The Redmen’s  magical, undefeated season came to an end two weeks ago at the hands of the Beverly Panthers. The game was a defensive battle the whole way and Beverley was able to squeeze out a last second victory by a score of 9 to 8.

The game was part of the MIAA Division II Semi final game and was played at Doucette Stadium. Tewksbury of course held the number one seed and Beverley came in as the number 5 seed.

Trouble was apparent early on when Tewksbury fumbled on their first possession of the game giving Beverley the ball with great field position. Tewksbury’s defense held on the first Beverley possession, but their offense continued to sputter for the remainder of the quarter.

As the first quarter drew to a close Beverley struck on a 73 yard touchdown pass. The score came on a trick play where Beverley pitched the ball back to their running back, Kyle Chouinard, and he threw a nice pass down the sideline to tight end Hugh Calice. The failed extra point left Beverley with a 6-0 lead.

Tewksbury did not stay down for long. Quarterback Jay Connolly found Will Matovu  for a 23 touchdown just before halftime. The successful two point conversion put Tewksbury up 8 to 6 at the half.

The second half became a bit of a sloppy defensive battle. Beverley added a field goal midway through the third quarter to regain a 9 to 8 lead. That would prove to be the final score, but not without a little drama.

Tewksbury had a few more chances to take the lead back. They fumbled the ball away on one drive, had to punt on another, then, they had the ball with about 15 seconds left on the 20 yard line but were unable to find the end zone. Connolly finished with over 100 yards passing and running back Brandon Winn contributed 5o yards on the ground.

Beverley deserves credit for playing a solid game, while it was unfortunate to see the Redmen fall for the first time it happened against a quality opponent.

Tewksbury played one final game last weekend against Masconomet and earned a 18 to 13 victory. In the game Brandon Winn eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards for the season.

Tewksbury plays one final game on Thanksgiving day in their annual matchup with Wilmington. The game will be played at 10 am at Wilmington high school.

While the Redmen fell short of their ultimate goal they still had a terrific season and should be proud of all that they accomplished. Should they beat Wilmington they would walk away as Division Champs and with a 10 win season.

Make sure you come out on Thanksgiving and support Redmen football for their final game of a very successful 2016 season!