FHS Football Headed to Gillette Stadium
by Standard-Times Sports Editor Laurie Los Lee 11/23/2024
MILFORD — A dominant performance by Fairhaven High’s offensive line paved the way to a return trip to Gillette Stadium for the defending Div. 6 Super Bowl champion Blue Devils. With a big push from its line, Fairhaven racked up more than 400 rushing yards on Saturday as the third-seeded Blue Devils executed a 42-13 rout of No. 7 Swampscott in the Div. 6 state semifinals at Milford High School. “That is the best our line has ever played,” said Fairhaven senior Justin Marques. “We were getting five yards a carry or more. They’re the reason we won that game for sure. We ran the ball like we wanted to. It’s hard for teams to stop us with our line blocking like that.”
Behind the blocking of seniors Ben Comey, Fin Reynolds, Andrew “AJ” Medeiros, Anthony Monteiro and Jacob Medeiros and juniors Zach Moura, Dean Joseph and Ben Cormier, Marques had a big game, carrying the ball 44 times for 289 yards and tying his own school single-game record of six touchdowns. “We did our job today,” said Cormier. “We dominated.” Medeiros added, “It was incredible.”
Junior Aaron Lague (see photo) added 70 yards on eight carries while senior Cameron Burke carried the ball seven times for 39 yards and senior Richie Senna had 38 yards on four rushes. “I really love blocking for these guys,” said Joseph.
Fairhaven head coach Derek Almeida praised the work ethic of the Blue Devils’ linemen. “The offensive line was unbelievable,” he said. “They’re just hard-working kids and they show up to practice every day, trying to get better. They watch themselves on film and criticize them — every step they take, the pace they play at and the physicality — and they listen and they get better. ”Even though the Blue Devils finished with 439 rushing yards against Swampscott, Moura wants more. “Before the game we set a goal for 500 rushing yards. As far as I’m concerned right now, we haven’t done enough,” he said. “The job is not finished. We have to stay locked in. We can celebrate now, but tomorrow morning we are back to work. We have to get ready because there are bigger things ahead.” Comey agreed, “I know how hard we worked for this and we’re not done. The job is not finished. We want to win this again. I know we can do it with this offensive line.
FHS will play #1 seeded Hudson for the Division 6 Championship on Wednesday, December 4th at 8:00 PM at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. The game can be streamed at www.patriots.com as well as the Patriots official YouTube channel.