked), 7:14.
Fourth Quarter
NOR-Timothy Bonjour 17 run (DeLeon kick), 7:28.
NOR-Safety, snap went out of end zone, 5:00.
Team Statistics
NH N
First Downs 7 10
Rushes-Yards 21-14 39-190
Yards Passing 124 54
Passing (C-A-I) 8-16-3 2-6-0
Penalties-Yards 4-30 5-45
Fumbles-Lost 4-1 0-0
Punts-Average 4-46.3 3-47.7
Time of Possession 19:17 28:43
Time of Possession 22:36 25:24
Individual Statistics
Rushing: New Haven-Donovan Williams 7-21, Tre Bates 7-5, Dominick Wallace 3-(-17), Audreon Anderson 2-(-2), Mylan Graham 1-7. Norwell-Luke Graft 22-108, Drew Graft 5-19, Jacob Bischoff 4-9, Trey Bodenheimer 3-31, Timothy Bonjour 2-6, Lleyton Bailey 1-12, Aydan Rusu 1-10, Drew Ringger 1-1.
Passing: New Haven-Donovan Williams 7-15-2 124, Dominick Wallace 0-1-1 0. Norwell-Lleyton Bailey 2-6-0 54.
Receiving: New Haven-Mylan Graham 2-84, James Hardy 2-24, James Barnes 2-14, Tre Bates 2-2. Norwell-Kline Neuenschwander 2-54.
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