Rams dropped by Rockets 35-6, look forward to Bartlett

Laudone Gianluca (#21) looks for a hole (Photo by Linda Flibbert)

by Steev Riccardo. More photos follow.

Auburn – The Shepherd Hill Rams ran into one of the top teams in Central Mass on Friday night in the Auburn Rockets, who played flawlessly and took apart the Rams 35-6 in front of a huge crowd.

This game was a rematch of the two teams’ classic encounter from a year ago when the Rams ended the Rockets 41- game winning streak with a thrilling 32-22 win in Dudley.

The Rams held the Rockets on their first possession and took over on their 14-yard line. Senior co-captain Brad Picard ran the ball three consecutive time and the Rams picked up a pair of first downs but were held and forced to punt.

The Rockets then put together a 69-yard drive helped by a 15-yard penalty and took a 7-0 lead with a minute left in the opening quarter.

Both teams battled hard for field position and the Rockets eventually added on a second score with 6:18 left in the half to make it 14-0.

The Rockets then tagged on another score with 16 seconds left to make 21-0 and put the Rams in a deep hole against a powerful team.

Senior co-captain Drew Ravenelle and Laudone Gianluca had consecutive runs of 14 and 10 yards on the last two plays of the half but that was all the Rams could muster.

It was all Auburn in the second half. They put together two more scoring drives before the Rams were able to score late on a 7- yard run by Zachary Goddard.

“This started in 2009 and it’s not over, this is only one little battle in the war and it’s not over, we have a lot of sophomores out here and we will be here. We are not gong anywhere,” said Rams head coach Chris Lindstrom following the loss

“We played as hard as we could play, I thought we brought it. What I asked them for was their effort and I was very pleased with what they did. We missed some tackles. We have to do a better job. The effort was there. We will be OK, next week we will be back at it.”

The Rams will take on the Bartlett Indians at home next Friday and Lindstrom shifted gears and was already looking ahead.

“We respect Bartlett immensely. We think they are a very good team. They are well coached and disciplined,” said Lindstrom. “They have a heck of a ball club. Those kids are ready to play and when we play them every year it’s a battle.  There is a lot of pride in Webster and I want them to win every game other than the Shepherd Hill, we follow them and we are a big supporter of Bartlett Indians football.” 

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Rams Matt Vertucci (#42) tries to break free.
(Photo by Linda Flibbert)

The Shepherd Hill players held their own in a tough battle
(Photo by Steev Riccardo)