John Roberts Does it All As Duxbury Sprints Past Bridgewater-Raynham

By Matt Feld (@Mattyfeld612)

Bridgewater, Mass. – John Roberts made sure Duxbury’s first decision of the season was  unanimous.

Roberts finished 8-for-12, throwing for 187 yards and finishing with six total touchdowns as No. 20 Duxbury defeated Bridgewater-Raynham, 40-14, on Thursday night at Bridgewater-Raynham High School.  

Roberts hooked up with junior wide receiver Will Prouty early and often throughout Thursday’s contest. The six-foot-one wideout finished with five catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns.

The game was delayed 30 minutes due to lightening, but once it got underway the Dragons offense left little doubt as to its explosiveness.

“John (Roberts) learned so much last year,” said Duxbury coach Dave Maimaron. “He’s a special kid. Our o-line was great. They did an unbelievable job protecting John.”

Whenever Roberts was not showing off his arm, he was showcasing his talents with his legs. Running out of Duxbury’s no-huddle, hurry up offense, the Dragons’ senior quarterback finished with 101 rushing yards including three of his six touchdowns.

Roberts highlighted the importance of having a full season under his belt.

“I’m a lot more comfortable. I know the playbook a lot better,” said Roberts. “I know all my reads a lot more. It’s a lot easier to know which receiver is going to be open on any given play & what the defense is looking like.”

Midway through the second quarter, host Bridgewater-Raynham looked like they may give themselves a chance to pull off an early season upset as sophomore quarterback Anthony Morrison threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Brett Ciccio to give the Trojans a 14-13 lead.

Duxbury, however, immediately answered on its next play from scrimmage. Roberts dropped back to pass out of the shotgun and found a wide-open Leo Allgaier on a seam route for a 55-yard touchdown reception to give the Dragons a 19-14 advantage the half.

The Dragons blew the game open in the early stages of the third quarter.

Prouty began the frame by returning the second half kick-off 39 yards to the Trojans’ 49-yard line. After three Tim Landolfi runs for a combined 30 yards brought the Dragons inside the 12-yard line, Roberts kept the ball on a zone read for a touchdown run to give Duxbury a 26-14 advantage.

Duxbury’s defense followed up with a stop, forcing a Trojans punt and allowing Roberts to put the final nail in the coffin.

Landolfi rushed twice for a total of 24 yards, setting up a beautiful throw from Roberts to Prouty for a 40-yard touchdown to giving a Duxbury 33-14 lead with 3:36 left in the third quarter

“John’s a senior and he played like it,” said Maimaron. “He is so much more comfortable. I think he made one mental error the entire night tonight. That’s awesome.”                            

The Dragons’ defense, meanwhile, was stellar in the second half, keeping the Trojans off the scoreboard and holding them to just four first downs.

Roberts final score of the night came on the Dragons’ opening drive of the fourth quarter. The elusive six-foot-one Roberts pulled back on the read, evaded a trio of Bridgewater-Raynham defenders, and split the defense right up the middle for an eight-year score to put Duxbury on top by a commanding 40-14 score.

“We ran it up the gut a bunch early in the second half, and that opened stuff up for us,” said Roberts. “Just going hurry-up is really just comfortable for us. That is what we know.”