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GRAFTON, Mass. — The Grafton High School football team defense dominated the game against Leicester High from start to finish Saturday as the Indians walked away with a 10-0 win that wasn't as close as the score indicated.
Grafton Leicester Football game
"That's who we are; we do what we do," said Grafton coach Mike Ross. "We played good, solid defense (three shutouts in four games) and ran the ball on offense. We're very happy," Ross added.
And he was correct. The Indians (3-1) defense was smothering all game long. The defensive line, led by Cory Charpentier, Corey Pillsbury and Connor Rynning, was consistently in the backfield of the Wolverines, blowing up plays for negative yardage.
"Corey Charpentier may just be the best defensive linemen in the league," Ross said. On Saturday afternoon, Charpentier was virtually unblockable, and eventually it paid off for Grafton.
After forcing Leicester (3-1) to punt from deep in its own territory, Grafton's Doug Oevermann returned it to the Wolverines' 26-yard line. Using a punishing straight-ahead ground game, it didn't take the Indians long to cash in. Running back Cody Munoz ran it in from the 2-yard line and Grafton had all the points it needed with a 7-0 lead.
Leicester was led by quarterback Drew Mazzeo and running back Nick Kenneway, but the team couldn't get anything going offensively. Even when it did make a big play, it was invariably followed by a play that lost yardage — at times considerable yardage — and the offense was put in a big hole time and again.
Grafton returned the second-half kickoff to near midfield and put together a drive that appeared destined for the end zone, but the Wolverine defense stiffened inside the 10, forcing the Indians to settle for a 26-yard field goal to make the score 10-0. It was a defensive standoff the rest of the way.
"I thought the kids played a really good game," Ross said. "We came into here and beat the No. 9 team in Central Mass. We're very pleased."
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