GLOUCESTER — This one ended up being a classic.
Last night's Northeastern Conference showdown pitted defending NEC North and Division 2A Super Bowl champion Gloucester against defending NEC South and Division 3 Super Bowl champion Swampscott. The matchup also pitted two contrasting styles in Gloucester's grind-it-out ball-control offense and the Big Blue's quick strike spread attack.
In the end, the teams traded scores and hits, but it was the Big Blue (4-1) coming away with the 28-20 upset over the Fishermen (4-1) at Newell Stadium.
With the win, Swampscott stopped Gloucester's Eastern Mass. best winning streak at 18 games.
Swampscott senior quarterback Chris Cameron gave the Big Blue the lead for good when he hit Randall Kelleher with a two-point conversion pass to put Swampscott up, 21-20, with three minutes to go.
This happened after Cameron ran for a 4-yard touchdown. He finished the game with three touchdown passes, as well.
The Fishermen fumbled the ensuring kickoff, and Swampscott made them pay as Cameron found Wheeler on 4th-and-7 to make it 28-20. "To come down here and play with a great program like Gloucester and pull out a win in the fourth quarter is huge," Swampscott head coach Steve Dembowski said.
Cameron then sealed the victory with an interception on Gloucester's final drive to give Swampscott its fourth straight win — and first triumph in Gloucester since Oct. 18, 1996.
Gloucester head coach Paul Ingram could only tip his cap to the Big Blue after the contest.
"(Swampscott) played a great game, and I give all the credit to them," Ingram said. "Our kids came out and played as hard as they could, it just wasn't enough tonight."
The Fishermen controlled the first 21 minutes of the game both offensively and defensively as Gloucester ran 25 plays to Swampscott's seven. Conor Ressel made it 7-0 Fishermen on a 1-yard plunge, capping off an 11-play, 76-yard drive.
Ross Carlson would give the Fishermen a two touchdown lead in the second quarter when his 2-yard score made it 14-0, capping off an 11-play, 81-yard drive. Both drives chewed up most of their respective quarters.
With one minute left in the half, however, the game would take an interesting twist. The Big Blue looked to be going into the half down by two scores when they started their drive at their own 13-yard line. After two straight completions by Cameron, however, the Big Blue all of a sudden found themselves in striking distance at their own 42 with just over 40 seconds to go.
Two plays and two Gloucester 15-yard penalties later (a personal foul and a pass interference penalty), the Big Blue was at the 15-yard line with just over 10 seconds to go. That turned out to be more than enough time as Cameron found Patrick Freeman-Smith all alone in the end zone to give Swampscott new life and a 14-7 halftime deficit.
"That was a huge momentum swing for us," Dembowski said. "We had trouble with their blitz in the first half, but were able to put something together at the end of the (half) — and it carried over into the second."
The Fishermen looked to be headed for another score early in the fourth driving inside the 10-yard line, but Swampscott came away with a 4th-and-5 stop at the 8-yard line to take over on downs and take over the momentum.
The Big Blue would strike two plays later when Cameron hit Trevor Wheeler for a 75-yard score to cut the Fishermen lead to one. Gloucester would then block the extra point to preserve its one-point lead.
On the ensuing drive, Gloucester would once again mount a long sustained drive. A 16-yard reception by Dylan Maki set up a Ross Carlson 2-yard plunge to give the Fishermen a 20-13 lead with just over six minutes to play.
Undaunted, Swampscott drove downfield on their next possession, culminating with Cameron's TD run and ensuing 2-point conversion pass to Kelleher.
