With less than 10 seconds remaining in the first half, Boston Latin quarterback Devin Vasquez took a shotgun snap, rolled to his left, and connected with senior receiver Will Parsons in the end zone as the half expired.
The score gave Latin an 8-point lead over Boston English, which proved to be the difference in a 22-14 win at Harvard Thursday in the 131st installment of the country’s longest continuous Thanksgiving football rivalry.
“I was running a post route but Devin scrambled to the left so I turned back to the outside,” Parsons said of his touchdown grab. “He just gave me a really nice pass right where I could catch it.”
“Right before that I told them that seniors make big plays on Thanksgiving,” Boston Latin coach Ray Butler said. “Will Parsons made a play in the end zone to go up and get it.”
Boston Latin overcame a sluggish start as the Wolfpack (2-9) turned the ball over and surrendered an early touchdown before the offense found a rhythm.
“At the beginning we just weren’t playing our brand of football,” Parsons said. “We started off slow but once we got into the swing of things it really picked up. Everyone started playing their assignments and we played mistake-free after that.”
After throwing an interception on the first drive, Vasquez settled in and finished with 156 passing yards and three touchdowns.
Vasquez connected with Joao-Paulo Ferreira for his first touchdown pass, a 40-yard pitch-and-catch along the seam. Vasquez’s last touchdown toss came on the second play of the fourth quarter, when he found Joe Connolly on a 13-yard score.
Boston English’s first touchdown came in the first quarter, when quarterback Hakeem Olaogun scrambled for a 12-yard score. English (2-8) scored again in the third quarter as Sam Denton rushed for a 44-yard touchdown.
“Even though there were days when we came in and it was hard to keep the fire going we still kept it going and this is what it was all for,” Latin senior captain Brandon Stengel said. “We pushed through so much adversity this year but we were able to come through with the win at the end.”
Latin leads the series, 81-37-13.
Brandan Blom can be reached at [email protected].