WESTWOOD — Ben Shuffain has attempted to build a new culture ever since he arrived at Carver, one where his players can compete with just about any opponent.
He has already had plenty of success, and it would appear the Crusaders have many reasons to be excited about this upcoming season. On Sunday, Robbie Peterson corralled an 8-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Lennox, then sealed the game with an interception in the waning moments, as Carver won the annual Northeast 7vs7 South Small Regional football championship Sunday with a very impressive 14-12 win over Dexter Southfield at Xaverian Brothers High School.
“It’s awesome,” Lennox said afterward. “We knew coming in that it was going to be a tough challenge. We had a really tough pool going in since they combined the small and the large (schools). We just came in with the same mindset, and got it done.”
The Crusaders cruised to a 3-1 record in pool play to begin the day, with wins over Plymouth South (22-12) and Attleboro (22-8). They also picked up a win against the very foe they would clash with in the title game during a contest earlier in the afternoon with Dexter Southfield (16-12). The school’s lone loss came against South Shore League rival Abington, 33-24.
To make things more impressive? The Crusaders were coaching themselves as players, while Shuffain stood off to the side, watching intently.
Carver was one of eight schools to make the playoffs later in the day, and opened its tournament run with a 12-7 victory over Norwood. The Crusaders followed that game up with a fantastic victory against one of the tougher teams in New England with a 20-18 showing against Kingswood Oxford (Conn.), setting up a rematch with the NEPSAC powerhouse.
“I think the fact that they beat (Dexter Southfield) earlier (made it easier),” said Shuffain. “We played them twice today, so it wasn’t like the big bad brother we had to play against. Made a very important two-point conversion catch by our sophomore Nate Helms. Quarterback Tyler Lennox was great as always, and the defense just locked it down when we needed to.”
After Dexter Southfield cut it to an 8-6 game off a two-yard touchdown pass from Joe McCauley to Quinn Carver with 9:20 remaining, Lennox and his teammates responded. The quarterback connected with Peterson for the 8-yard score with just under five minutes to play, as Carver took a 14-6 lead. Dexter Southfield would score a late touchdown, but Peterson came away with a clutch interception on the conversion bid to ice the game.
“When everyone out there is communicating and playing as a team, everyone can play better,” Peterson said. “Just everybody plays above what they could play normally vs. when they’re alone. Everybody communicating, and Ty throwing absolute dots to me, it all came together.”