NEWTON — Lincoln-Sudbury did not leave anything to chance in its final tuneup ahead of the Division 2 Super Bowl, blazing past Dual County League rival Newton South, 28-6, at Winkler Field on Thursday morning.
With the starters leading the way, Lincoln-Sudbury (11-0) rushed for 374 yards and two scores. Senior quarterback Braden O’Connell threw touchdown passes to Peter Rizzotti and James Dillon, who also ran for a 49-yard score.
Lincoln-Sudbury (11-0) has dominated this Thanksgiving series with a 34-10-1 advantage over Newton South (6-5).
Tom Lopez, a Newton South graduate, has 294 career wins in his 40 years as coach at Lincoln-Sudbury. Lopez and his staff now turn toward the formidable challenge of facing defending state champion King Philip at Gillette Stadium on Dec 1.
“It’s really hard going into this game and not thinking about next week,” said Lopez. “But we got a great win and now we can think about next week.”
After rumbling 62 yards on four rushes to score on their opening possession, the Warriors failed to convert on multiple fourth downs in the first half.
However, O’Connell came up clutch in two pressure spots, completing a 29-yard touchdown strike to Rizzotti on third and long before hitting junior captain Dillon for a 16-yard touchdown reception on fourth down for a 21-0 cushion shortly before halftime.
“Newton South played very well and they were putting a lot of guys in the box,” said Lopez. “I was too conservative with the play-calling early, and we’ve just been reluctant to do it, but Braden can throw.”
Dillon broke a 49-yard touchdown along the sideline just three plays into the third quarter to push the margin to 28-0.
“We’ve been preparing for this for awhile and made sure that Newton South was the main focus,” said Dillon. “We’re excited for the Super Bowl. We just have to keep doing what we’ve done all year.”
Senior Andrew Marshall (14 rushes, 132 yards) left the game momentarily with an apparent leg injury, but returned to lead L-S in rushing. Kyrie Williams added 84 rushing yards and a touchdown on five carries.
Mac Barnes caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Luke Cloud in the fourth quarter to get South on the board.
Nate Weitzer can be reached at [email protected].