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Cardinals keep playoff hopes alive with 21-16 win

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Oct 20, 2019

Telegraph photo by TOM KING Bishop Guertin QB Dylan Santosuosso threw for two touchdowns and ran for another in the Cards' 21-16 win over Winnacunnet on Saturday night at Stellos Stadium.

NASHUA – They still have a pulse, by inches.

With two games left, the Bishop Guertin High School football team still has a chance at the playoffs after holding on for a 21-16 win over Winnacunnet Saturday night at Stellos Stadium.

It wasn’t easy.

Winnacunnet’s Jack McCann blocked a punt setting the Warriors up at the BG 21 with just over four minutes to play and the Cards, now 4-3, clinging to a 21-16 lead.

However, Warrior QB Elliott Beals was stopped a chain link short of a first on fourth-and-2 at the Cardinal 11 with 2:11 left.

“It’s good when you catch a break, for sure,” Guertin coach John Trisciani said.

“We were saying we hadn’t had any blocked kicks, and for it to happen in the biggest moment of the game was not good. But the defense did enough.

“Got lucky. Sometimes lucky is better than good. It (the measurement) was close. I would’ve loved to have seen it from a closer view.”

“Game of inches, right?” Winnacunnet coach Ryan Francoeur said. “The cliché, but it was. They brought the credit card out and everything. It is what it is, sometimes the bounces don’t go your way. But I’m really happy with how the kids responded tonight.”

Guertin got a big night from quarterback Dylan Santosuosso, who threw for two TDs and ran for another. The Cards, after jumping out in front 14-0, were clinging to a 14-10 when they put together a 15-play, 85 yard drive with Santosuosso (10 of 18-152-2TD-1INT) hitting Kyle Baker on a tight 7 yard TD with 9:25 left, helping to make it 21-10 with 9:25 to play.

“I’m from Pelham, he’s from Pelham, we’ve always known each other,” Santosuosso said. “I just saw him juke his guy out, and I led him a little so he could get it.”

However, the Warriors (1-6) came right back with a 61-yard Elliott Beals TD to Ben Chase with 8:32 left. A two-point conversion attempt failed, and that was big as the Warriors wouldn’t be able to tie the game with a field goal on their late opportunity.

“It was obviously a must-win game,” Trisciani said. “We don’t care how we did it, it just needed to be done. Keeps your head above water and we go on to another one.”

Early on, The Cards finally broke through on their third straigh possession in Warrior territory on a 36-yard fourth down Santuosso pass to Ben Plumley nearly a minute into the second quarter. Toby Therrien added the PAT to make it a 7-0 game.

On their next possession, the Cards marched 60 yards in 10 plays, with Santuosso running it in from 7 yards out to help make it a 14-0 game.

However, the Warriors put together a 12-play, 74-yard drive – aided by 30 yards in penalties – and scored on a Chris McClelland run on the final play of the half to help cut the deficit in half, 14-7 going to the locker room.

Winnacunnet’s Hunter Madore added a 27-yard field goal to make it 14-10 with 4:42 left in the third quarter.

The first quarter featured a lot of key plays but no points. Guertin’s Baker stumbled catching a Santusosso pass at midfield, a 33-yard gain that could’ve been a touchdown with clear sailing behind him.

That started a 13 play drive that ended with a Warriors defensive stand inside th e 5. The Cards got the ball back on the Warrior 15 after the next series thanks to a partially blocked punt, but Winnacunnet’s Kylan Delage picked off a Santosuosso pass in the end zone.

Those missed opportunities could’ve added up against the Cards, but they didn’t. And later, they held their breath on that Warrior fourth down measurement.

“I was very nervous,” Santosuosso said. “I knew that could determine the whole game.”

And possibly a season.

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