The Norton Football varsity team won their division title in this past 2013 fall sport season. With three very close games, they finished at the top of the division with those three wins keeping them in first. The team finished 8-3 so if those games had gone just a little bit differently, their record could have been much different. The team this past season was led by senior captains Mike Travers, Brad Wry, Tony Giglio, and the quarterback and safety, Mike Ready. Matt Hines, another senior, was a huge playmaker at wide receiver, running back, and cornerback; the supporting cast this past season was also very productive and helped win many games.
In Norton's first game, they traveled down the cape to Scituate and came back with a winning score of 28-27. It was a very close game throughout and it took no small amount of effort to come out with a win. The two key players of this game for the Lancers were Matt Hines and Mike Ready. Ready threw all four of his touchdown passes to Hines with the same passing route each time. The last touchdown pass came with under a minute left and was a tiptoe catch in the endzone by Matt Hines. The Norton sideline was going berserk and the defense made a clutch stop at the end to go home victorious. Just the next week, the team played at home against Middleborough and won that game by just two points at a score of 22-20. This game was much closer than it could have been, as Norton was leading at the end of the first half 22-0. Middleborough came out in the second half like a different team and seemed like they wanted to win the game more than the home team. This game was competitive to the end with Middleborough scoring three second half touchdowns. The Lancers however, needed to stop Middleborough on a two point conversion attempt at the end to seal the game and they did just that. Middleborough was sent home with a disappointing and upsetting loss.
Norton lost their next game vs. Medway and were dominated by their run game. There was, of course, many missed opportunities including dropped touchdown passes and fumbles in the redzone that they just could not overcome. The Lancers bounced back the next two weeks with two dominating wins against Dover-Sherborn and Bellingham, and were set to face Ashland the next week. The boys from Norton traveled to Ashland to play on their beautiful turf field and played in their most exciting game all season. The final score was 27-21 but the game was much closer than the score shows. The two teams were so evenly matched throughout with Matt Hines and Mike Ready scoring touchdowns for the Lancers. They were matched by Ashland's very talented quarterback and outstanding receiving corps. The game was tied at the end of the fourth quarter and ended up being sent to a tug of war kind of overtime to find the victor. Each team started at the ten yard line and had 4 downs to score a touchdown and then attempt to make either a point after or a two point conversion. Norton went first, scored a touchdown, and tried to get the two points. Ashland stopped their efforts to get into the endzone again so it was their turn and they seemed to have all the momentum. They got the ball to the three yard line on a series of runs and it seemed almost definite that they would score a touchdown. The Ashland quarterback stepped back into the shotgun to receive the snap... the center made a mistake and the snap sailed 20 yards over the quarterbacks head which the lancers recovered and they went back to Norton victorious.
The next week, the team dominated Millis/Hopedale 29-6 and finished the regular season 6-1 and won the TVL(Tri-Valley League) Small championship. They were riding into the playoffs with a great amount of momentum on their side. Once they got their though, they were given a very tough opponent in Apponequet Regional High School, at Norton's home field and Norton lost 42-14. After the first quarter, it was 7-7 and seemed like it would be a very close contest. In the second quarter though, Apponequet's "diesel" offense overpowered Norton and scored 21 points while Norton had only 7, so the halftime score was 28-14. In the third, Mike Ready obtained a concussion from a helmet to helmet hit and the team's MVP did not return. Apponequet went on to score 14 more points in the third and shut Norton out the whole second half. All of Norton's players were greatly disappointed and moved to 6-2 for the year. The next week, Norton played Hanover in the losers bracket for the first time ever and without their quarterback/safety, Mike Ready, the team seemed lost. They ended up losing 28-14 and went home again feeling disappointed. Against Bishop Stang the following week, Norton bounced back and destroyed them at home 35-6 with Mike Ready back leading the team. In Norton's last game of the season, they played Bellingham for their annual Thanksgiving day game. Norton won this for the seventh time in a row at a score of 32-14 and awards were given out after the game for each team.
In 2013 Norton finished with an impressive record of 8-3 and Coach Currle along with all the other coaches and players were proud of their season. Mike Ready won TVL Small MVP which was a great honor for him, Mike Travers won TVL Small defensive player of the year, and Matt Hines, Brad Wry, Mike Ready, Mike Travers, Tony Giglio, and George Reese were all named TVL all stars. Coach and the rest of the team congratulated these players on their great seasons as all but George Reese are graduating this year. Coach Currle said that many younger players will need to step up next year to fill in these large absences. Everybody will need to work throughout the offseason to get stronger, faster, and smarter, and all of the returning players plan to do that.
