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Methuen defense stymies Cambridge

CAMBRIDGE — The MVC is one of the toughest conferences in the state.

You don’t think so? Ask Cambridge.

Last night, Division 2 Methuen walked into Russel Stadium and dominated the Division 1 Falcons, 28-18. Last week, Cambridge put 30 points on powerhouse Everett in a losing effort. The Rangers defense limited Cambridge quarterback David Maaghul to just 10 for 31 in the air as well as limiting the Falcons to just 1 for 8 on third down.

”I didn’t complete many passes this week as scout quarterback, so I knew we’d be in good shape,” joked head coach Tom Tone. “It was a great effort. If you told me before the game that we would hold these guys, with how good their offense is, to just 18 points, I would be pretty confident we could score more than that.”

On the offensive side, quarterback Austin George-Williams was a one-man wrecking machine, throwing for a career high 294 yards on 20 of 30 passing, including a 41-yard touchdown strike to Evan Lacroix in the first quarter.

When under pressure, George-Williams quickly progressed through reads, checking down to running back William Weinhold (6 catches for 75 yards) and also connecting with Spencer Billich (3 catches for 74 yards) on a series of big plays down the middle.

”It was his best game to date,” Tone said. “It’s good to see him maturing and getting better. We knew we were going to have to pass the ball, and we did a good job running it, but they just loaded up so we needed to throw and we got it done.”

Kick the can: Cambridge doesn’t have a kicker and the Falcons went 0 for 3 on two-point conversions. Meanwhile, George-Williams went 4 for 4 on kicks, and at one point, despite both teams each scoring three touchdowns, Methuen held a 21-18 advantage. The Rangers then tacked on a fourth to make it a two-possession game.

”That could have gone a lot different,” Tone said. “We knew they didn’t kick, so we were putting an emphasis on that all week. We knew as long as we could get our (extra points) and get stops, we’d pickup points there.”

Running it out: Methuen’s offense moved the chains when it counted. The Rangers held the ball for 6:09 to close the game, running 12 plays before taking a final knee.