Football Preview: Grafton Gators vs. Scituate Sailors
The Grafton Gators will venture away from home to face off against the Scituate Sailors at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams are still undefeated (Grafton has 11 wins dating back to last season, while Scituate has ten).
Grafton is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. Their defense stepped up to hand Marblehead a 35-0 shutout. The Gators might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won nine matches by 31 points or more this season.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Grafton to victory, but perhaps none more so than Finn Gilmore, who rushed for 201 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 8.0 yards per carry. Gilmore's rushing production has been exceptional for a while as that marked his 14th straight game with at least 105 rushing yards dating back to last season. Another rusher making a difference was Brendan McMahon, who rushed for 58 yards and a touchdown on only five carries.
Grafton was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 315 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 215 rushing yards in five consecutive games.
Grafton wouldn't let Marblehead keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force three fumbles. Grafton can thank Austin Mccormick and Zeeland Youngblood for forcing all of them. James Hanna was another major factor on D, picking up two sacks, making five total tackles, and defending a pass in addition to snagging an interception.
Meanwhile, everything came up roses for Scituate against Wayland on Friday as the team secured a 28-0 victory. The result was nothing new for the Sailors, who have now won nine matchups by 28 points or more so far this season.
Scituate pushed their record up to 10-0 with the win, which was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 27.9 points. As for Grafton, their record is now 10-0.
Grafton came up short against Scituate when the teams last played back in November of 2023, falling 20-10. Thankfully for Grafton, Jackson Thomas Belsan (who threw for 195 yards and a touchdown while completing 73.7% of his passes, and also punched in a rushing score) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
