English Outruns Swampscott 38-7

It was not a night to remember for the Big Blue. On Friday night at the Manning Bowl in Lynn, Swampscott could not keep up with the amazing speed of Isiah Davis, Chris Lessard and Josh Bautista, and took a 38-7 loss in the pouring rain in front of a small, wet crowd. 

The rain caused many problems for Swampscott. Balls were slipping out of open hands on accurate passes from quarterback Brian Santry, defenders slipped when trying to take down the Bulldog running backs, and offensive blockers had a hard time getting their hands on the defensive lineman. 

However, the rain had almost no effect on the English offense. Isiah Davis, who ran for three touchdowns, ran defenders over as if he were a runaway train taking down everything in its path. It didn’t matter if the Bulldogs ran left, right or up the middle – nothing could stop Lynn English on Friday night. 

The Bulldogs started out strong. After receiving the kickoff, they began a 2 minute 53 second drive that ended on a 24-yard touchdown run by Davis. After another Bulldog touchdown, Swampscott was able to drive 73 yards to make it a 12-6 ballgame, the biggest plays of the drive (and the game, at least for Swampscott) being a slip screen to Aaron Cronin to the English 47-yard line, and a 30-yard pass from Santry to Josh Rothwell to make it 1st and goal. Santry ran it in with 2:47 left in the first quarter. 

Although Swampscott kept it close in the first 11 minutes, the Bulldogs took control of the remaining 33 minutes, seizing almost every opportunity to score a touchdown. By halftime, the score was 25-7, and it could have been worse: Lynn was on the Swampscott 1-yard-line as the clock struck zero to end the first half. 

Swampscott’s offense was shut down for the remainder of the night. With 5:46 left to go in the second quarter, another drive was stopped for Swampscott thanks to pressure from the defensive line and secondary. At the beginning of the third, the Blue took a huge risk and went for it on 4th down and two – and did not convert on their own 28-yard line, leading to a touchdown by Davis that made it 32-7. 

One more touchdown in the second half completed a Bulldog blowout. Although Swampscott did not commit any turnovers on offense, it did not force any either. The Bulldogs have a reputation of coughing the ball up, but that reputation did not hold true against the Blue. 

Swampscott may have more problems in the future. Next week, it visits Triton, followed by home games with Malden and Salem. After an away match at Danvers, the Big Blue will take on the Beverly Panthers, a team that crushed the Lynn English Bulldogs, 45-6, last week.